October 02 Wednesday 2002
Sri Lanka seek Interpol help in match-fixing probe

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan police on Tuesday sought help from the Paris-based Interpol for an investigation into match-fixing during the just-concluded ICC Champions Trophy.

The move followed the discovery that two women, who were entertained by West Indies team manager Ricky Skerritt, had forged identity papers. A third woman had produced an Australian driving licence and the authorities here wanted to track down her background details, a police spokesman said. "With the discovery of the forged papers carried by the women, we are now expanding the inquiry to find out if they were involved in match-fixing."

He said the police were not pointing fingers at any particular team or players.

However, the procedures laid out for the tournament required them to rule out the involvement of the three women found in Skerritt's room and that of the West Indies computer operator Garfield Smith in match-fixing. Police suspected that bookmakers had frequented the team hotel and prostitutes might have been used to make contact with the visiting players.

The tournament ended on Monday in a washout with finalists India and Sri Lanka sharing the $300,000 prize money after rain forced the match to be abandoned.

The ICC used the Champions Trophy as a dress rehearsal to eliminate or at least minimise match-fixing during next year's World Cup in southern Africa.