Image courtesy of: The Guardian

Cronje’s father believes the Indian authorities made his son into a “scapegoat”

Deceased South African captain Hansie Cronje’s father, Ewie, has announced that “I’m considering legal action against the Indian police” after his son was implicated in the 2000 match-fixing scandal in a chargsheet filed by Delhi police.

The Indian authorities have officially charged Cronje and five international bookmakers 13 years after the scandal rocked the cricketing community to its core.

However, a Delhi court has ruled that charges against Cronje should be dropped since he was tragically killed in a plane crash in June 2002.

According to reports, the chargesheet filed by Delhi police claims that Cronje received more than Rs 12 million in two payments from bookmaker Sanjeev Chawla, but Cronje’s father dismissed this, stating that his son had received less than a quarter of the amount.

“It’s nonsense,” Cronje told the Afrikaans daily newspaper Beeld. “Where is the money?

“I’m considering legal action against the Indian police.”

Cronje’s father also revealed that the Indian police knew about players match-fixing as early as 1981, but decided to do nothing about it.

After coming under fire for not being able to control the outbreak of match-fixing fever, Cronje noted that the Indian authorities had made his son the “scapegoat”.

“Then they made Hansie the scapegoat,” he said.

The South African captain initially denied any involvement in the match-fixing scandal and even managed to convince then Cricket South Africa chief Ali Bacher of his innocence.

This led to Bacher dismissing the allegations made by the Indian authorities.

However, just four days later, Cronje broke down and admitted to his crimes, which led to his suspension and the South African government calling on the King Commission of Inquiry to investigate the claims being made by the Indian police.

The investigation was inconclusive, but Cronje was ultimately handed a life ban.