Former Proteas opener Alviro Petersen has been banned for two years for his involvement in the Ram Slam match-fixing scandal.
He admitted a total of 13 charges of failing to disclose information relating to the T20 corruption which has so far seen five players – Gulam Bodi, Thami Tsolekile, Ethy Mbhalati, Pumi Matshikwe and Jean Symes – banned for between seven and 20 years.
Cricket South Africa have withdrawn charges against Petersen of ‘fixing or contriving to fix any match and seeking, accepting or offering to accept any bribe or other reward to fix or influence any match’.
Petersen has always denied involvement in the Ram Slam scandal, and claimed that he was a whistle-blower in the affair.
But he finally admitted four counts of failing to disclose details of an approach to engage in corrupt conduct; four of failing to disclose evidence of another participant breaching the code; four of failing to cooperate with the investigators by not providing accurate and complete information; and one of concealing and destroying information relevant to the investigation.
‘Petersen is obliged under the code to have disclosed various approaches that were made to him to engage in corrupt activities,’ said Haroon Lorgat, CEO of Cricket South Africa.
‘While having provided certain information to the investigators he had also withheld and concealed certain material information, such as the meetings with [match fixing intermediary] Gulam Bodi and certain fixers.’
Petersen said he had no intention of fixing matches. ‘I would like to apologise to my family, friends, the public who are fans of the game of cricket, my team mates, Gauteng cricket, Lions cricket and especially to Cricket South Africa for my actions. At the time that the meetings with Bodi and the fixers happened, I never had any intention of fixing matches or taking money,’ he said.
‘I now deeply regret having participated in these meetings and not to have immediately reported them to the authorities as I am obliged to do. I understand that I need to take personal responsibility for my actions and I accept the punishment that CSA has imposed on me. I hope that other players will learn from my experience and be better prepared if they find themselves in the situation that I was in.’
The chairperson of CSA’s Anti-Corruption Unit, former judge Bernard Ngoepe, said: ‘We are still finalising certain aspects of the investigation and we will not stop until we are fully satisfied that we have exhausted every lead and scrutinised every aspect relating to this matter. CSA should be commended in the way that they are going about this investigation,’ he said.
