'Match-fixing law will be a game-changer in India', says ICC Anti-Corruption officer
The coordinator of investigations at the ICC's anti-corruption unit (ACU), Steve Richardson, believes that making match-fixing a criminal offence will be a "game-changer" and the "single-most-effective thing" for sports in India, a report suggested.
Similarly, Ajit Singh, the head of the BCCI's ACU, is of the same opinion. He said that India needs a "very strong law" against betting which is said to be the source of corruption in cricket in India.
While India is going to host two mega men's events in the next three years - the 2021 T20 World Cup and ODI World Cup in 2023 - Richardson urged the Government of India to consider creating a match-fixing law for sport like its neighbour Sri Lanka.
In 2019, Sri Lanka became the first cricket-playing country to criminalise the match-fixing with punishments that include 10-year of imprisonment.
The ICC's ACU had helped the then Sri Lankan government to draft the legislation in the wake of investigations that found several cricketers including former captain Sanath Jayasuriya guilty of breaching the corruption code.
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Steve Richardson also stressed that the law would deter the corruptors more than the players, who he said were right now freely moving around.
-PTC News
