The lack of effective legislation related to betting and match-fixing in India will have a huge impact on the work of investigation and anti-corruption agencies when India hosts the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2021 and the ICC Men's World Cup in 2023. This was stated by Steven Richardson during a virtual panel discussion in the Annual Sports Law and Policy Symposium held today.
"India is hosting the T20 World Cup in 2021 and the Men's World Cup in 2023. The Indian police, though we have a good relation with it, have their one hand tied behind their back due to lack of effective legislation. Specific legislation (on betting and match-fixing) would be a game-changer. Most of our investigations often have links to India, which is why this is critical. With some important ICC events coming up, this is all the more essential,"said Richardson.
He was speaking during a panel discussion on "Does India need a match-fixing legislation". Other panellists included Ajit Singh, head of BCCI's Anti Corruption Unit, Rebecca John, senior advocate, Supreme Court, who represented S. Sreesanth in the IPL spot-fixing case in 2013, senior cricket journalist Pradeep Magazine, who has authored a book on match-fixing. The discussion was moderated by Suhrith Parthasarthy, advocate, Madras High Court.
The annual Sports Law and Policy Symposium, organised by Sports Law and Policy Centre, has been bringing together leading sports lawyers, sports policy experts, researchers, sports administrators and investigators to exchange and share learnings on different aspects related to sporting landscape in India and world. It highlights emerging concerns in the domain of sports law and policy in India. The theme this time is match-fixing and Indian sport.
Richardson further revealed that the illegal betting system was enormous in India and posed challenges for the ICC's Anti Corruption Unit. "With India, it is the shadow system which is responsible for enormous amount of allegations of fixing which we investigate in ICC." He, however, added that the challenges posed were not insurmountable.
According to Ajit Singh, the lack of a regulatory law has been an impediment in nabbing the criminals. With no legal authority, the Anti Corruption Unit finds it hard to catch the real offenders—the "outsiders " who make approaches to players or officials. Players are not the main problem—they are the final link in the chain. The problem is people organising the corruption; most of them sit outside the sport. As an anti-corruption agency, there is little we can do to catch the outside participants."
Both Richardson and Singh batted for legalising betting in India and having a sporting fraud law. “If you have a legislation, the enforcement agencies have access to data on betting. On-board betting helps in keeping track. I feel, in India, regardless of the law, a lot of illegal betting will continue. However, we will have two parallel channels. Ultimately, all illegal bets come into the legal channel also. It is from that legal channel, we can get alerts."
Rebecca John, however, was not in agreement regarding bringing a seperate law for match-fixing in India. Citing the cases of Sreesanth, whose case fell flat, as well as bookie Sanjeev Chawla, who was extradited recently back to India from England but has been let out on bail with agencies getting nothing out of him, John said, "This country is overwhelmed with criminal cases. Why do you need to criminalise fixing? What is the regulatory body doing? In any sport, be it cricket or other, it is their failure which you cannot shift to the justice system. Criminal prosecution is not the way forward. It is disastrous going by the way the prosecution has consistently failed. The evidence in these cases is so slim or peripheral."
Day two of the virtual symposium will be held on June 27.
