Underworld criminals who corrupt game
THe spotlight is back on the nefarious activities of those trying to destroy the integrity of cricket. But just who is masterminding this corruption?
The dark dealings of alleged match-fixer Aneel Munawar were the focus of Al Jazeera’s undercover investigation. Yet Munawar is no lone wolf.
Instead, the Indian national is one operative in the underground mafia syndicate D- Company, which is spearheaded by one of the most notorious criminals in the world, Dawood Ibrahim.
He features on Interpol’s mostwanted list, is estimated to be worth £5billion and has been described by Forbes as the 57th most powerful person in the world.
According to an academic study, the 62-year-old’s organised crime network has been involved in drugs and arms trafficking, gold smuggling, extortion, counterfeit currency, real estate, contract killings, gambling and film piracy.
Munawar, who is based in Mumbai, revealed he had been involved in match-fixing for up to seven years and is described as a middle- ranking operative in D- Company’s match- fixing division.
He demonstrated his supposed infiltration of international cricket when claiming to Al Jazeera’s undercover reporter that he had contacts within all national teams and could fix up to 70 per cent of matches.
The documentary also showed him discussing his capability to doctor pitches, another method of manipulating the outcome and scoring patterns of games.
D-Company is said to have been associated with match-fixing in cricket since the early 1990s, across a range of formats and including the 2013 Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal.
Cricket corruption investigator ed Hawkins told Al Jazeera: ‘A mafia group like D-Company has always had the power to infiltrate dressing rooms — they were known to have access to the India team inner circle in the early 1990s — and the Board of Control for Cricket in India itself, leaning on selectors to get players who they know will do their bidding into the team.
‘Bribes are paid to players to score slowly, lose their wickets and bowl waywardly.’