'Hansie had no secret funds'

2003-03-17 06:12

Esté de Klerk

Bloemfontein - Hansie Cronje's father, Ewie Cronje said on Sunday that his son had no secret bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, and to his knowledge had never been there.

Cronje was reacting to reports in an English Sunday newspaper that his son had 71 or 72 illegal bank accounts in the Caymans that he did not declare to the South African Reserve Bank or the King Commission.

"The report is nonsense. There are no facts to support the report. As far as I know, Hansie was never in the Cayman Islands and had no bank accounts there," Cronje said.

"Hansie died in June last year. He is not here to say whether this report is true or not. All his money and bank accounts were declared to the King Commission."

The article, published in the British Sunday Telegraph, stated that the amounts involved in the "more than 70" bank accounts were never determined.

The report also claimed that a source close to the South African director of public prosecution said the forensic audit into Hansie's affairs was closed when he died.

One of the Sunday Telegraph's other sources refuted this sequence of events, claiming that the investigation was called off a month before Hansie Cronje died.

The report claimed that the $130 000 Cronje declared to the King Commission as the payoff he received from professional bookmakers was only the tip of the iceberg.

The author of the report said Indian tax investigators, who investigated cricketers suspected of game fixing, found that several prominent international players received $50 000 per month from illegal Indian professional bookies from the mid-to-late 1990s.

These payments were apparently made to untraceable accounts in the Caymans.

In exchange for a financial layout of $3 million per month, the bookies were apparently capable of fixing the results of most tests and one-day international matches.

The King Commission was apparently never informed of the huge amounts of money involved in professional bookmaking because the inquiry was limited to documents Hansie was prepared to produce, the report claimed.

Cronje said on Sunday he had a suspicion that a South African sports journalist and commentator, who never liked Hansie, provided the information to the Sunday Telegraph.

"Even after Hansie's death, this sports writer is still spreading lies about him.

"Investigations have been made into his affairs for a long time and nothing has been found that Hansie didn't declare to the King Commission.

"I thought reports such as this would stop once Hansie died, but I hoped in vain," Cronje said.

- Volksblad