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The International Cricket Council (ICC) has supported the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) Governing Council decisions to impose life bans on Lou Vincent for breaching their respective Anti-Corruption Codes.
In a statement, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “The ICC endorses the decisions of the CLT20 and ECB to impose life bans on Lou Vincent.
“The ICC has a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and these life bans, together with the life ban recently imposed by the ECB on Naveed Arif, should send out a loud and clear message to all those who indulge in corrupt practices and think they can get away with it.
“Whilst the strategy of the anti-corruption units remains focused on education, prevention and disruption of efforts to corrupt, in those small number of instances where suspicious activity is uncovered, no stone will be left unturned to bring those involved to justice. These unscrupulous corruptors and small group of greedy individuals should not be permitted to destroy the game for the overwhelming majority who play the game as they should, and the fans across the world.”
Richardson said the ICC noted the sentiments expressed in the statement of Lou Vincent and commend him for having the courage to finally tell the truth and to co-operate with the investigations.
Richardson congratulated the anti-corruption units of the CA, BCCI, ECB and ICC for a successful prosecution. “The Vincent admission and subsequent prosecutions only came about as a result of a difficult and painstaking multi-jurisdictional investigation involving excellent collaborative work between the anti-corruption units of CA, ECB, BCCI and the ICC.”
Vincent pleaded guilty to 18 breaches of the regulations in total. Four breaches related to a Twenty20 match between Lancashire and Durham in June 2008. The remaining 14 charges related to two fixtures played at Hove in August 2011, namely a Sussex v Lancashire Twenty20 match and a Sussex v Kent CB40 match.
ECB Chief Executive David Collier said: “This has been a complex case which has crossed different cricketing jurisdictions and required close collaboration and intelligence-sharing between both our own anti-corruption unit, other domestic boards and the ICC’s ACSU.
“We are extremely pleased that the matter has now been brought to a satisfactory conclusion and that an individual who repeatedly sought to involve others in corrupt activity for his own personal gain has accepted that his conduct warrants a lifetime ban from cricket. It once again highlights our resolve to keep cricket clean and rid the game of the tiny minority who seek to undermine the sport’s integrity.”
