The head of the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption Unit has described as “absolutely preposterous nonsense” claims it did a deal to shield New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum from punishment for his delay in reporting an alleged match-fixing approach.
“I can say, absolutely categorically, there were no deals done with Brendon McCullum,” Ronnie Flanagan said in a interview on Saturday.
Flanagan said that McCullum’s “reputation is not sullied in my mind and I made that very clear to Brendon.”
A statement made by McCullum to the ACU in 2011, in which he claimed to have been approached in 2008 by a former teammate to fix matches, was leaked to British media last year.
Questions have since been raised about why the ACU took no action against McCullum for his three-year delay in reporting the alleged approach.
Flanagan denied that the ACU had entered into any deals with McCullum or New Zealand Cricket to withhold sanctions.
“This is absolute nonsense absolute, preposterous nonsense,” he said.
Flanagan said he accepted McCullum’s reputation may have been harmed when his statement was leaked to a British newspaper and understood other cricketers might be reluctant to approach the ACU unless confidentiality was assured.
