Three former South Africa cricketers, Thami Tsolekile, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, and Ethy Mbhalati, have been arrested in reference to a match-fixing scandal from the 2015-16 T20 Ram Slam Problem.
The arrests occurred after an investigation by the Severe Corruption Investigation Unit of the DPCI.
All three have been charged with 5 counts of corruption underneath Part 15 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Actions Act, 2004.
The primary investigations started when Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) anti-corruption unit had acquired experiences of sure suspicious actions relating to former participant Gulam Bodi in 2016. The investigations then revealed that Bodi had contacted a number of gamers with the intention to repair the outcomes of three native T20 matches.
“Tsolekile and Tsotsobe had been each charged with 5 counts of corruption underneath Part 15 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Actions Act, 2004 (PRECCA). They each appeared within the Pretoria Specialised Business Crimes Court docket at this time, 29 November 2024, the place their case was postponed to 26 February 2025 for disclosure,” Colonel Mogale was quoted as saying by InsideSport.
The trio is accused of accepting items to vary the match’s outcome.
Mbhalati has already appeared earlier than the Pretoria Specialised Business Crimes Court docket, together with his case postponed to February 20, 2025. In the meantime, Tsolekile and Tsotsobe appeared in court docket on November 29, with their listening to adjourned to February 26, 2025, for disclosure proceedings.
Among the many three accused, solely Lonwabo Tsotsobe managed to compete for South Africa on a world stage, whereas the opposite two remained restricted to home cricket.