Wellington: New Zealand cricketing great Chris Cairns vowed on Friday he would clear his name, shortly before British prosecutors confirmed they would charge him with perjury over match-fixing allegations.
Former all-rounder Cairns has acknowledged previously that he is under investigation by British authorities for alleged fixing, but vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
The 44-year-old confirmed prosecutors had told him they intend to charge him with perjury and he would travel to Britain later this month to prove his innocence, New Zealand media reported.
“I’m obviously extremely disappointed, however, at least there will now be an opportunity to face my accusers in an open forum, with some rigour and proper process around that, so that I can clear my name once and for all,” he said in a statement cited by Fairfax Media and TVNZ.
Later Friday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed Cairns would face one count of perjury in relation to a libel action he brought two years ago.
“We can confirm that we have authorised police to charge Chris Cairns with one count of perjury, which arises from a libel trial held in the UK in March 2012,” a CPS spokeswoman said.
In 2012, Cairns won £90,000 (Dh536,595) in a libel action against former Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi in London over a tweet alleging he was involved in match-fixing while playing for the Chandigarh Lions in the now disbanded Indian Cricket League (ICL).
The CPS have also charged London-based lawyer Andrew Fitch-Holland, a friend of Cairns who appeared as a witness at the libel trial, with one count of perverting the course of justice.
Fitch-Holland was involved in a case against the England and Wales Cricket Board when they banned players who had appeared in the ICL in 2008.
Cairns’s former teammate, Lou Vincent, who was banned for life earlier this year for match-fixing, has alleged that a world-famous international dubbed “Player X” lured him into a murky world of corruption that included offers of cash and sex to rig matches.
Cairns himself has said he believes he is the player Vincent was referring to but questioned his accuser’s credibility, describing the allegations he faces as “absurd, bizarre and scary”.
He retired from international cricket in 2004 after becoming one of only 12 players in Test history to complete the ‘double’ of 200 wickets and 3,000 runs.
“Having been to court before, I know what lies ahead and how gruelling it will be and how tough it is on my family — but I have nothing to hide and I will do whatever it takes to once again prove my innocence,” his statement said.
“I will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities, including voluntarily travelling to the UK to face these charges,” added Cairns, who now faces the prospect of a jury trial in London next year with a maximum jail sentence of seven years if found guilty.
