In this story in today's Jamaica Observer, Marlon Samuels' mother, Daphne Lunan, says that her son and Indian bookmaker, Mukesh Kochar, have been friends for "over six years now". According to her -
"All when he is not playing match he (Kochar) call him because the last time with his foot (injury) he called. and said he is a good player, he must continue, that's it."
This raises more questions than it answers. What exactly is the nature of this 'friendship'? Has Kochar been milking information from Samuels for 6 years?
Indian deputy police commissioner SPS Yadav said that there "was no evidence about financial commitment" made nor any evidence of match fixing in relation to the just concluded series in India. However, he states that in the taped telephone conversation on January 20, Samuels told Kochar that he would bowl first change the next day. He further speculates that since Samuels stayed in India after the tour for a cricket show in Mumbai, he and Kochar may have been in contact.
Samuels' mother is right when she says, "...when you fix match, don't you have to collect, and they find him collect anything?" If Samuels has been knowingly assisting Kochar in his gambling over an extended period, then there should be a trail of money or 'gifts' passing from Kochar to Samuels, which shouldn't be difficult to ascertain.
If there is evidence of money or gifts changing hands then Samuels would have breached rule 4(viii) of the ICC Code of Conduct, which states that a player is in breach if he:
"Received from another person any money, benefit or other reward (whether financial or otherwise) for the provision of any information concerning the weather, the teams, the state of the ground, the status of, or the outcome of, any match or the occurrence of any Event unless such information has been provided to a newspaper or other form of media in accordance with an obligation entered into in the normal course and disclosed in advance to the Cricket Authority of the relevant Member Country".
The penalty for such an infraction is a 2 to 5 year ban. However, he could also be found in breach of rule 4(xi) which carries a 1 to 5 year ban if he:
"Received any approaches from another person to engage in conduct such as that described in any of the above paragraphs (i) to (x) and has failed to disclose the same to his Captain or to his Team Manager, or to a senior Board official or to the Anti Corruption and Security Unit"
Right now there is a lot of speculation, and it will remain speculation until there is proof that Samuels recieved benefits from Kochar in exchange for match information. Other than that, it is possible, however unlikely, that Samuels may have been "taken for a ride" by Kochar.
UPDATE: Times Now of India has posted a what it says is a transcript of one telephone conversation between Samuels and Kochar.
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