A Zimbabwe cricket fan was slapped with a five-year ban after he unsuccessfully tried to get an international player involved in a spot-fixing deal, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) announced on Saturday.
Edward Walter Mupangano, a 27-year-old from Harare, had approached Luke Jongwe last August since he wanted to introduce him to an Indian bookmaker.
Jongwe was supposed to bowl in a pre-arranged manner during an international match in return for a payment amounting to $7,000.
“The facilitator himself would allegedly receive $3,000 if the planned corrupt activity was successful. Jongwe immediately reported the approach,” the statement added.
Jongwe, 28, has featured in one Test, 37 ODIs and 45 T20Is for Zimbabwe since making his debut in 2014.
Mupangano accepted a charge of violating Zimbabwe Cricket’s Anti-Corruption Code and will be banned from ZC-affiliated cricket venues and events for the next five years.
“ZC believes cases such as this demonstrate the urgent need for Zimbabwe to have a legal instrument to make fixing and any other sporting corruption a criminal offence,” Zimbabwe Cricket Chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani said.
“It is our view that harsh sanctions, including custodial sentences, will go a long way in helping cricket to curb one of the biggest threats to its credibility.
“Criminalising match-fixing and spot-fixing will send a strong warning to offenders and would-be offenders that corruption has no place in cricket and those who engage in it should be jailed or put out of the game.”
Meanwhile, ZC Managing Director Givemore Makoni said that "the integrity of ZC and the game itself is of paramount importance and, therefore, the need to maintain high levels of honesty and professionalism at all levels of the game cannot be over emphasised".
"Let me take this opportunity to place on record our thanks to Luke Jongwe for reporting the approach — this is what is expected of all participants in cricket if we are to keep our game clean,” he added.