Gupta may come out with fresh disclosures in his book: Condon

Bookmaker Mukesh Gupta, served with an ultimatum to testify against cricketers he has implicated before July 1, is planning to write an "explosive book about his role in match-fixing", The Sunday Times reported.

Quoting Sir Paul Condon, chief of ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit, the newspaper said, "it promises to make his fortune and cause further damage to the reputations of many prominent players."

Sir Paul said he believed the commercial motive was one reason why Gupta may agree to meet his deadline of July 1.

"There are various reasons why he may agree to come forward. One of those is that he may wish to write a book. He has turned down many requests for interviews, one of them from the Panorama team that recently went to India to make a programme," Sir Condon told the newspaper.

"He's spoken very frankly to my team and confirmed verbally all his allegations. He would like to string things along for as long as possible. He wants to leave his options open, exploit his position and see what commercial arrangements he can make. But the more his motive is commercial, the more people will want to test his version."

Another member of the Unit said of Gupta, "He's a mercurial character. It would be entirely in character for him to suddenly come forward and agree to do as we have asked."

Mail Cricket Editor