Exclusive | BBC’s ‘Panorama’ stopped a cricket match-fixing investigation into the 2013 England-Australia Ashes series, says BBC source
- The team had made contact with accused match-fixer Aneel Munawar
- The broadcaster was about to expose alleged corruption among players
The BBC’s Panorama investigation team in 2013 halted work on a cricket match-fixing probe just as they were about to expose alleged corruption among England test players, a BBC source said.
The Panorama team was said to have arranged a “test fix” with alleged match-fixer Aneel Munawar – who was featured in recent Al Jazeera Investigations documentaries – for the 2013 Ashes series between England and Australia.
The British state broadcaster’s editorial policy (EdPol) and legal departments had even given permission to pay for an actual “fix”, according to the source, who said the investigation was suddenly stopped.
The BBC, however, has denied that EdPol and its legal departments had given permission to pay for a ‘fix’.
The source, who wishes to remain anonymous because of the sensitive nature of the issue, provided a detailed timeline of the events that led to the investigation being shut down, which apparently enraged the Panorama team who painstakingly spent years penetrating the underbelly of cricket and collecting evidence of match-fixing.
