The West Indies Cricket Board has appointed a senior lawyer to conduct an independent inquiry into match-fixing allegations made against batsman Brian Lara, the Caribbean news agency CANA reported today.
Barbadian Elliott Mottley, a former attorney-general of Bermuda and president of the Organisation of the Caribbean Bar Associations, has been asked by the WICB to investigate allegations made by Indian bookmaker Mukesh Gupta last November.
Gupta was quoted by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation as saying that he had paid Lara $40,000 to under-perform in two one-day matches.
Lara has repeatedly denied the charge and has told the WICB he will support any move to clear his name.
The left-handed batsman was among nine non-Indian players named in the CBI's report into match-fixing last year- Australia's Mark Waugh and England's Alec Stewart were also named - as having connections with bookmakers.
WICB president Pat Rousseau said on Friday no new evidence had been submitted but, because Lara had not been officially cleared, his board wanted the matter brought to a close.