Steve van Aperen, the Polygraph Examiner at the Australian Polygraph Services, who conducted Lie Detector Tests on former Australian captain Steve Waugh (voluntarily appeared) believes that his machine can benefit the investigators.
by BIPIN DANI
Sreesanth (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Van Aperen said, “Polygraph testing can be beneficial in investigations such as that of India’s Sreesanth in the absence of other forensic, corroborative, scientific or medical evidence. I agree with Steve Waugh’s proposition that polygraph testing be used in all allegations relating to match fixing, spot fixing or allegations of bribery in sport whether it be in cricket or any other type of sport”.
Sreesanth and his lawyers have decided to challenge the life-ban.
“In many criminal cases that I have worked on over 14 years of policing experience I have found that occasionally people may admit involvement if they believe that the evidence against them is overwhelming. Of course each case is different but in several cases where I have used polygraph testing I have had people make admissions before the polygraph testing process has actually begun. In some cases I have had people make admissions mid way through a polygraph test” he added.
After being banned for their role in fixing the matches, almost all international cricketers deny the charges initially and a few of them admit their guilt later. Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh) and the Pakistani trio (Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif) have accepted their guilt.
“If corruption is allowed to continue without having effective controls then it will flourish as history has shown many times in the past. Polygraph testing together with integrity testing could be used as an effective deterrent or investigative tool to assist investigators and rid the game of cricket of ongoing corruption scandals. There needs to be action not talk”, he concluded.
Discussion
No comments yet.