An anti-corruption investigator told a court he had no jurisdiction over claims of fixing by Chris Cairns, the former New Zealand captain, because it involved the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL).
John Rhodes, of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption unit, told Southwark Crown Court that Brendon McCullum, the present New Zealand captain, informed him in 2011 that his predecessor had tried to recruit him to fixing.
Mr Cairns is on trial for alleged perjury by denying that he had been involved in fixing during a libel trial in 2012.
Mr Rhodes told the court that in 2008 he had interviewed Tony Greig, the former England all-rounder who was on the board of the Indian Cricket League.
Three years later Mr McCullum, who had played in the rival Indian Premier League, gave a statement alleging that Mr Cairns had approached him three times in 2008 to spot fix.
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Anti-corruption investigators later spoke with Lou Vincent, a former New Zealand player, who claimed he had been recruited by Mr Cairns, his team captain in the ICL, to deliberately under-perform.
Orlando Pownall QC, defending Mr Cairns, said that the anti-corruption investigators had done “nothing” following Mr McCullum’s “potentially momentous” allegations.
Mr Rhodes told the court that because the ICL was an unsanctioned tournament the ICC had no powers get involved.
The anti-corruption investigator admitted he had not made a note of Mr McCullum asking for the New Zealand cricket board not be told he was making a statement.
An excerpt from Mr McCullum’s statement relating to the evening when Mr Cairns allegedly made first made a “business proposition” said that he had explained he could make up to $250,000 a day from spread betting.
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Mr Rhodes said although the statement did not mention fixing the “inference” was clear.
However, he denied that the information was “potentially momentous”.
“The information at that time was not corroborated by any other source,” he said. “I would need to corroborate it, for it to become momentous.”
In 2010 Lalit Modi, chairman of the Indian Premier League, had written on Twitter that Mr Cairns had been removed from the “auction list” of its players “due to his past record of match-fixing” in the rival ICL.
Mr Cairns sued Mr Modi in the High Court in London and repeatedly said in statements and on oath that he had never cheated at cricket. He was awarded £1.4 million in damages and costs in March 2012.
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Mr Cairns, 45, denies perjury and perverting the course of justice.
His co-accused Andrew Fitch-Holland, a barrister and “lead adviser” in the libel case, denies perverting the course of justice.
The trial continues.