Corruption buster Sir Paul Condon yesterday claimed match-fixing still exists on the international scene.

Speaking at Lord's, where the International Cricket Council confirmed they have backed his 24 proposals on how to rid the game of sleaze, Condon said: ''My own view is that things are still going on within matches.

''Sadly I do think events have been fixed in the last year. There are a small number of matches and a small number of players involved.''

For legal reasons the head of the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit could not expand upon his claims or name names, but his view suggests there is still a lot of work to be done to repair the game's tarnished image.

But he reiterated his belief that the ICC, in attempting to be more transparent and accountable, were getting closer to banishing the dark clouds.

''Very quickly we will have in place an infrastructure to disrupt people who are doing this,'' he added. ''I'm absolutely convinced that the ICC will do their utmost to rid this problem from cricket.

''The main event for me has always been to make sure cricket never has to face this again.

''I think we now have a better understanding than ever as to why this happened, where it happened, the extent of it, what was the nature of the corruption, how people got involved into it, whether it's still going on and how we can prevent it in the future.

''Clearly we are looking back as to what happened in the past. If we find evidence, we are placing it before the relevant authority.

''But it's a fact of life, if you have got a corrupter and someone who has been corrupted, by and large neither of them has got an interest about talking about it or acknowledging it.''

The exception to the rule, so far, has been Indian bookmaker Mukesh Gupta, who provided his own country's the Central Board of Investigation (CBI) with evidence against a number of international players.

He has yet to fully co-operate with Condon's team, however, and has been given until July 1 to do so.

Whether or not he does respond to this request will have a direct implication for English cricket, as one of the players he alleges took money for information is current one-day captain Alec Stewart.

''To bring a closure to this issue I gave him (Gupta) an ultimatum of July 1 to let us know whether he was prepared to be a formal witness,'' said Condon. ''If we do not hear from him, we must assume he is not prepared to co-operate further. Gupta will either agree or he won't.''

Condon was asked about weekend reports which claimed that Stewart had left the ACU frustrated in their attempts to arrange an interview with him.

Stewart, who denies the allegations, said on Sunday he was eager to clear the issue up, and Condon said: ''He is anxious to see me and I am anxious to see him.

"When the CBI report was issued last year, Alec Stewart denied the allegations and wanted to come and see me, and give his side of the story.

''His is exactly the same position as other people's. I am anxious to see him and him me.''

Condon was reported to have said the ACU were ''increasingly frustrated by the inability of Mr Stewart and his advisers to agree a convenient date''. And he added today: ''It was not a public criticism, just a factual answer to a factual question.''

Condon's report featured 24 recommendations for the ICC to implement if the ACU are to achieve their objective and bring match-fixing ''under control and reduced to an absolute minimum'' before the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.