FORMER New Zealand captain Chris Cairns appeared in court yesterday charged with perjury, linked to a libel action he brought in the UK in 2012. 

Cairns won £90 000 in damages after he sued Lalit Modi, founder of the Indian Premier League (IPL), over an accusation of match-fixing made on Twitter in January 2010, but the 44-year-old was accused of perjury and faced London’s Southwark Crown Court yesterday.
Cairns, of Clifton Road, Herne Bay, Auckland, appeared in the glass-fronted dock alongside barrister Andrew Fitch-Holland, who faces one count of perverting the course of justice.
Fitch-Holland, 49, of Duddenhoe End, Saffron Walden, Essex, is described on his chambers’ website as ”lead adviser to former NZ captain Chris Cairns in his libel action against former IPL head Lalit Modi”.
The pair, both dressed in smart navy blue suits and blue ties, spoke only to confirm their names.
Judge Alistair McCreath gave the pair unconditional bail to appear for a plea and case management hearing at the same court on January 16 next year, with both men indicating they will contest the allegations.
The trial is expected to last around four weeks and is expected to begin on October 5 next year – during the “cricket desert” when there are few fixtures in the sport’s calendar and will see cricketers from around the world giving evidence in the case.
After learning he would be charged, Cairns said in a statement that he had “nothing to hide” and he would do “whatever it takes” to prove his innocence.
He said: “I’m obviously extremely disappointed. However, at least there will now be an opportunity to face my accusers in an open forum, with some rigour and proper process around that, so that I can clear my name once and for all.”
A statement from the Crown Prosecution Service released on September 25 said: “We can confirm that we have authorised police to charge Chris Cairns with one count of perjury, which arises from a libel trial held in the UK in March 2012.
”We have also authorised police to charge Andrew Fitch-Holland with one count of perverting the course of justice, which arises from actions taken relating to the same trial.”
In 2007 and 2008, Cairns captained the Chandigarh Lions in three competitions in the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which flourished briefly before the ascendancy of the IPL.
The allegation made by Modi related to the second and third of these competitions, between March and April 2008 and October and November that year and Cairns is charged with making a false statement in judicial proceedings.
Specifically, it is alleged that between October 1, 2010 and March 31, 2012, having been sworn as a witness in judicial proceedings, he made a statement which he knew to be false or did not believe to be true, namely that he had never cheated at cricket and nor would he contemplate doing such a thing.
Fitch-Holland is charged with committing an act or series of acts with intent to pervert the course of public justice; namely, asking former New Zealand player Lou Vincent to provide a false witness statement in connection with proceedings relating to the libel action between Cairns and Modi in the High Court, which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice.