http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-Butt-c2418 is allowed to work as commentator
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has expressed relief after banned Test skipper left-handed batsman Salman Butt was cleared by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption tribunal to work as a cricket commentator on a private TV channel in
Pakistan.
PCB officials have said the board does not want the banned trio of Butt, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Aamer-c76569 to be financially crippled. On condition of anonymity, a PCB official said, “The feeling is that the banned players must have a way of sustaining themselves
financially during their ban as they can't be expected to survive without working somewhere.”
Earlier this month, the ICC had shown its dissatisfaction over Butt’s decision to work as a cricket pundit on the local Channel during the ICC World Cup 2011. The ICC contacted its anti-corruption tribunal to ascertain if Butt was in violation to the terms
of his punishment by signing a deal with a TV channel. However, the tribunal expressed no objection to Butt’s appointment.
According to sources, the PCB is extremely happy by the tribunal’s announcement. However, it has been clarified that the board did not ask the ICC or the anti-corruption tribunal to be lenient with Butt regarding his new work assignment.
The three cricketers have been banned from taking part in all cricket-related activities sanctioned by the ICC or its affiliate member boards. However, the players can take up private jobs even if they are related to cricket.
A source in the PCB told said that the channel was a private one and had no affiliation with the ICC or the PCB and it did not have holding rights of the ongoing World Cup. Due to this fact, the board had no legal authority to stop the channel from hiring
Butt.
The PCB official also said that the board had nothing to do with the termination of the players’ contracts by their department which in this case is the National Bank of Pakistan. He said, “I think the bank took this decision because it had employed the
three to play cricket for them in domestic cricket and when they can't do this during the period of their bans, it was obvious the bank has no use for them. But the PCB had nothing to do with the bank’s decision,” he said.
It has been learnt that the PCB would be releasing all outstanding dues of the banned trio within a week because the ICC has not imposed any financial penalties on the players.
The players were banned from all forms of cricket after a hearing overseen by the ICC’s anti-corruption tribunal found them guilty of taking bribes from a bookmaker, Mazhar Majeed, to deliver no-balls during the Lords Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749 in August last
year. The hearing took place in January and the verdict was given on the 5th of this month.
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