Suspended players’ lawyers asked to return documents to the ICC
The lawyers representing the three suspended Pakistani players accused of spot fixing, got new instructions regarding evidence given to them by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
The International Cricket Council (ICC) directed the lawyers representing the suspended trio, to return documents serving as evidence which were provided to them by the PCB. The evidence was given to the lawyers so that they could review the facts concerning
the allegations against their clients.
The lawyers of suspended Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer have been instructed to hand back the documents to the ICC through e-mail.
Salman Butt’s new lawyer, Barrister Yasin Patel – an Indian-origin lawyer based in the United Kingdom – confirmed that his team in Pakistan headed by Butt’s Pakistani lawyer, Aftab Gul had received the mail. The high profile criminal defence lawyer will
be acting as a liaison with Scotland Yard, which is investing the spot fixing claims in England since this summer.
Sources believe that the ICC obviously thinks that someone related to this case could attempt to leak out the evidence in the media. The evidence is confidential and directly concerns the players, which is why the ICC has taken precautionary measures, before
the evidence can be made public.
However, the lawyers of the trio insist that the ICC did not take such a measure due to the leakage of the evidence; rather they say that it is a normal procedure. The lawyers are of the view that they are required by law to return the evidence before the
full hearing of the case slated to be held in January.
The PCB is believed to have received phone calls and SMS transcript records of the alleged players, which showed details of the communication between them and the fixing agent Mazhar Majeed. The records are said to be time-lined from the past three months.
The ICC took notice of the matter yesterday, after a Pakistani news channel claimed that they have received some text messages shared between Majeed and Butt.
The accused players have been widely criticising the ICC for treating them unfairly, after their appeals were rejected by a tribunal committee of the ICC.
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