http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-c88163 Butt’s family criticises deferment of spot-fixing verdict
The family of Pakistan’s tainted former skipper Salman Butt has reacted sharply to the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption tribunal’s decision to defer the verdict of the spot-fixing hearing by one month.
Butt’s father Zulfiqar Ali Butt while talking to newsmen said, “I failed to understand why the ICC is lingering this case. If my son is guilty, punish him now or leave him. Why the verdict is being deferred to next month. The other two players, Aamir and
Asif have been acquitted of all charges relating to The Oval Test. However, one charge still stood, against my son who was captain at the time.”
He added, “What investigation for this Oval Test is not known to us, but we understand Salman scored two or three runs in one of the overs, which according to the allegations was supposed to be a maiden.”
Pakistan won the oval Test and defeated the English in England after nearly ten years. However, during the tour a local tabloid ‘News of the World’ leaked information, which suggested that three Pakistani players Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif
had links with a bookmaker http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mazhar-c75448 Majeed. The paper also alleged that the trio had taken money from Majeed to bowl deliberate no balls during the Lords Test against England.
Video footage was provided by the tabloid, which showed Majeed giving details about the delivery of the no-balls to an undercover reporter before the match.
Later in the match the no-balls were indeed bowled, after which ‘News of the World’ passed its findings to the local police. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 Yard then took the lead in the case and was given access to the players for questioning.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board (PCB) then prohibited the players from taking part in the remaining matches of the tour. They were also suspended by the ICC from all forms of cricket until an investigation against them could be completed.
The ICC formulated a three member anti-corruption tribunal to oversee the hearing of the spot-fixing case, which took place from the 6 to 11 January, 2011. In the hearing the ICC presented all the evidence which had been collected by cricket’s governing
body against the players. The lawyers of the players were also given ample time to plead the innocence of their clients during the hearing.
Earlier, it was assumed that the tribunal would give its verdict on the 11 January, after the closing statements by the players’ lawyers. However, Mohammad Amir’s lawyer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-c89347 Karim requested the panel to take time and consider all the facts provided in
the hearing. The panel accepted Karim’s request and chose not to disclose their verdict until 5 February.
The tribunal was headed by Michael Beloff QC along with two other members, Justice Albie Sachs from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Qatar-c2986.
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