http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-c88163 Butt’s lawyer arrives in Lahore
The British lawyer of former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 captain Salman Butt, Yasin Patel, has arrived in Lahore to prepare the defence for his client ahead of an International Cricket Council (ICC) hearing beginning on 6 January.
Talking to the media Patel said, “I am in Lahore and busy in preparing for the case.” Patel will meet with members of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to discuss the case, and will also hold talks with PCB’s legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi.
Patel is the now the only lawyer left who is willing to plead Salman Butt’s case in front of the ICC tribunal. Previously Butt had hired the services of many well known lawyers such as Khalid Ranjha and Aitzaz Ahsan, but as the date of the hearing neared
these heavyweight lawyers decided not to represent the former skipper. Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif are currently suspended from all forms of cricket for allegedly having links with the infamous bookie http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mazhar-c75448 Majeed.
This month Butt requested the ICC to delay the hearing of the case, however his fellow team-mates Aamir and Asif did not share Butt’s views and wanted the hearing to go ahead as scheduled. After holding a teleconference with Butt and his lawyers, the ICC
decided not to change the date of the hearing.
Butt wanted the hearing to begin after the submission of all the evidence by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 Yard, which is gathering the evidence against the players. However, the members of the ICC were of the view that enough evidence had been found to begin formal proceedings.
Butt’s request came after his reply to the charges leveled against him was rejected by the ICC, and he was told by cricket’s governing body to submit another response.
Butt, Aamir and Asif were accused of being involved in spot-fixing after a British tabloid leaked evidence, which suggested that the two pacers had bowled deliberate no-balls in a Test match against England this summer, after receiving money from Mazhar
Majeed. This news caused chaos in the cricket world and the players were immediately barred by the PCB from playing in the rest of the matches on the tour. Later the ICC also suspended them from taking part in any form of cricket.
If the players fail to prove their innocence they will most likely be slapped with life bans from all formats of cricket.
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