http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-Butt-c2418’s lawyer confirms the cricketer has been excused from court hearing
The discarded Pakistan skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-c88163 Butt will not appear before a British court on Friday for the hearing of the criminal charges levelled against them by the United Kingdom Crown Prosecution Service. This was confirmed by Butt’s lawyer in the spot-fixing
case, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yasin-Yonus-Patel-c98237 on Thursday.
The UK-based http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Huzefa-Mohammed-Patel-c63657 told a leading news agency in an email that the Southwark crown court, in London has excused former Pakistan opening batsman’s attendance at Friday's hearing.
Butt will be represented by Patel at the hearing. However, other two cricketers, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Asif-c1993, will appear in person.
The trio was charged by the Crown Prosecution Services special crime division with conspiracy to commit fraud and cheating. The hearing of the case is scheduled to take place at a Southwark crown court, in London on May 20th.
The tainted trio, along with bookie http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mazhar-c75448 Majeed, is facing charges of defrauding English bookmakers and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments. The allegations were laid against them by the Crown Prosecution Service of Britain, an organization
responsible for prosecuting criminal cases probed by British police.
All the investigation into the case were carried out by the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 Yards, which later handed over the findings to the prosecution department. The prosecutors will now look into the matter and decide on further action.
The trio has also been banned from all cricket by the International Cricket Council (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625) for a minimum of five years for being found guilty of spot-fixing. The three Pakistan cricketers were found guilty of delivering some pre planned no balls in a Test
match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 at Lord’s in August last year.
All the three players have filed separate appeals against the verdict with the international Court for Arbitration Sports (CAS) in Geneva.
The teenage pacer, Mohammad Amir flew for London on Thursday morning while Asif left last Tuesday.
Before leaving for London, Asif had a brief encounter with the media where he urged he will prove his innocence before the Britain court
"I am going to London with a clear mind and that is to keep on fighting this case till my innocence is proven," Asif told reporters before leaving Pakistan.
The minimum punishment for defrauding English bookmakers is imprisonment for ten years. The trio can also face heavy financial penalties besides detention, if proven guilty.
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