John
09-03-2010, 08:04 PM
Police questioned Pakistan bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif on Friday as cricket's governing body insisted the case was not the tip of a corruption iceberg in the game.
Aamer and Asif arrived for questioning at a police station near the "home of cricket", Lord's in north London, and detectives are also expected to quiz Test captain Salman Butt on Friday.
Meanwhile the International Cricket Council said it had acted as soon as it could to charge the trio with "various offences" under its anti-corruption code and to suspend them pending a decision on those charges.
"The conclusion that we have come to is that there is a really arguable case to answer," Ronnie Flanagan, chairman of the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, told a press conference at the Lord's ground.
The former Northern Ireland police chief said the players had been charged under Article 2 of their code and the trio knew the specific charges against them, but declined to go into details.
Article 2 relates to offences including corruption, betting and misuse of inside information. Calling it a complex investigation, he said that if the players were found guilty they could face a life ban.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the case could be the worst example of corruption in cricket since former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was revealed to have accepted money from bookmakers in a bid to influence games, as well as trying to entice his team-mates to do the same, a decade ago.
Cronje died in a plane crash in 2002.
The current charges all relate to the fourth and final Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's, which finished with an England win on Sunday, in which a tabloid newspaper said deliberate no-balls had been bowled.
The sanctions have infuriated the Pakistani authorities, but Lorgat dismissed the notion that there was a conspiracy against Pakistan.
"There is no truth that there is a conspiracy against Pakistani cricket," Lorgat told the news conference.
The South African expressed his "extreme disappointment and sadness" at the situation, however, and repeated that "we will not tolerate any sort of corruption in the sport."
Pakistani High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan said Friday the ICC had "no business" to suspend them while the police investigation was ongoing. He said Thursday he thought the trio might have been set up.
"I met the cricketers for two hours, cross-questioned them, got to the bottom of it and concluded that they were innocent," Hasan told BBC radio.
The ICC "have done the wrong thing. When there's a live police inquiry, this takes precedence over both the ICC, civil or regulatory investigations and any internal disciplinary investigations."
Hasan suggested Friday that Indian bookmakers had a part to play in the affair.
Aamer, at 18 one of the game's hottest talents, Asif 27, and Butt, 25, withdrew Thursday from Pakistan's tour of England, with Hasan citing "mental torture".
They missed Pakistan's eight-run win over county side Somerset the same day.
Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed said he was "not happy" about the situation but was trying to focus on his duties ahead of the forthcoming two Twenty20 internationals and five one-day games against England.
"I'm not happy about it, naturally", he said, while insisting that the tour would go ahead. Pakistan later announced they had added Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Irfan to their squad.
The players have 14 days to request a tribunal hearing at which they can challenge the charges.
The News of the World newspaper alleged that it paid Mazhar Majeed, an agent for several Pakistan players, 150,000 pounds in return for advance knowledge of pre-arranged no-balls -- normally accidental -- which could then be bet upon.
The 35-year-old has since been arrested and bailed by British police.
Flanagan denied the fact the players had been banned on the back of a press report represented a "failure" for his organisation.
"If the charges are proven, I congratulate the News of the World on what it's done.... We can't be 100 percent fool-proof."
England coach Andy Flower, whose side play the first Twenty20 Pakistan in Cardiff on Sunday, said: "It's not a very healthy position we seem to be finding ourselves in right now but the game will survive, there's no doubt about that."
Source - Yahoo News.
Aamer and Asif arrived for questioning at a police station near the "home of cricket", Lord's in north London, and detectives are also expected to quiz Test captain Salman Butt on Friday.
Meanwhile the International Cricket Council said it had acted as soon as it could to charge the trio with "various offences" under its anti-corruption code and to suspend them pending a decision on those charges.
"The conclusion that we have come to is that there is a really arguable case to answer," Ronnie Flanagan, chairman of the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, told a press conference at the Lord's ground.
The former Northern Ireland police chief said the players had been charged under Article 2 of their code and the trio knew the specific charges against them, but declined to go into details.
Article 2 relates to offences including corruption, betting and misuse of inside information. Calling it a complex investigation, he said that if the players were found guilty they could face a life ban.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the case could be the worst example of corruption in cricket since former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was revealed to have accepted money from bookmakers in a bid to influence games, as well as trying to entice his team-mates to do the same, a decade ago.
Cronje died in a plane crash in 2002.
The current charges all relate to the fourth and final Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's, which finished with an England win on Sunday, in which a tabloid newspaper said deliberate no-balls had been bowled.
The sanctions have infuriated the Pakistani authorities, but Lorgat dismissed the notion that there was a conspiracy against Pakistan.
"There is no truth that there is a conspiracy against Pakistani cricket," Lorgat told the news conference.
The South African expressed his "extreme disappointment and sadness" at the situation, however, and repeated that "we will not tolerate any sort of corruption in the sport."
Pakistani High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan said Friday the ICC had "no business" to suspend them while the police investigation was ongoing. He said Thursday he thought the trio might have been set up.
"I met the cricketers for two hours, cross-questioned them, got to the bottom of it and concluded that they were innocent," Hasan told BBC radio.
The ICC "have done the wrong thing. When there's a live police inquiry, this takes precedence over both the ICC, civil or regulatory investigations and any internal disciplinary investigations."
Hasan suggested Friday that Indian bookmakers had a part to play in the affair.
Aamer, at 18 one of the game's hottest talents, Asif 27, and Butt, 25, withdrew Thursday from Pakistan's tour of England, with Hasan citing "mental torture".
They missed Pakistan's eight-run win over county side Somerset the same day.
Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed said he was "not happy" about the situation but was trying to focus on his duties ahead of the forthcoming two Twenty20 internationals and five one-day games against England.
"I'm not happy about it, naturally", he said, while insisting that the tour would go ahead. Pakistan later announced they had added Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Irfan to their squad.
The players have 14 days to request a tribunal hearing at which they can challenge the charges.
The News of the World newspaper alleged that it paid Mazhar Majeed, an agent for several Pakistan players, 150,000 pounds in return for advance knowledge of pre-arranged no-balls -- normally accidental -- which could then be bet upon.
The 35-year-old has since been arrested and bailed by British police.
Flanagan denied the fact the players had been banned on the back of a press report represented a "failure" for his organisation.
"If the charges are proven, I congratulate the News of the World on what it's done.... We can't be 100 percent fool-proof."
England coach Andy Flower, whose side play the first Twenty20 Pakistan in Cardiff on Sunday, said: "It's not a very healthy position we seem to be finding ourselves in right now but the game will survive, there's no doubt about that."
Source - Yahoo News.