Salman Butt, Asif will have to ‘confess to prevent longer ban sanctions’

Tainted Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif will have to sign full confessions to avoid the suspended part of their sentences being enforced in the spot-fixing case, which may deter them from appealing to the Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS) in Switzerland.Last week, an independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal appointed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to hear into the spot-fixing case imposed a ‘sanction of ten years ineligibility’ on Salman Butt, “five years of which are suspended on condition that he commits no further breach of the code and that he participates under the auspices of the Pakistan Cricket Board in a programme of Anti-Corruption education.”

On Mohammad Asif, a sanction of seven years ineligibility has been imposed, two years of which are suspended “on condition that he commits no further breach of the code and that he participates under the auspices of the Pakistan Cricket Board in a programme of Anti-Corruption education,” whereas the tribunal imposed a “sanction of five years of ineligibility” on Mohammad Amir, the youngest of the three accused.

Both Asif and Butt will have to make full confessions and show appropriate remorse for their suspended sentences to be waived, conditions which may deter them from appealing to the CAS, The Daily Telegraph quoted sources close to the investigation, as saying.

While the written judgments of the ICC disciplinary panel would be handed to the three players, the governing body may be unable to make them public due to a parallel criminal investigation being pursued by police in London, the report added.

Earlier this month, British prosecutors had “authorised charges of conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, and also conspiracy to cheat” against the three Pakistani players as well as alleged bookmaker Mazhar Majeed.

Simon Clements, head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Special Crime Division said the trio had been summonsed to appear for a first hearing at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on March 17, and that they “have been asked to return to this country voluntarily, as they agreed to do in September last year. Their extradition will be sought should they fail to return.”

Clements said the CPS had been working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service since the spot-fixing allegations became public on 29 August 2010, and that they had ‘sufficient evidence’ against the accused “for a realistic prospect of conviction”. 

The ICC is now taking advice from media law specialists after the CPS advised the board not to publish the judgment for fear of prejudicing any criminal trial, the report said. 

The judgment could be published outside Britain but it would be hard to prevent it from being accessed on the internet, which may persuade the ICC to keep it private until a later date.

SHAHID AFRIDI SAYS NO TIME FOR EXPERIMENTS

Captain of the Pakistan cricket team for limited overs, Shahid Afridi said that there will be no time for experiments in the team for the One Day Internationals against New Zealand which will be starting from 22January, 2011.

Afridi stated that his team will mould into the 50-over format very quickly and do well just as they did in the Test series.

The World Cup will kick off from February 2011 in the subcontinent and the Pakistani team is committed to do well in the mega event by preparing themselves through the six-match ODI series in New Zealand.

The Pakistan Cricket Board had announced the Test and Twenty20 team for the New Zealand series but did not announce the ODI squad and captain until recently.

This raised plenty of questions in the country and many former players and cricket experts criticised the decision by PCB. The Board has also taken another controversial step as the name of the World Cup captain has not been announced yet despite announcing the 15-member squad for the mega event.

The head coach of Pakistan cricket team Waqar Younis was also not pleased with the Board for the delay in naming the captain and said that the decision would only raise more issues. The PCB was not happy with Waqar’s comments and issued him a show-cause notice.

It is rumoured that the PCB might announce the name of the World Cup captain after the series against the Kiwis. Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who led Pakistan to a series win after four years, is a likely candidate to lead the side in the mega event starting from February.

Many former players including the legendary all-rounder Wasim Akram backed Afridi to lead the team in the World Cup but there are some doubts over his performance.

Earlier, the flamboyant all-rounder claimed that he will keep on representing his team as a senior member even if the Board decides to sack him from the leadership role.