 The three Pakistani cricketers involved in the ICC investigations for the alleged
issue of spot-fixing, Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif,
will understand on Friday whether the British police holds them guilty for their
involvement in the same. On Saturday, the ICC will also announce their verdict
on whether or not the three-man tribunal held them guilty or not guilty. Based
on that, the ICC will decide on the magnitude of the sanctions that the trio will
face.
The spot-fixing issue was unearthed by the British newspaper, the News of the
World when they conducted a sting operation on Mazhar Majeed an agent
of the three players in question. In the sting video that was released, it was
revealed that Majeed was allegedly a bookie who had accepted money in exchange
for the two fast bowlers, Amir and Asif to bowl no-balls at pre-decided times.
This had come to light on the last day of the Lord's Test match between England
and Pakistan last year. After this, the ICC had provisionally suspended
the trio post which they were suspended till the results of the investigations
by the ICC were declared. The trio's case was then heard by the three-man tribunal
that was appointed by the ICC at Doha in Qatar. The hearing had lasted for six
days and the tribunal had then decided to defer the judgement till February
5.
On the other hand, the British police, or the British Crown Prosecution Service
(CPS) has said that it will look to announce the decision on whether or not
the three were guilty according to their investigations on Friday. If the police
does find them guilty then legal proceedings could begin against the trio.
The ICC could be looking to push for a life time ban from international cricket
- which is the maximum punishment a player can receive in such cases. Already
there have been players like Marlon Samuels and Maurice Odumbe who have been
suspended in the past by the ICC while Mohammad Azharuddin and Salim Malik
have been afforded life bans by their respective country boards.
Now, if the three-man panel decides that the trio of the players were indeed
guilty, they would announce that verdict but the actual punishment will not
be announced. Based on this decision, the lawyers of both, the players and the
ICC will meet along with the players and take a respective decision on the punishment.
This will be given to the three-man tribunal who will then decide on the punishment.
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