By Omar Khalid/Awais Saleem,IANS,
London/Islamabad : Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, has again attacked the International Cricket Council (ICC) even as the tainted trio — captain Salman Butt and pacers Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamer — reportedly admitted before the Scotland Yard inquiry that the British currency recovered from their hotel rooms was given to them by bookie Mazhar Majeed.
GEO TV reported that the players have maintained in front of the Scotland Yard that the money was given to them on account of sponsorship contracts that they had signed with different commercial organisations.
The players also stated that Majeed was working as their agent to secure sponsorship deals and they did not know that he was a book-maker.
Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) legal advisor Tafazzul Rizvi confirmed that the players had given this statement.
“They denied that this money was given to them for spot-fixing like bowling no-balls etc. The players also showed their written contracts for these sponsorship deals to the police. That is why they were allowed to go without any charge,” Rizvi pointed out.
Rizvi said he was not trying to defend the players but only giving the information he had from the investigation process.
“The players choose their agents on their own and the board has nothing to do with it,” he stressed.
Responding to reports that the players were asked to remain away from Majeed before the England tour, he said the board gave out a set of instructions to players before every tour and there was nothing specific about it this time round.
“The players have contested the allegation and also volunteered themselves for police investigations,” Rizvi said.
He rubbished the reports that captain Salman Butt had taken the money from Majeed allegedly to arrange dowry of his sister.
“He does not have to do that,” Rizvi emphatically said.
Asked whether the players would contest the allegations within a 14-day period, Rizvi said they had to decide and defend themselves.
“As per rules, the PCB can monitor the situation and a board representative can be present through this process, but the players will have to challenge it on their own,” he said.
Hasan also launched a scathing attack on the ICC for removing Aamer from the list of nominees for the Emerging Player of the Year award, the ICC has violated the ‘general principle of law — innocent until proven guilty’.
“I have learnt that ICC has taken cricketer Aamer’s name off the list of ‘Players of the Year’. What happened to the general principle of law ‘innocent until proven guilty’,” Hasan said in a statement late Friday.
“After the shocking, arbitrary and high-handed suspension of the three Pakistani cricketers through the ICC’s uncalled for action, nothing is coming to me as a surprise. Rather, my apprehensions that there is a rat in the whole affair are being strengthened. It is emerging as a fishy situation where pieces have now started falling in place to convince me that there is more than meets the eye,” he said.
“As I said in my Thursday’s statement that after the request by the three players to PCB, through me, for their voluntary withdrawal from playing in the current tour until their names have been cleared and their honour vindicated, ICC’s action was not only in bad taste but was also self-serving, malafide and intriguingly sinister,” Hasan said.
“I would rather add that ICC’s hasty decision was aimed at covering up its own acts of omission and commission. Its notice to the players appears to have been aimed at influencing the legal process and to prejudice the ongoing police investigation,” he said.
Meanwhile in Cardiff, England and Pakistan cricket captains Saturday said their teams will give their best in the opening Twenty20 International slated for Sunday.
Shahid Afridi, Pakistan’s one-day captain, said his players have refocused after going through a tough time because of the spot-fixing allegations levelled against them last Sunday. He apologised for the scandal.
“I think it is very bad news,” he said. “On behalf of these players – I know they are not in this series – but on behalf of these boys I want to say sorry to all cricket lovers and all the cricketing nations.”
Meanwhile, Paul Collingwood, England’s Twenty20 captain, has said that the home team will give its 100 percent tomorrow.
“There was an air of sadness (when the allegations of spot-fixing came to light),” Collingwood said.
“But the guys are looking forward to getting on with the cricket and hopefully winning the game. The guys are very much 100 per cent prepared to get on with the job in hand and play against Pakistan,” he said.
Pakistan also called up seven-foot tall fast bowler Mohammad Irfan and batsman Asad Shafiq as replacements for the suspended trio. The two players, currently playing with the Pakistan ‘A’ team in Sri Lanka, will join the senior team by next week.