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BY CHRISTOPHER MARTIN-JENKINS, CHIEF CRICKET CORRESPONDENT
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Prabhakar: repeated claims
©
ANYONE hoping that the belated release of the findings of the Qayyum inquiry into match-fixing might draw a line under the affair is bound for disappointment. The sickening saga continued to go round in circles yesterday when Salim Malik, the former Pakistan captain, said that he would go to court to challenge a life ban imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on the recommendation of Justice Malik Qayyum, and one former India all-rounder accused another of attempted bribery.
Manoj Prabhakar gave evidence to the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with his allegations earlier this week before repeating his claim, at a press conference in Delhi, that it was Kapil Dev, the former India captain, who had asked him to underperform in a match against Pakistan in 1994. He said that on the evening before the match he was shaving in his bathroom when Navjot Singh Sidhu, his room-mate, came in and said: "Brother wants to talk to you. He has an offer." Prabhakar said that Kapil then came in and asked him to underperform for 2.5 million rupees (around £38,000). "I started shouting: 'You are a traitor'," Prabhakar said.
Kapil has strongly denied the claim and is seeking legal redress against Prabhakar and I. S. Bindra, a former secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
The disgraced and beleaguered Salim is also attempting to seek solace in the law. He said from Lahore: "I am being made the scapegoat. I haven't done anything wrong and I continue to plead my innocence. I am in consultation with my legal advisers and will challenge the decision in the courts."
He made no reference to separate claims in the News of the World last Sunday that he had offered to arrange for the rigging of matches on England's tour of Pakistan next winter. The ICC has asked the newspaper for a copy of video recordings made by reporters posing as "high rollers".
Salim and Ata-ur-Rehman, the former Test fast bowler, were banned for life on Wednesday by the PCB on the recommendations of Justice Qayyum, although both have already dropped out of active cricket. There was no explanation from the PCB about how the fines recommended against these two and six present players will be levied. Suggestions that Salim's performances should be expunged from the records can be discounted, if only for the confusion that would cause. Nor is there any sign of the threatened criminal proceedings coming to pass.
Salim apparently got into financial trouble as a result of working for a bank and being held responsible for unpaid debts. It has been alleged that he subsequently became sucked into illegal betting activities. Three Australia Test cricketers accused him of trying to bribe them to play badly during the 1994-95 series in Pakistan. He was exonerated by an initial High Court inquiry in Pakistan in 1995, but Justice Qayyum found "clear evidence" of match-fixing in several games.
Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Akram Raza and Saeed Anwar were all censured by the judge, either for bringing the game into disrepute or failing to co-operate with the inquiry, but the PCB does not intend to suspend them. The ICC will have the opportunity to question the PCB at the annual meeting in London next month.
Yawar Saeeed, the PCB director, said yesterday: "To ban two players and fine six others is purely our decision and has not been influenced by the ICC. We received a letter from the ICC this morning in which it said that they have picked up the judicial commission report from the Internet and were now studying it."
The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) has, meanwhile, acted independently by appointing a barrister who once served as a part-time Army commando as a watchdog. Greg Melick, 50, has been given wide-ranging powers to investigate claims of corruption and match-fixing. He has served on Australia's National Crime Authority for the past four years and will work in conjunction with the ICC's Code of Conduct Commission. "My brief is to target anybody who's been involved, or encouraged others to be involved, in corruption: that covers the whole gamut," Melick said. "I'm confident anything I report to the board will be acted upon in the appropriate manner."
In South Africa, a panel investigating corruption met lawyers representing players charged with fraud by Delhi police to discuss procedures to be followed at planned public hearings. Hansie Cronje, Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom have been charged with manipulating matches during the one-day series last month that India won 3-2. All four have said that they are innocent.
Links
Prabhakar: repeated claims
©
ANYONE hoping that the belated release of the findings of the Qayyum inquiry into match-fixing might draw a line under the affair is bound for disappointment. The sickening saga continued to go round in circles yesterday when Salim Malik, the former Pakistan captain, said that he would go to court to challenge a life ban imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on the recommendation of Justice Malik Qayyum, and one former India all-rounder accused another of attempted bribery.
Manoj Prabhakar gave evidence to the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with his allegations earlier this week before repeating his claim, at a press conference in Delhi, that it was Kapil Dev, the former India captain, who had asked him to underperform in a match against Pakistan in 1994. He said that on the evening before the match he was shaving in his bathroom when Navjot Singh Sidhu, his room-mate, came in and said: "Brother wants to talk to you. He has an offer." Prabhakar said that Kapil then came in and asked him to underperform for 2.5 million rupees (around £38,000). "I started shouting: 'You are a traitor'," Prabhakar said.
Kapil has strongly denied the claim and is seeking legal redress against Prabhakar and I. S. Bindra, a former secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
The disgraced and beleaguered Salim is also attempting to seek solace in the law. He said from Lahore: "I am being made the scapegoat. I haven't done anything wrong and I continue to plead my innocence. I am in consultation with my legal advisers and will challenge the decision in the courts."
He made no reference to separate claims in the News of the World last Sunday that he had offered to arrange for the rigging of matches on England's tour of Pakistan next winter. The ICC has asked the newspaper for a copy of video recordings made by reporters posing as "high rollers".
Salim and Ata-ur-Rehman, the former Test fast bowler, were banned for life on Wednesday by the PCB on the recommendations of Justice Qayyum, although both have already dropped out of active cricket. There was no explanation from the PCB about how the fines recommended against these two and six present players will be levied. Suggestions that Salim's performances should be expunged from the records can be discounted, if only for the confusion that would cause. Nor is there any sign of the threatened criminal proceedings coming to pass.
Salim apparently got into financial trouble as a result of working for a bank and being held responsible for unpaid debts. It has been alleged that he subsequently became sucked into illegal betting activities. Three Australia Test cricketers accused him of trying to bribe them to play badly during the 1994-95 series in Pakistan. He was exonerated by an initial High Court inquiry in Pakistan in 1995, but Justice Qayyum found "clear evidence" of match-fixing in several games.
Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Akram Raza and Saeed Anwar were all censured by the judge, either for bringing the game into disrepute or failing to co-operate with the inquiry, but the PCB does not intend to suspend them. The ICC will have the opportunity to question the PCB at the annual meeting in London next month.
Yawar Saeeed, the PCB director, said yesterday: "To ban two players and fine six others is purely our decision and has not been influenced by the ICC. We received a letter from the ICC this morning in which it said that they have picked up the judicial commission report from the Internet and were now studying it."
The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) has, meanwhile, acted independently by appointing a barrister who once served as a part-time Army commando as a watchdog. Greg Melick, 50, has been given wide-ranging powers to investigate claims of corruption and match-fixing. He has served on Australia's National Crime Authority for the past four years and will work in conjunction with the ICC's Code of Conduct Commission. "My brief is to target anybody who's been involved, or encouraged others to be involved, in corruption: that covers the whole gamut," Melick said. "I'm confident anything I report to the board will be acted upon in the appropriate manner."
In South Africa, a panel investigating corruption met lawyers representing players charged with fraud by Delhi police to discuss procedures to be followed at planned public hearings. Hansie Cronje, Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom have been charged with manipulating matches during the one-day series last month that India won 3-2. All four have said that they are innocent.