ICC, BCB appeal against Ashraful's ban reduction

The ICC and BCB have jointly appealed against the reduction of Mohammad Ashraful's suspension, and the ruling on five others who were accused in the Bangladesh Premier League corruption case. The two boards have lodged the appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).

"The ICC and BCB jointly appealed against the suspension reduction of Mohammad Ashraful to the Court of Arbitration for Sports," BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury confirmed. "The last date to appeal against the decision was on Monday [October 20]."

He said the appeal was against Ashraful and two other Dhaka Gladiator players, Mosharraf Hossain and Mahbubul Alam, who were found not guilty, as well as the franchise's chairman Salim Chowdhury and co-owner Shihab Chowdhury. While Shihab Chowdhury had been banned for ten years in the initial judgement, Salim Chowdhury was found guilty and handed a ten-year ban when the case and rulings were reviewed by the BCB's disciplinary panel chief, Justice Mohammad Abdur Rashid. Rashid had also reduced Ashraful's eight-year ban to five years.

Nizamuddin Chowdhury did not name the sixth person involved in the appeal.

The ICC and BCB had expressed displeasure at some of the rulings when they were announced earlier this year. The two boards have been coordinating on the matter from the start - it began to be investigated only after the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit had brought to the BCB's attention the instances of possible corruption in the BPL.