ICC, BCB to appeal BPL anti-corruption tribunal's verdict

The ICC has announced that it will appeal, along with the Bangladesh Cricket Board, the verdict of the anti-corruption tribunal set up by the BCB to look into allegations of wrongdoing in the Bangladesh Premier League 2013. The BCB had set up the tribunal after the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit had brought to its attention the instances of possible corruption in the league.

Following its investigation, the BCB's anti-corruption tribunal had found one of the owners of Dhaka Gladiators, Shihab Jishan Chowdhury, guilty of "being party to an effort to fix" a match. Ashraful confessed and pleaded guilty to wrongdoing before the tribunal's investigation, while Sri Lanka legspinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi and New Zealand's Lou Vincent had said they failed to report approaches made to them. Six other players were discharged as not guilty by the tribunal, and both the ICC and BCB had said they were "disappointed" by the ruling.

"The ICC and the BCB can confirm that we have received the full written decision from the Anti-Corruption Tribunal. As previously indicated, we are extremely disappointed at the outcome of the proceedings, and seeing the reasons given by the tribunal for its decision has done nothing to address our concerns," an ICC release stated. "In the ICC's view, clear and compelling evidence of corruption by a number of individuals have not been taken into account properly.

"Having now had the opportunity to review the detailed decision in its entirety and taken advice on it, we believe that we have very strong grounds on which we can base our appeal. We do not believe that the sport would be sending the right message if it does not challenge what, in our opinion, are incorrect findings."

According to the ICC release, the BCB's anti-corruption code, which governs this matter, allows a two-stage appeal process: the first stage is an appeal to the chairman of the BCB's disciplinary panel, and the second allows an appeal to be made to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.