Malik replies to show cause notice

Karachi, Aug 7: Former captain Salim Malik has claimed in his sevenpage reply to the show cause notice that there was no legal or factual basis for banning him for life and imposing a cash penalty of Rs one million.

According to the copy of reply to July 19 show cause notice issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Malik has also stated that he has not been given equal treatment under the articles 4 and 25 of the constitution and has been made a scapegoat because he was no longer good enough to represent Pakistan.

Malik, who has hired former Governor of Punjab Shahid Hamid as his counsel, while stressed that the PCB had no authority under the law to impose any of Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum's recommendations, has urged the cricket establishment to withdraw the penalties and award him an opportunity to be heard in person and through his legal advisor.

The PCB has forwarded Malik's reply to Naveed Rasool, former board legal advisor who is now evaluating assets of the players besides helping the board in other legal cases related to betting and matchfixing.

Malik, Pakistan's second most successful batsman after Javed Miandad, argued in his reply that he has been victimized because even though evidence against him and Wasim Akram were identical, he has been banned while the pacer continues to play for Pakistan.

"Please compare the allegations against me and my dear brother Wasim Akram. Then compare the allegations against both of us and finally compare the findings and recommendations.

"I am not to be denied equal treatment and discriminated against simply because I am no longer good enough to be the member of the Pakistan team while another of my respected colleague (Wasim Akram) still has the skills and calibre required for selection," Malik writes in his reply dated Aug 2.

Malik, while citing extracts from Justice Qayyum's report, pointed out that the inquiry commission of Justice Qayyum ignored the settled law and the internationally recognized legal principle that an accused person is entitled to the benefit of every reasonable doubt and is not to be condemned on the testimony of self-confessed habitual gamblers who have taken bribes/presents from bookies and frequently consort with them.

Malik was referring to the allegations of Australian Mark Waugh and Shane Warne who accused the Pakistani of offering them bribes during the first Test of the 1994 Test series in Pakistan. The Australian Cricket Board (ACB), in 1998, admitted that it secretly fined the two for accepted money to provide weather and pitch report in September 1994.

"The IC (inquiry committee) should not have believed Shane Warne's testimony because of the admitted position that he himself is a selfconfessed habitual gambler; because he took bribe/present from a bookie; because it is the case of his words against mine and his word is that of a self-confessed gambler.

"The IC should not have believed Mark Waugh because again it is a case of his word against mine and his word is that of a self-confessed gambler who has admittedly taken a bribe from a bookie and remained in constant/frequent touch with him (bookie)."

Malik contested that there were four specific allegations of matchfixing against him and he has not been found guilt in two of them. He said on the third charge, the IC has not given any finding as the IC as not yet been able to examine one Aftab Butt.

On account of the fourth charge, Malik continued, he has not been found guilty but "attempting to fix the first Test match (against Australia in 1994)".

"Is it not ironical that the one allegation `of which I have been convicted' is not that I was trying to make Pakistan lose but that I tried to ensure Pakistan's victory."

Malik stated that the IC admits in its own report that to fix a match, at least five to seven players. "But at the same time, the commission could not find any conclusive evidence against as many players thus on the while the team is cleared of blame."