Pakistanis delay release of judicial report to ICC
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) might have been delaying the release of their long-awaited judicial report into match-fixing and betting allegations, according to highly placed sources close to the ICC
Bipin Dani
27-Feb-2000
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) might have been delaying the release
of their long-awaited judicial report into match-fixing and betting
allegations, according to highly placed sources close to the
ICC. According to information made available to this correspodent, the
Australian Cricket Board and the BCCI have already submitted their
findings to the ICC which have been okayed by the international
body. However the PCB is said to have asked for some more time and may
not submit the report until ICC's annual meeting in June. But in
the meantime the careers of some of their accused players may be wound
down.
Lahore High Court (LHC) judge Mian Malik Mohammed Qayyum questioned
some 75 witnesses, including the then Australian captain Mark Taylor
and batsman Mark Waugh during a private hearing in Lahore during
Australia's tour in 1998. Last year, court registrar Salam Abdus
Khawar also travelled to Melbourne to question Waugh and Shane Warne
after it was revealed they had taken money from illegal bookmakers for
providing certain routine information. Qayyum filed his report halfway
through last year to the Government of Nawaz Shariff. The Shariff
Government was overthrown, a peaceful military coup took charge and
the report remains in the new Government?s hands.
During the recent ICC meeting in Singapore, the PCB chairman is
believed to have been asked to submit the findings. However, they
would do so only in London in June.
Sources in Pakistan have confirmed that former captain Wasim Akram
didn't step down on his own citing illness as the reason (he has
been a high diabetic patient) but was pressured to stand down from the
captaincy because of the match-fixing allegations.
It is believed that Qayyum found strong evidence of involvement in
match-fixing by some leading players and has recommended that those
players not be picked for Pakistan until the matter is settled. The
PCB is likely to have been waiting for their star cricketers to
retire. The main accused Salim Malik has not played Test cricket for
Pakistan for more than a year. His career seems now to be
finished. Leading batsman Ijaz Ahmed too is not among the runs and may
retire any day. The PCB chairman Tauqir Zia, when contacted at his
Mangala residence, was not available for comments.