PCB panel ends work on Asif case

The PCB committee looking into fast bowler Mohammad Asif's 19-day detention at the Dubai Airport for drug possession has concluded its work and will pass on its recommendations to the board chairman Ijaz Butt.

"We concluded our work into this case today after meeting Asif," Wasim Bari, PCB director HR and head of the three-man committee, told Cricinfo. "In a day or so, our recommendations will be passed on to the board chairman and they will take further action."

Though the committee has remained silent on the possible punishment - unconfirmed reports in recent days suggest he might receive a heavy financial penalty only - it is now clear that Asif was deported from Dubai and might not find it easy to travel there again. As Pakistan are likely to be playing in the UAE regularly in the future, it is a concern for the board.

"Asif didn't provide any document to us as he had said he would about his deportation and future entry into Dubai," Bari said. "We have given him plenty of time to hand it in and given him flexibility but he didn't provide us with anything. He did turn up today and we thanked him for his cooperation." The committee itself has a letter from the Dubai public prosecutor stating that Asif was deported.

Asif turned up for the final hearing today with his lawyer, but the lawyer was not allowed to attend, the committee arguing it was an internal board hearing and not a legal matter as such. Asif did not insist on the lawyer's presence.

Asif was detained in Dubai last June on his way back from the first season of the IPL. In documents in the possession of Cricinfo, prosecutors in Dubai confirmed that he was found with a small quantity of opium; he was let off without a charge ultimately, local authorities arguing that the offence was a 'trivial' one and a case not worth pursuing. But in the documents it clearly states that Asif was deported.

Asif is currently banned from playing any form of cricket till September, after he tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid Nandrolone during the IPL last year. That was already the second time in his brief international career that he has tested positive for the same steroid, having once done so just before the Champions Trophy in 2006.