Suspended Pakistan Trio to Return Home

The three Pakistani players at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal will return home within the next 48 hours Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik has said. The imminent return of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir does not, however, mean they are cleared from the ongoing criminal investigation: the government of Pakistan, Malik said, will provide a written assurance that the players be made available if needed for further investigations.

 

"We have spoken to Scotland Yard, and the [Pakistan] high commissioner to the UK, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, has also been in talks with them and they have agreed that the players can return to Pakistan," Malik told ESPNcricinfo.

A source close to the negotiations said the Pakistan team was waiting for a final green signal from Scotland Yard. "There are 30 per cent chances of them going on Friday and 70 per cent on Saturday," the source said. All three, the source added, would travel back together.

 

The trio were provisionally suspended by the ICC last Thursday and were quizzed by police the next day for their alleged role in bowling deliberate no-balls during the fourth Test at Lord's between England and Pakistan; an undercover sting operation by the tabloid News of the World apparently revealed that they had done so at the behest of Mazhar Majeed, an agent to the players. Majeed was arrested but released on bail while the players had their mobile phones confiscated. No charges have been pressed against them yet.

 

The development comes on the same day the PCB chief revealed that Wahab Riaz, the left-arm fast bowler, will be the fourth player to be interviewed by the police in relation to the scandal. Ijaz Butt sounded confident in his press conference at Gaddafi Stadium earlier that the three players would return to Pakistan soon and though he indicated that the criminal case against them might not be as strong, he did not say they would be cleared. The PCB's legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that investigations will continue.

 

The players also have to respond to the suspension notices served to them by the ICC for which they have one more week left. That investigation and process is separate to whatever conclusion police officials reach.

PCB chairman hooted by cricket fans at airport in Lahore

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt was on Wednesday hooted and jeered by angry fans when the veteran administrator landed in the country for the first time since the spot-fixing scandal shocked the world cricket. As soon as Butt came out of the airport terminal, fans raised slogan against him and shouted 'Shame Shame', expressing their anger over the alleged betting scam which hit the image of the country globally.

Butt, who was in London since the expose, was his usual secretive and defensive self, refusing to give out any new details on the ongoing investigations into the scandal involving Test captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers Mohammad Aamir and Muhammed Asif.

But he did say that if any player is found guilty of fixing matches, he would be dealt with severely.

"Right now the PCB can't take any action against the players because the ICC anti-corruption unit is carrying out an inquiry into this matter. But if any player is found guilty he will not be spared," he said.

"Even the police interrogated them for nine hours but let them go without pressing any charges. So we are also waiting for the ICC and Scotland Yard to come up with their findings into this matter," he added.

Butt said the PCB had filed detailed replies to the charge-sheets issued to the players by the ICC but the world governing body wanted the players to respond themselves.

"We had given the ICC a detailed reply to the charge-sheets sent to the players but the ICC said the players themselves must answer the charge-sheet," he said.

Butt was evasive when asked about reports that the ICC was also investigating the Sydney Test between Pakistan and Australia.

"I think we shouldn't be talking about such old issues we need to focus on this current problem and hope it is resolved soon," he added.