LONDON:
When the scandal broke, the trio somewhat naively thought they could make a swift return to the cricket pitch. Now they face the prospect of a few years behind bars.
Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif were found guilty on Tuesday by a unanimous verdict on the charge of “conspiracy to cheat”. A 10-2 majority decision was returned on the charge of “conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments”. The players showed no emotion when the verdicts were read out.
Mohammad Amir, who pleaded guilty to the two charges before the trial began, will now be given a “Newton Hearing” in which the judge hears his side of the story and no official jury is present.
The jury took 16 hours and 56 minutes to debate the verdict, with the judge, Justice Cooke, expected to sentence the players on Wednesday (today) or Thursday. Butt and Asif face up to seven years in jail or large fines; Amir may also face prison, though his guilty plea could induce a reduced sentence. The trio have already been banned from playing by the International Cricket Council for a minimum of five years.
The spot-fixing plot was orchestrated by Butt and sports agent Mazhar Majeed, London’s Southwark Crown Court was told. The jury heard how an undercover reporter recorded Majeed brag about arranging for Pakistan players to rig games for money. Majeed said he had been fixing matches for over two years and had made “masses and masses of money.”
Majeed promised the reporter that Asif and Amir would deliver three no-balls at specific points during the Lord’s Test in England last year. The no-balls were bowled as promised, with the probability of someone predicting this by chance estimated by a cricket statistician as 1.5 million to one. Butt and Asif denied any involvement in the plot, leading to the nearly month-long trial.
The guilty verdicts came on the day Butt’s wife Gul gave birth to their first son in Lahore. “It is a day of sadness and happiness for us,” Butt’s father Zulfiqar Butt told Reuters.
The ‘vulnerable 18-year-old’
Amir’s perspective will now be heard directly by the judge. Legal media restrictions, intended to ensure the jury was not influenced, meant that Amir’s plea could not be publicised before the case finished.
“Amir wants to make it clear he wants to take full responsibility for what he did by bowling two deliberate no-balls,” Amir’s barrister Ben Emmerson QC said at the pre-trial.
“This vulnerable 18-year-old boy, as he was then, was subjected to extreme pressure from those upon whom he should have been able to rely. He recognises the damage he has caused Pakistan cricket and he wishes to do his best to put that right.”
Other players under scrutiny
Pakistan cricket followers hoping to draw a line under Tuesday’s verdict may have to wait a little longer.
The ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit is set to launch further investigations into Pakistan’s ill-fated 2010 tour of England. Text messages recovered during the trial revealed that more Tests might have been affected by spot-foxing.
During the trial tapes emerged in which Majeed boasted he “controlled” seven Pakistan players: Kamran and Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz and Imran Farhat, in addition to Butt, Amir, and Asif.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2011.
COMMENTS (48)
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@malik: You are being sarcastic but alas, people have lost sense of humor. On the other hand one never knows you could be serious, I hope not! Regards, Mirza
I think , everybody were involved. But, you know only the people , who were caught.What is guaranty that witnesses are not involved? If there are witnesses, It means they also supported them. If they didn't , then why they did not stop them at the same time?
@Malik, You are a "strategic asset" of Pakistan!
@maz3tt: They may be Pakistani citizens, however they commited a crime in UK and so were tried in court and found guilty, now for the sentencing, get ready for the shock here as these guys are going to be locked up and we the poor UK taxpayers will end up footing the bill too for their stay !!!!! Being a Pakistani citizen does not qualify for immunity from prosecution for commiting a crime !!! Maybe in pakistan it does, but not in rest of the world !!!
@Malik: I just hope you are being sarcastic here.
while it is clear these boys did something wrong and will most likely be punished for their illegal activities....but let us not forget the days of Gooch and Botham when these tricks were polished and in fact started by the very English players whose game cricket is....while i will not in any manner deminish the blame on these cricketer's shoulders, one should also question the checks and balance system of our very own PCB (whose chairman Ijaz Butt was an ungroomed person who got the position because of his close relations with the defense minister).....the PCB hires young boys, gives them huge contracts, but no grooming, no manners and no streamlined approach to their careers, there is also no club cricket in pakistan any more, which extremely diminishes the chances of any shoddy selector of finding out the real "character" of the players they select.....sad situation, which has to be fixed first within the PCB and in turn with the players...
@malik: You are fit to be the next foreign minister of Pakistan as you can defend well.
@malik: well the so called western jury did a much better job than most of our court verdicts in pakistan .Maybe no we can install all religions and women here as well
@malik: lets not make it more embarassing for Pakistanis. They got what they deserved, lets admit it.
Well i think that they should be banned and not imprisoned. I don't know the rules but PCB should certainly look into as they are Pakistani citizens. India certainly would have.
Justice done. Just because of few bad apples like Butt, Asif and Amir, we Pakistanis are called "cheats" the world over.
It's time PCB comes up with tougher rules and harshest punishments for those who dare to tarnish our name.
@Malik: Wrong. You are totally wrong my friend. Indian board would have taken the first step to ban such players and punished them even before ICC. The kind of mentality that you carry of supporting even cheaters of in your country in the name of national pride has hurt you guys most than any thing else.
@malik: Need one ask as to your education backgroud???/ Unlike Pakistan , in UK race, colour, creed, gender or religious beliefs do not get considered for any role in society !!!! If it did, than trust me there would not have been as many mosques in UK as there are !!!!!!!
I am still undecided whether the inbred corruption in society leads to corrupt political class or a corrupt political elites results in acceptance of corruption in society ? Anyways , if Amir is given a prison term ... atleast he would have stronger chance to contest and even win the next elections. He should not get worried as the current turmoil may open a door to future oppertunities and he can even become the president of Pakistan. The prison term if transferred to Pakistan can lead to exceptional oppertunities for 'networking'.
@Hammad: What's PCB got to do with this ! apart from denying the facts and defending the players !! Remember the game concerned was played in UK, and UK does have laws regarding this sort of conduct, hence the criminal charges were brought against the parties concerned and now after having wasted court's time for over a month with their denials , they have been found guilty as charged by Jury !!!!! Get ready to face the music!!!!
@malik:
I like your sarcasm :)
I think it is not possible that all this was going on, and the manager and other officials did not know about it. We have a long history of protection to players ....remember the Waqar-Wasim fiasco in the West Indies - .......There have been some dark days in Pakistan cricket over the years and 18 years ago this incident must have ranked amongst the darkest.
This is what Tony Cozier wrote in the Independent :-
PAKISTAN'S cricket tour of the West Indies has been thrown into jeopardy after the arrest of four players, including the captain Wasim Akram and vice-captain Waqar Younis, on drugs charges in Grenada.
Akram, Waqar, Aqib Javed and Mushtaq Ahmed, along with two female tourists and a local man, were arrested on the beach at the team's hotel on Thursday night. They were charged with 'being in possession of a controlled drug'. Police said tests would determine the the drug, but it was thought to be marijuana.
Ofcourse they were well protected in Pakistan by the officials that matter, yet sold their stories to British Newspapers later.......
If they had been prosecuted at that time, perhaps ------Butt & Co. would not have done what they did now.......
It is very good to me that they have been convicted. Thank God, Pakistani nation does not conspire this time the external hands that is eager to strike the Pakistan's sovereignty. Thank God. But this time I wanna know who has led the agent to bribe Pakistani players and surely many other countries must have been bribed.
dont drop the soap
If we really want to save our cricket then we have to take some serious action against these players in my opinion if these 3 are really guilty then our judiciary must order 14 years prison to them and all of their assets should be sold and money should be given to some trust.
Where are those people hiding who claimed it a conspiracy of BCCI, RAW and Indians ?
@malik: they cannot cheat??? are they God-sent angels or something?? Muslims kill and do all sorts of bad stuff, just like people from other religions do, people are people, Muslim or not... your eyes are closed still...and obviously you don't know anything about Western Justice systems, it is nothing like what you get in Pakistan but your close minded will not get you or me any far, good luck ..Pakistan's future doesn't look very bright with people like you around and most unfortunately .you are in majority!!
Assalam-o-Allaikum Warahmatullah.All the culprits involved in match spot fixing scandal must be given stern punishment and must be banned forever from international cricket and in this regard PCB or Pakistani government should never do any thing to protect them on any platform.They defamed Pakistan's and its cricket and they never be allowed to play again from PCB in the future.
I didn't have sympathy for what they did but what about the names Mazhar Majeed claiming of including in spot fixing.. Did ICC taking any action against the players of Australlia or India??
they deserve it this is a very small punishment compared with the insult they gave to pakistan
@Manju: that was totally irrelevant & lame from you !
I want to know the details about the member of the Jury. How many of them were Christians, Jews and Hindus? Because these people, will naturally be biased against Pakistanis.
How many of them were women? You know very well a woman is worth half that of a man in testimony. When such is the case, how can a woman sit on jury duty?
Just like a muslim cannot kill another muslim, a muslim from Pakistan cannot cheat in sport.
No pardon for both of them.
Well, you cant blame the Pakistan cricketers only for indulging in betting scandal. The country's top establishments issue denials almost on daily basis despite being on the wrong side and intolerance is prevalent throughout the country. The whole envorinment in Pakistan has become so polluted that it is adversely affecting the mindset of majority of people living in this country. However, those who pray to the Almighty Allah daily without malice and hatred towards others, would not be affected but their percentage would be a meagre twenty or so.
They deserve capital punishment, they are traitors.
Well i guess this symptomatic of large social malaise prevalent in the Sub-Continent or most developing countries.But the problem is Pakistan doesn't seem to take any correction action on such issues which is hurting Pakistan's Image. @mirza:I guess more realistic and honest Pakistani like yourself should help Pakistan with it's Image makeover.
If they were other than Pakistanis they would have given less punishment. Anyways crime is crime and they should be penalized. The only thing i feel bad about is, we (Pakistanis) never leave any chance to defame our country by committing such bad deeds.
And people are forgetting something.. This is obviously the conspiracy of RAW, Mossad and CIA to defame Pakistan...
Both of these guys should get maximum term and fine.They are a disgrace tot he nation and the game.
We need to root out all of them and remove them from our team. Along with that, the inept Pakistani cricket board needs to be looked into.
its just like " chori ki saza phaansi ".....! they shud've banned frm cricket but not jailed...! Shame on PCB...!
The time is now to reform and metamorphose ourselves into better human beings and Muslims and whatever vocation we profess. Asif, Salman and Aamer will face shame and distance. Let us see what the new chairman of PCB does.
There can be no two opinions on that. It is time our politicians also heed and count their lucky stars that they have not been brought to accountability as yet. But the day will come, INSHA'ALLAH.
Salams to Pakistan
Majority of us Pakistanis are convinced that we are smartest people on earth when it comes to dupe others. This is a blow to this mentality.
Amir finally told the truth instead of continuous lies after lies like the other two hardened criminals. No wonder the two guilty men did not show any emotions. It was neither their first nor the last such crime. If it were Punjab HC they would have gone free by now and already playing cricket. Thank God there is justice in the western world. It is not surprising that some Pakistanis do not like western system of justice and government. Let us hope that they put these two away for good seven years and fine them much more than they have made. Amir should be dealt with some mercy for finally accepting responsibility and showing remorse, unlike these hardened criminals. We can blame any foreign country or our govt but the culture of corruption is not new. Pakistan is one of the few countries where we add water in milk, produce fake drugs and baby formula, hoarding, price gouging, etc., for a long time. No single person can change it, not CJ of SC not any party leader, we all have to be responsible and stop making excuses for everything wrong we do.
good thing Amir accepted his mistake, unlike the other two who lied). Best of luck to him for "Newton hearing:
Now ICC should scratch that Test from the record books.