ICC's releases Pakistan corruption findings for outside UK only

Documents detailing an independent tribunal's deliberations not available in Britain because of legal rules.

LONDON: Cricket's governing body on Wednesday released its findings from a corruption investigation which resulted in three Pakistan players being banned at the weekend for five years.

The document detailing an independent tribunal's deliberations was not available in Britain because of forthcoming criminal charges faced there by former captain Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif.

The trio are accused of fixing parts of matches in a test match against England last August. An International Cricket Council (ICC) statement quoted chief Haroon Lorgat saying: "It is the ICC's intention to be as transparent an organisation as is feasible and to publish all its reports and findings for the benefit of stakeholders."Publishing the full written determination of the tribunal is clearly in the best interest of cricket."

The statement continued, however, that in light of the decision by the British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to pursue criminal charges, a read-only version of the tribunal's determination was available on the ICC website for the next seven days only.

Additionally, only readers outside England and Wales could access it. Under British legal rules which forbid the publication of details which could prejudice the outcome of a future criminal or civil case,  international media companies were unable to give details of the tribunal findings.