Prosecutors said Butt, 26, confirmed in a telephone call with his agent – a conversation recorded by an undercover journalist – that he would bat out a maiden in the third Test at the Oval in August 2010.
Butt is on trial with fast-bowler Mohammad Asif, 28, on charges of conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, and conspiracy to cheat at gambling. They have both pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee told Southwark Crown Court that Butt’s agent Mazhar Majeed rang the journalist from the now-closed News of the World tabloid, after an earlier arrangement for no-balls to be bowled in exchange for £10,000 fell through.
‘Damaging evidence concerning Butt’
In what Jafferjee said was “potentially damning evidence concerning Salman Butt directly”, a plan emerged for Butt to bat out a maiden in the first full over he faced.
The journalist said that could happen in any case and that he wanted proof, so Majeed called Butt on his other phone and put it on loudspeaker so the reporter could hear.
“You know the maiden we were doing in the first over?” said Majeed.
“Yeah”, Butt replied. Majeed then tried to get him to do another in his third over, but Butt did not want to, the jury heard.
The following day Majeed met the journalist, then texted Butt four times to remind him to tap the middle of the pitch after the second ball he faced as a signal that he would bat out that over.
Jafferjee said that day, “as events transpired at the Oval, matters were somewhat out of Butt’s control”, as he had come in to bat earlier than expected, faced a new ball and had to take a single run.
The journalist had pressed Majeed on why the promise he had paid for had not materialised. Majeed explained and the reporter said he wanted a no-ball or something from Butt.
Majeed said he could have two ‘brackets’ for £150,000 in the next Test at Lord’s. A bracket is where bets are made on incidents during a certain period of play, for example 10 overs.
“As events would prove, he got a bit of both — no-balls from Asif and [Mohammad] Amir which could not have taken place without Butt’s complete involvement,” said Jafferjee.
Pakistan bowler Amir and Majeed have also been charged with the same offences but are not standing trial alongside Butt and Asif.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2011.
COMMENTS (30)
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@Antanu:
Not instigating a crime but "entrapment". I have no idea if that is legal or not.
This not good for Pakistan.
@M.A.S:
I think Israelis could also be involved in this. hehe
@Sal: but it still does not justify the act of allowing the crime
@sajid:
I agree that they should be punished. However they do have the right to a trial which is ongoing. personal views aside we should withhold judgement until the same is given by a court much more fairer than those in our country.
Immature minds can only get trapped into this net. The mafia behind it was cleverly working to trap the young guns of Pakistan who were moving fast on the glory ladder. This is a very good chance to expose the mafia and the ones involved in this including Majeed. If not then, it surely proves that ICC and many other boards including BCCI are behind this sop opera. This all happened to Pakistan cricket in no time. Srilankan team attacked. Stealing away the venues for the WC. Spot fixing scandle. and Not exposing the ones who were involved other then the Pakistani cricketers.
What lead this incident to happen?
@antanu. Please do know that in English law any evidence adduced through questionable/unauthorised means is either not allowed before court and if it is allowed the method through which it was adduced is brought to the knowledge of the jury and therefore, carries less weight.
@Azim: agreed
there must be somebody in PCB highup who(???) who are or is behind these Players. . !!!
There is no right way of doing a wrong thing - What these looser's did (if proven) is wrong and punishable without any excuse. And also let's not challenge the system in UK, we all know the owners of the same British tabloid (now off .air) are under question of violation of privacy and misconduct by the same system.
I was shocked and a still feel ashamed as a Pakistani - Despite the fact Mr. Butt comes from a good educated family background he still ends up mocking our national pride and dignity for few quick bucks. I feel our legal system should also come forward and punish any of our hero's as and when they start trading our a national interest as well as bringing a bad name to the country and game we all love so much.
And to all my Pakistani brothers, use this time as opportunity to also reflect the situation in our society, we have got used to taking short cuts - People amongst us who also become our hero's are people like us, people who pay the police instead of taking a Chalan, people who do utmost to avoid paying taxes with an excuse of whats the use / return, giving and taking undue favours for personal interest etc without realising that they are actually playing a key role in destroying the fabric and values of any good society.
I feel there is a Butt in all of us, lets also try to get this butt out from our way of thinking and living - for sake of our country, our children, and believe it or not for the sake of the day of judgement.
@My two cents: You are right bro....Pakistani trios were declared corrupt because they were nabbed...but those who did evade the radar are clean...your point is well taken.
@Abhi: And how could you say that I dont want these types of incidents to be reported. I simply said that it should have been brought to the notice of authorities prior to the crime actually perpetrated. The proofs were enough to hang the players anyway.
@Abhi: No its not pure investigative journalism...its pure yellow journalism.You favour this only because of involvement of Pakistanis. You would have condemned it if any Indian was involved in the deal. Take a break and get blind by your simple hate towards Pakistan.Fight them where it is really needed but dont do id with biased mind.
the process journo adopted is called sting operation and its a pretty famous and handy tool of journo to expose the CHARACTER of a person to world. this comes out of gambit of trials and punishment.
its a famous and controversial thing which exposed many corrupt govt officials and minister in India eventually making them go jail.
sting operation are not punishable under law and are considered weapon of journo.
Salman Butt should not bother coming back to his homeland. Very depressing state of affairs
Corruption is rampant here, we have to admit that, starting from students cheating in exams to govt institutions to sports. But no one can beat Zardari the president in that. So enough of the conspiracy theories, instead of blaming others, start looking at yourself.
@Abhi: Its not what you make out. In the name of "many previous instance" u can not let a felony happen.Its just like a you let go a murderer and bait him to do another so that he or she is nabbed red handed.Think of it.
If we see the history, this part of the world has been ruled by so many dynasties. Partly, due to lack of character, as people will conspire against their own people to gain advantage (monetary as well as any other benefits). See examples of Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq and you can find many. This is in our blood, which is by birth. In sub-continent most of the peoples are circumstantially righteous. For example a labour will not do anything wrong as he will not have a chance or may not enjoy any authority to do wrong. You will find people at the point of authority doing this, take any of our top executive or people working in police etc, and you will find many examples (note that for executive they do enjoy good standard of living and some of them may be richest people around, they may not need money through hoax or fraud to meet their ends). You can see some of the example of Indian Ministers who are now being inquired for money made illegally. I am not saying everyone is bad but the ratio of being bad and good is high in sub-continent. Unfortunately, this spot-fixing is one such example and I am sure it may have been done before by others who were not caught. I recommend that they get this lesson and meanwhile people to come have such an example to learn from.
@antanu Take a chill pill dude this is not murder! ths is pure and simple investigative journalism, also do you think this is the only time when this guy did spot fixing? rest of the cases are unreported and hence these players have enjoyed their cricketing career so far. Asking to prosecute journalist you have clearly indicated that you don't want this kind of incidence to be reported.
These two should be jailed. However what about the reporter who intentionaly lured them into the crime knowing very well that coming from poor backgrounds these players were easist possible baits. Furthermore on having prior info of the setup with documentory proofs why the reporter did not approach the authorities to prevent the crime? Its like knowing about a murder plot but do nothing to prevent it and sit on the proof just to earn money by breaking the news after the crime is committed. Did not the reporter also belonged to the same league.I m sure he would have charged hefty fee for the scoop. The question is what action did the law has taken against the reporter who abated into the crime?
Former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt agreed to score no runs in an over during a crucial game against England as part of a betting scam, Why would anybody pay salman butt to "score no runs in an over"? That is not match fixing, that salman butt's natural game. whole pakistani nation (PCB) was paying tons of money to salman butt for years to "score many runs in every over", guess what? he never listened to PCB and did not score runs as per the PCB's payment agreement!!. This proves that salman butt was pure and innocent and that it is a conspiracy to defame pakistan by ICC and of course BCCI.
One wonders why the jurnalist was spared for instigating a crime? ICC should also take this into consideration. After all the reporter was well aware that comparatively poor players were most likely to take the bait. Further the reporter also violated the ethics by knowing and having recorded proof for ensuing crime did not approach the authorities till the crime was actualy committed. Did not he play a role in the crime oon the pretext of investigative journalism? Its like u have prior information of a murder plot with documentary proof but intentionaly did not try to prevent it and as such abated in the crime
One thing remains questionable. Players were deliberately lured by the journalist. What action is being taken against him for instigating a crime?
I wonder where are those browbeating Pakistani Conspiracy theorists. All those media personalities that were going gung-ho and how the world is after Pakistan and, England trying to take out the trio. It is time for people of Pakistan to judge for themselves and think dispassionately & reasonably and realize the lies they were being fed.
We the people of Pakistan blame the politicians... govt servants.. rulers for all the bad things but what is our behaviour?
we are all corrupt in our limited domains... each one of us guilty of either compromising/neglecting corruption or being part of corruption... from a door man to president.. all corrupt!!