According to India TV’s sting operation, the six umpires were ready to be bribed to give wrong decisions during the recently concluded Twenty20 World Cup and Sri Lanka Premier League in August.
The alleged umpires are Nadeem Ghauri and Anees Siddiqui of Pakistan, Nadir Shah of Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka's Gamini Dissanayake, Maurice Winston, Sagara Gallage, while a seventh umpire, Bangladesh’s Sharfudoullah Shahid Saikat refused to give any favour in return for money.
In the sting operation, conducted in July and August, reporters said they belonged to a sports management company and promised the umpires assignments in different events around the world, largely domestic Twenty20 leagues.
A sting operation by the same channel had earlier exposed five Indian players involved in spot-fixing in the domestic circuit, including the illustrious Indian Premier League (IPL).
Amongst the officials interrogated on camera, only Shah and Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid represent the current umpire panel of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The channel, however, claimed that Sharfudoullah refused to give any favour in lieu of money offered by the undercover reporters.
It is noteworthy that no Indian umpires were targeted in the operation.
But Shah, who has officiated in 40 one-day internationals and three T20 Internationals, was ready to fix any match at international or domestic level. He also claimed that Pakistani batsman Nasir Jamshed "fixed" matches in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the channel said.
He added that umpires from Bangladesh were always ready to 'help' their country's cricketers.
However, talking to Reuters, Shah flatly denied the allegations made against him, saying, "This is a plot to malign my character. I was taken to Delhi by a Bangladeshi agent to sign a contract for umpiring in the Sri Lanka Premier League.
But when I saw these people are corrupt, I changed my decision and did not conduct any match in the SLPL. I was never involved in anything like fixing."
In another video of the sting, Sri Lankan umpire Gallage agreed to accept Rs50,000 for disclosing vital information regarding pitch report, weather, toss, and the playing elevens of India and Pakistan prior to their World Twenty20 warm-up match on September 17.
He was the fourth umpire in the game.
Umpire Dissanayake went a step ahead, who claimed that providing liquor to Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) officials, one could get any work done.
In the reporter’s conversation with former ICC Pakistani umpire Ghauri, the latter promised to do anything in return for a payment.
He has officiated in 43 ODIs and 14 Tests with his last international game being back in November 2010.
Ghauri also revealed that racism was prevalent in the ICC, saying that if some Asian umpire gave an incorrect decision then the ICC considered it as an intentional one, while a mistake from a ‘white skin’ umpire would be considered as human error.
According to the channel, Ghauri's countryman Siddiqui was also willing to give a decision in India’s favour for money, adding that that he would ‘manage’ the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to accept a decision favourable to India.
Ghauri denies allegations
Ghauri has denied the match-fixing allegation against him, saying that he was never involved in officiating any of the games in the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL), Express News reported.
He added that although he was approached by India to officiate in the SLPL but no Pakistani umpire was involved in that Twenty20 league. All umpires in the SLPL were from Sri Lanka.
Transcript of the alleged interview with Ghauri:
Reporter (R)- Achha achha maan lijiye jaise LBW hai
Nadeem (N)- Haan ji
R – Leg before wicket
N- haan
R – isme, uska khiladi ka favour ho sakta hai
N – Hann, bilkul bilkul.
R- to ye favour kar denge aap?
N – Haan, bilkul ye hosakta hai.
R – Haan to isi tareeke ke, jaise maan lijiye bahut close nick hota hai bat se, Caught behind the wicket hota hai.
N – Haan ye bhi theek hai, kyonki wahaan jakar jo meeting hoti hai usme ye dekhna padega ki Snickometer to nahi hai ya Hawkeye to nahi hai.
'Umpires not involved in any World T20 games'
The ICC said in a statement: "The ICC and its relevant members have been made aware of the allegations made by India TV this evening and calls on the station to turnover any information which can assist the ICC's urgent investigations into this matter.
"The ICC re-iterates its zero-tolerance towards corruption whether alleged against players or officials. The ICC confirms that none of the umpires named were involved in any of the official games of the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka."
The World Twenty20 tournament ended on Sunday.
COMMENTS (63)
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thanks
Haha most of the comments are really funny and some downright stupid. Pakistanis are oh-so honest that any fingers that point at them are a conspiracy.
One example of stupidity
Indians are Cry babies
Now the only people crying seem to be Pakistanis on this forum
Another gem Shame on you india jealous peoples
Jealous of what?? that we defeated you in the tournament??
Guys come on. This is not about India, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka. Whoever the channel target (or ignore completely) is not the point. The point is, these people are corrupt, and they should be considered corrupt before considering them Pakistani.
I think thats our problem, Punjabi ghalat ho tou Sindh ki saazish, Pakistani ghalat ho tou India ki sazish.
India is the epicentre of illegal betting and match fixing. They are just good at hiding things.
ICC knows it, had it been any other country, they would have banned it for 50 years.
my dear pakistani brothers......Indians are corrupt too..but they do have some more matter between their ears..imagine discussing match fixing techniques on skype??
yet again the whole issue has been clouded by the India did it theory..coz they lost......????Fact is that this sting was carried out some months back......India TV is a private channel.....they got the BCCI on the backfoot when it exposed some fringe IPL players who too did not play any matches.
No where does it say that Indian umpires are above board....when salman butt and friends were arrested and jailed in the UK...why did the Pakistani cricket fans like the ones here make a hue and cry about it and make it to be a ECB controversy??Can you imagine any Pakistani players being jailed in India..yet they did not make a noise and quietly went to jail in the UK..why so??? Lets stop crying wolf.....cheaters are cheaters .....India has beaten pakistan in every world cup game and India have been thrashed in sharjah all these years....these have no connection to the corruption in the game which needs to be stopped.
Watch "11th Hour" by Waseem Badami - Oct. 8, 2012. Here is the link:
http://www.awaztoday.com/News-Talk-Shows/28267/11th-Hour-8th-October-2012.aspx
Nadeem Ghauri confirms that he said to the Indian TV channel reporter that he cannot discuss such matters at that place. Head of the sting operation of the Indian TV channel says that he is willing to send to ICC or any investigation agency and also to the 11th Hour tack show full unedited taped conversations of nearly 22 hours. He also claims that Nadeen Ghauri even discussed the modalities of taking to Pakistan the $15,000 bribe offer. He also confirms that they tried to target Indian players and also umpires but they were not successful as the Indians were too careful after the recent sting operation exposure of the Indian players. Nor were they successful in getting a contact to the other umpires. He also confirms that one Bangladeshi umpire was very honest and refused to oblige.
hahahahaha dy culd nt find an indian empire .....
ET Please don't take India TV seriously.... Its nothing but a big joke!! No one in India believes in its reports. Even its most serious discussions looks like stand up comedy. Its one of the most unprofessional news channels of India. Request you to please stay away from their reporting, that idiotic channel is not worth being mentioned in ET.
@Alapan: Now you have started criticizing Pakistanis on English as well, I believe Indians cannot digest their foods until n unless they blame/criticize Pakistanis!!
@Fake Yuri Kondratyuk:
Do you realize that spoofing my identity only shows weakness of your character? ET has built a fair, free and perhaps one of the best moderated forums. Not to mention the knowledgeable and enlightening contributions of the general public that posts here. Do you really want to spoil this beautiful collective effort for a few seconds of smug mischief?
considering the fact that how ethical these umpires,this shouldn't be surprising at all. Pakistan umpire mired in ‘sex scandal’ who can forget the cricket players who were caught red handed for cheating and were jailed in UK .And,recent Olympics scandal,where a British media exposed how passports were faked and given without any security checks from the establishment.
Stop accusing the Indian media of bias. The same Indian media along with Delhi Police exposed match fixing in the 90s implicating India's own star players like Azhar and Jadeja. The same India TV carried a sting not many months back implicating India's own domestic players for spot-fixing. Now just because Pakistanis are involved, it becomes some grand BCCI conspiracy? Investigative journalism is well established in India and sting operations are carried every other day. Sitting cabinet ministers have been exposed and sent to jail and high-profile cases turned on their head. If there is corruption in Indian cricket, Indian media will be the first to report it. Surely, BCCI is not more powerful than the Indian government? So if the media can carry sting operations on ministers, it can very well carry them on Indian players. And it has done so in the past. Were it not for Indian media, no one would have known about match-fixing in the 90s. Instead of blaming it, take off your jingoistic glasses and thank it.
point to note, all these alleged umpired belonged to Indian neighbour. None of them is Indian. What India tried to prove !
stop crying indians.
@Taimoor: You are welcome. Always glad to help our neighbors.
Can we at least wait for ICC report on this whole saga? ICC has asked India TV to hand-over evidence for further investigation. Lets wait for the result. In twitter age we are really quick to jump the gun.
I am quitting to watch this sick game. Cricket has become a joke.
Pakistanis hiding their loser and cheating faces...go and check youtube...videos have been uploaded clearly showing the umpires were ready to fix the matches..and btw to all the Pakistanis who have problem with understanding english..the report is not saying anything happened during world t20 or SLPL..only the umpires were ready to fix...
@MUG: you're free to run a sting on Indian umpires, in fact we will be grateful if you can expose any moles that might be there in our system too. I am saddened by the majority of the comments here - are you people trying to say that for you to be convinced that a Pakistani is guilty, an Indian too has to be found guilty necessarily of the same offence? I don't think that logic, applied the other way to your people, would be acceptable to you.
@Jat: Oh thank you so much one less indian to deal with now only 1299999999 more indians to go
Reply to the indian supporting their umpires:
Yesterday ICC said there is no indian umpire in the elite panel and indians are trying hard to get one . cricinfo article regarding CLT20.
Breaking news among the British media is that there is evidence through Skype recording of these umpires doing these corrupt practices. I remember when the Pakistani players were caught for match fixing a couple of years ago even the Pakistani High Commissioner accussed India of conspiracy. Subsequent events proved that it was nothing to do with India. This incident should prove the final nail in the coffin for Pakistan cricket (and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh). Can the last person leaving Pakistan switch off the lights please.
Kudos to umpire, Bangladesh’s Sharfudoullah Shahid Saikat who refused to give any favour in return for money.
Pakistanis cannot be guilty unless Indians are also found guilty.
@True Voice of Pakistan: they can be targeted but one cannot be implicated if one is honest - one should keep one's own actions ethical, then one wouldn't need to worry no matter who tries to target us - anyone is free to do a sting on anyone else - what stops channels from other nations doing the same on Indian umpires if that is an issue with Pakistanis? But to get such footage on a sting, you would need an umpire making such statements, right?
To check Indian media's credibility, please:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfJwO-qOz3I
I mean they made a report of such a pathetic issue as a stray camel crossing over. What can you expect? And it doesn't take one man to create a TV report. So, one can easily figure out how sane-minded the media personnel in India are. No offense to the many Indian TV stations and anchors who stick to journalistic ethics.
Strictest action should be taken against these umpires. Indian umpires are scrutinized thoroughly before they are allowed to umpire. BCCI (Board of Cool Cricket - India) makes sure no one in India does this. The character of a man is thoroughly investigated - including interpersonal relations, academic performance, education, financial statistics and other characteristics/traits. The would be umpires are followed for a period of 5 years. After graduation, they are awarded B.Sc - Cricket Umpiring. That is why you never hear of such cases in India. P.S.: As for the IPL players, all were non Indian native players. Cheating has '0' tolerance in India.
India launches IPL It is pointed out that IPL is a hotbed of corruption Lalit Moodi becomes the fall guy Srilanka launches its league Srilanka hosts a successful T20 World cup Umpires taking part in Srilankan league are accused of corruption while making sure that Indian umpires are not targeted... ...India's "He dun it" style... ...and by the way who opposed the Decision Review System (DRS)..and why??? hey do I hear """Innnnnnndiiiiaaaaa"????? better get outta here before ET site gets jammed by trolls wishing to fix me up!
@haris anwar: Not Nasir Jamshed! I think they mean Raina.. That guy was caught with a bookie. He should be behind bars
There should be no protratism in this.............Chor is a chor Indian or Pakistani......1st investigate then punish...........India Tv also exposed IPL..............
No Indian person was involved!!!!!! great....India and its cricket achieved corruption free status
Indian umpires were not part of ICC T20 or SLPL..hence no Indian umpires were part of the targetted umpires. so Pakistanis plz know the facts before starting the usual anti-india rant.
brothers why not watch the clips too.
may your confusion be reduced somewhat.
Regarding indian umpires, i think, there were not any. otherwise, INDIA TV would not have spared any of them. they would be even a better catch and bigger fish, to humiliate BCCI at home.
and, since they have declared that one of them was infact honest. so, do take it with a pinch of salt, but don't dismiss it outrightly.
How convenient that no Indian umpires were mentioned when the IPL is known to be the most corrupt cricket league in the world. India is the epicenter of illegal betting syndicates that have poisoned the game by fixing matches through bribes to players, umpires and cricket officials alike, whenever 'big money' is involved and wherever matches are being played.
ICC needs to investigate the IPL and shut it down if necessary, to stop the spread of this cancer- if the game of cricket is to survive internationally. India's corrupt practices are being 'exported' to the far corners of the world through its betting industry and cricket will be the first casualty with other sports to follow suit, if we are not careful.
India should be made to keep its corrupt practices within its borders and one way to do that is to suspend their membership of the ICC, until they take steps to address the issue.
@Fazil: Sweetheart, you may watch footage of the scandal on you tube
"It is noteworthy that no Indian umpires were targeted in the operation."
And how many "Indian" umpires have you seen officiating in ICC games - warmups and otherwise? Also, the same channel carried a sting targeting Indian domestic players for spot fixing not many months back, resulting in suspensions and bans on those players. So keep your subtle conspiracy theory angle to yourself.
if anynone ever watch "INDIA TV" knows that it is nothing but a comedy channel!
Call it an Indian conspiracy but, it's really not surprising to find a lot of corruption in SE Asian cricket. Not that Indian umpires are morally superior but, they are comparatively better paid. P.S.: Indian media exposed IPL players too.
Every emerging Pakistani Star will be targeted....As Pakistan lost Mohammad Aamir from squad......Now emerging young batsman Nasir Jamsheed is going to be grind......
Either PCB is taking is light in terms of moral and ethical therapy of players against corruption or players are susceptible to mafia guys...
@haris anwar
ICC itself cleared Nasir Jamshed, atleast get your facts right before allegations.
A sting operation by the same channel had earlier exposed five Indian players involved in spot-fixing during the illustrious Indian Premier League (IPL).
This one Indian is staying away from this discussion.
Some of you Pakistanis believe that by default any thing coming from India ought to be wrong, lie, bogus, etc. etc India TV is a well known channel exposing corruption in India. You guys should check the veracity of the charges before commenting a news channel that has just done its job. Don't shoot the messenger
To those kids who think India TV is deliberately not targetting Indians - they have already broadcast a sting on corruption in India's domestic cricket tournaments.
Still a c$ap TV station though.
@Fazil who writes "Pakistani umpirs worstly targeted, just because pak team’s entery in semis and elimination of indian team. Indians please try to digest your defeat."
I think you are wrong.
Pakistani Umpires were targeted because Pakistan raised the K word at UN.
Did they try and investigate Indian and any other nationalities.
This is a sensational news just after the successful completion of T-20 WC in Sri Lanka. Now a free for all will start on ET and Pakistanis are likely to go berserk as two Pakistani umpires have been named in the match fixing but no Indian name figures for the same, which will give Indian trolls a free run.
once again pakistanis are in the news for all the wrong reasons (sigh)
India TV did not approach Indian Upmires surprise
India The land of Pure... and Most Sane Media on Earth ...How ironic !! What is Going on with ET ...
Pakistani umpirs worstly targeted, just because pak team's entery in semis and elimination of indian team. Indians please try to digest your defeat.
I don't find Indian media sources reliable. I am sorry but they lie and sensationalize too much.
indian new channels are not more than a joke
Nothing surprising here.Nasir jamshed's involvement was known during the BPL,it was in the pakistani papers but no action was taken.Now action should be taken against all these umpires so that Cricket can be cleaned up.