Asif’s former girlfriend to meet the ICC

Former girlfriend of Pakistan fast-bowler Mohammad Asif, Veena Malik has been asked to give evidence to the ICC.

KARACHI: Former girlfriend of Pakistan fast-bowler Mohammad Asif, Veena Malik has been asked to give evidence to the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption Unit after the actor’s claims about Asif’s involvement in match-fixing.

Veena’s manager Sohail Rashid said that she was approached by the ICC after she claimed to have evidence, just hours after Asif was alleged to have taken money for bowling an intentional no-ball during the fourth test against England. However, an ICC spokesman said the game’s governing body does not comment on the ongoing investigations of its Anti-Corruption Unit.

“A senior police officer called me and told me that an ICC Anti-Corruption Unit official will meet me to ascertain the veracity of the revelations I made about Asif and his links with Indian bookies,” Veena told the Times of India.

The film actress had claimed in a television interview that she had evidence of links between Asif and an Indian bookmaker and that the Sydney Test between Pakistan and Australia last summer was fixed. She has alleged that Asif had personally told her about this and she had also met the Indian bookmaker.

Asif had been embroiled in an off-field controversy earlier in 2006, when he was sent home before the Champions Trophy in India after testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone along with fellow paceman Shoaib Akhtar. Two years later, he was detained at Dubai for 19 days when a small amount of opium was found in his wallet as he transferred at the airport.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2010.