Sports betting and corruption

ICC sets January hearing for Pakistan's Butt, Amir and Asif over fixing scandal

By Michael Casey (CP)

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The International Cricket Council has set a January date for a tribunal to hear the spot-fixing charges against suspended Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif.

The hearing will be held from Jan. 6 until Jan. 11 in Doha, Qatar and be conducted by a three-person tribunal that includes Michael Beloff, chief of the ICC's code of conduct commission. Justice Albie Sachs from South Africa and Sharad Rao from Kenya will also be on the tribunal.

The ICC described the allegations as the sport's biggest fixing scandal in a decade. It charged the trio with corruption in September and suspended them after a British tabloid alleged money was paid for bowling no-balls at prearranged times against England to fix spot-betting markets.

Last month, Beloff rejected a request by Butt and Amir to have their suspensions lifted which would have allowed them to the join current series in the United Arab Emirates against South Africa. After the hearing, their lawyers demanded the ICC set a hearing date.

The January hearing means the trio will probably be excluded from the team's 30-member list of probable players for next year's World Cup. The team must submit the list by Nov. 30 and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt has said the three could only be included if they were exonerated by the ongoing investigation.

Salman Butt and Amir had described the spot-fixing accusations as a conspiracy against Pakistan and wanted the government and the cricket board to help them in the dealing with their cases. Instead, the PCB earlier this month suspended the contracts of all three.

The scandal broke when the News of the World newspaper accused Butt, Amir and Asif of being paid by businessman Mazhar Majeed to deliberately bowl no-balls during a test at Lord's in August. Majeed, who was also arrested and questioned by police, appeared to accept 150,000 pounds (C$243,990) from reporters posing as front men for a Far East gambling cartel.

On Sept. 2, the ICC charged the three with various offences under the sport's anti-corruption code relating to "alleged irregular behaviour" during the fourth test against England — charges that could lead to life bans.