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Players to declare assets in Pakistan cricket probe

AFP
11 November 1998



Karachi, Pakistan, Nov 11 (AFP) - A Pakistan judicial commission probing match-fixing allegations on Wednesday decided to order prominent cricketers to declare their assets in the ongoing inquiry. Formal orders to the cricketers to submit details of their assets to the commision will be issued in the next few days, the Pakistan Cricket Board's legal advisor, Ali Sibtain Fazli, told AFP. The one-man commission headed by high court judge Malik Mohammad Qayyum decided to call for a declaration of assets after hearing former cricketers Imran Khan, Majid Khan and Javed Miandad in Lahore.

Fazli, who attended the proceedings, said a list of cricketers who would be asked to make the declarations was yet to be finalised. Former cricket celebrity Imran Khan, now active in national politics at the head of his Movement for Justice party, gave his statement at an open sitting while Majid Khan and national team coach Miandad testified in camera. Majid Khan gave a written statement and a few press clippings to the commission. He also supplied the commission with a few scorecards of matches suspected to have been fixed, sources said.

Imran was quoted as telling the commission that match fixing existed in Pakistan cricket but there was no solid evidence to nail down wrong-doers Fazli said mainly the players who had been accused of match-fixing would be asked to declare assets owned by them or their dependants.

The accusations have focussed on Salim Malik, Wasim Akram and Ejaz Ahmed. All three have denied any wrong-doing. Malik, Wasim and Ejaz were implicated in an interim report of a Pakistan Cricket Board probe committee in September. Sources said the inquiry commission could ask the Federal Investigating Authority (FIA) to investigate the assets if it was considered necessary by the judge.

Any player whose assets were found to be more than his known sources of income would be questioned by the commission, Fazli said. Fazli said the judge warned that he would take ``serious action'' over any deliberate ``lie'' in statements made before the commission.

More than 30 current and former players have so far appeared before the commission set up by the Pakistan government in September. Among them were Wasim, current captian Aamir Sohail, Malik and Ahmed. Sources said Imran Khan told the commission that Sharjah and Bombay were dens of match-fixing and betting, but no concrete proof was available. He replied in the affirmative when asked whether any player ever confessed to him his involvement in match-fixing. ``Ata-ur-Rehman told me he took money from Wasim Akram on bowling badly in a one-day match against New Zealand in 1993-94 at Christchurch,'' the former captain said.

Imran denied knowing any bookie personally. ``When I started playing cricket in early 70s there was nothing like match fixing. It came as a bang when Australian players accused Malik of offering them bribes and now every time Pakistan loses there have been such allegations,'' Imran said.

Fazli said Imran helped the case by making his statement in an open court. Australian spinners Shane Warne and Tim May and later Mark Waugh alleged Malik offered them bribes to perform poorly during the 1994-95 tour of Pakistan. Malik was absolved of the charges by a former Pakistani Supreme Court judge when the Australians opted not to come to Pakistan for cross-examination in 1995.

The commission will hold the next hearing on Tuesday.


Source: AFP
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