Pakistan Trio Suspended by ICC in Spot Fixing Scandal

[Cricket Tragic]

NHoultCricket: Prosecution asking butt what azhar majeed was doing in wahab riaz room after midnight "I suggest he was also up to match fixing" says crown

[Blue Panther]

Salman butt claims he had no idea abt amir's involvement in spot fixing..!!! Salman Butt told the court today he was “clueless” about the £150,000 deal to fix deliberate no balls at the Lord’s Test. The former Pakistan captain said the corrupt arrangements were made without his knowledge “behind his back” between his agent, Mazhar Majeed, and bowler Mohammad Amir. After a hostile cross examination, which included several heated exchanges between the prosecutor and Butt, the player finally stood down from the witness stand after more than 13 hours of giving evidence. The court heard that there were at least 30 calls and texts between Majeed and Butt immediately before and during the controversial Lord’s Test – including some in the early hours and first thing in the morning. One of them was made by Majeed minutes after he had received the suitcase stuffed with £50 notes from the undercover News of the World reporter, the court has heard. Aftab Jafferjee, QC, prosecuting, told Butt that they proved he was “well at it” in terms of fixing. Butt raised his voice on several occasions, telling Mr Jafferjee “No, you are wrong.” He said repeatedly that he could “not remember” what was said in the conversations, but insisted that they were innocent and “not a word” was said to him about no balls being arranged. At one point, he challenged the prosecutor, saying: “Listening to you, you’d think I know everything that is going on all over the world, every single call – amazing.” Butt said that there were more innocent explanations for the calls, such as discussions about equipment and sponsorship deals, as well as calls to wish him good luck. The court heard there was also heavy traffic between Amir, Majeed and underworld figures in Pakistan – more than 35 calls in the same period – including texts which have been recovered and are explicit about fixing the no balls. Mr Jafferjee said: “Everything suggests Amir was in on the fix?” Butt replied: “Yes” “It was a direct deal between Majeed and Amir?” Mr Jafferjee added. Butt again replied “yes”.The prosecution finished its cross examination of the witness by stating: “You are right in there controlling these players, particularly the youngest and most impressionable in your side. And you’ve been caught.” Butt said again: “No, you’re wrong”. Earlier in the day Butt had demanded the jury was shown a recording of him batting in the Oval Test against England to prove he was not involved in spot fixing. The player interrupted the prosecutor and told him to play footage which showed he failed to play out an apparently “fixed” maiden over, saying it proved he ignored the requests of his corrupt agent to rig games. Butt admitted that Mazhar Majeed had asked him to bat out two maidens, when Pakistan were on the verge of an historic win at the Oval last year. The 27-year-old told the court that the agent was “persistent”, “annoying” and “never stops about it” in numerous calls and texts being made at night and in the early hours during the Test last August. However Butt said: “I never had any intention of doing what he was trying to achieve.” In the event, Butt leg glanced the second ball of the specified over for two, and took a single off the next ball. Mr Jafferjee refused to repeat the video, which has already been played twice to the jury. There were further heated exchanges on the eleventh day of the trial. Butt refused four times to answer directly the prosecutor’s question of whether he took Majeed’s fixing messages “seriously”, after the witness had earlier claimed they were jokes. The judge stepped in and repeated the question, to which Butt answered: “I had my suspicions but I was ignoring him.” In another retort, Butt said to Mr Jafferjee in Punjabi: “You are just trying to set out traps”. Asked again about the large volume of calls and texts between him and Majeed, Butt claimed some them were about equipment problems – especially trying to get a new pair of trousers for the Oval Test match. The prosecution mocked the claim by reading out the times of dozens of calls and texts between the paiur throughout the day and night, and asking, “was this about your trousers?” Butt answered: “You love my trousers” Mr Jafferjee said: “I suggest your trousers are a pretext for you fixing.” Butt was also asked about his teammates allegedly being part of the spotfixing conspiracy. Asked if he knew about Amir’s upbringing, and where he was from, Butt said he did not and retorted: “I was captain of the Pakistan team, not an identity card maker.” Questioned about Mohammad Asif, Butt again refused to comment and added: “He is here and will come to answer for himself”. Butt also refused to answer whether Wahab Riaz and Kamran Akmal were involved. “If you want to ask this you should ask these people,” Butt said. The court has heard that Majeed claimed he had six players in the Pakistan side involved in his spot fixing racket who would get a share of the corrupt spoils. Asked to name them to the court, Butt instead answered: “Where is the money?” Mr Jafferjee said: “Where is the money? I suggest a sizeable chunk of it sitting in your suitcase in your hotel room. Butt: “That’s my money”. Butt and Asif deny charges of conspiracy to cheat and accept corrupt payments. The case continues. Follow RDJ Edwards in court on Twitter – @Cricketer_RDJ How times change, eh? November 2010 Amir, the youngest of the accused, added: “Before leaving for Dubai we felt the case will be in our favour, but when he [beloff] gave the decision it looked as if he had written the decision before. We went for the truth but this could be a conspiracy against Pakistan, to tarnish Pakistan’s reputation.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cri...-Pakistan.html

[achilles]

Pakistan's players wanted this guy, who decided to blame everyone including a 19yr old kid, but himself, to be a long-term skipper of his team. Sheesh. This guy has "lie" written all over him. I feel sorry for Amir after reading this article. The kid might have been coerced into spot-fixing by a person he "trusted", his captain. I'm not an Afridi supporter but I'm sure he would've taken some responsibility had he been Butt.

[BeautifulGame]

I wasnt exactly following this news but why isnt Amir involved in this case? Has Amir accepted the charges or will he be prosecuted separately?

[Blue Panther]

^yes , amir has accepted the charges.

[achilles]

^ The man must learn something from a boy.

[Asim]

There is no way Butt can escape from all this so when he know these lies wont work, I think he should learn something from Aamir and tell it all clearly A to Z...

[Cricket Tragic]

What happened today? Asif was due to be grilled I think.

[ganeshran]

Hes lying through his teeth. As if what he did before wasnt bad enough, his trial is a thousand times worse

[Cricket Tragic]

NHoultCricket: case over. Closing speeches due to start on Monday with jury likely to retire on Wednesday

[Cricket Tragic]

Cricketer_RDJ Richard DJ Edwards #spotfixing Asif will not stick knife into Butt. "I don't know know if he was involved". But Amir was fixing? "Yes". Cricketer_RDJ Richard DJ Edwards We're done for today. Final speeches on Monday and Tuesday. Judge to sum up and send jury out to consider verdict on Weds ... #spotfixing Asif's defence close their case. Some housekeeping for the jury. They have collated four weighty folders of evidence.

[achilles]

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif highlighted the involvement of his former skipper Salman Butt while in the witness stand during day 13 of the alleged spot-fixing trial by telling a London court "the captain knows". Asif, 28, was under cross-examination from chief prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC when he raised the role of Butt. It was in reference to the questionable no-ball that Asif bowled in the Lord's Test last year, which was delivered on the sixth ball of the tenth over that had been previously predicted by agent Mazhar Majeed when secretly recorded by an undercover journalist. Butt and Asif are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments following the Lord's Test when they allegedly conspired with agent Majeed, teenager Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif, who left the witness stand at 15.30, deny the charges. The inference from Asif, wearing a grey-coloured suit with a shirt and tie, was that how could a fix be made, involving the tenth over, if the captain was not party to it. Asif denied any knowledge of the alleged fix, inferring the captain had to be involved to keep him bowling. Asif, speaking in reference to the secretly-filmed handover of £140,000 by undercover journalist Mazhar Mahmood to Majeed before Majeed listed the no-ball detail, said: "The captain knows. What I have told you the last two days…the captain knows. He is the one who brings them (bowlers) on. So what is he (Majeed) saying?" Jafferjee took stock of what Asif had said, removed his glasses, paused, and returned to Asif by saying that he felt they had both reached the same conclusion which was that Butt was central to the fix. "You're telling me it's down to Butt aren't you?" Asif, though, stopped short of actually agreeing by saying, "You can see the CD what he (Majeed) is saying." Asif was much more argumentative and passionate in his exchanges with Jafferjee than on his first day in the witness stand. At one stage, when discussing the telephone traffic evidence in a printed transcript that has colour-coded all involved parties, Asif asked Jafferjee: "Who's the yellow number?" To which Jafferjee replied, "I wish we knew Mr Asif." Asif came back: "You're trying to ruin my life and you can't tell me who yellow is?" "If anyone is trying to destroy your life Mr Asif it's you," Jaffejee said. The prosecutor also asked Asif that if he was not involved in the fix, why did Majeed call him 59 seconds after leaving the Copthorne Tara Hotel at 23.18, with a briefcase with £140,000 in cash on the night before the Lord's Test. "Was he calling you about a sponsorship deal or to arrange dinner Mr Asif?" Jafferjee said sarcastically. "You think he's calling me to do the fix?" Asif replied. "He's already done the fix," Jafferjee said. "Now he wants you to know about it." Jafferjee added: "Why is this man, who you say is not your agent, who you have only met three times in person since May 2010, why is he calling you now?" Asif responded by saying that if they were talking about fixing why was the call only 16 seconds long. "If we were talking about something as big as this do you think we would only need 16 seconds," Asif said. Shortly after that, Butt rang Asif, a call spanning 14 seconds. Asif repeatedly denied being part of the fix and suggested that Majeed had two phones, one of them secret and that he never called him on that secret phone like he did other people who are implicated. Asif also questioned why the undercover journalist never managed to have Asif on record like he did Butt and Amir "with all his equipment and money". In closing his defence Asif's lawyer Alexander Milne QC clarified that Asif would have accrued approximately £6,000 in daily expense allowances - paid in cash - by the time of Lord's Test and that he brought £2,700 with him from Pakistan to justify why he had just over £8,000 found in his London hotel room during a police search. Asif reasoned that he didn't spend much of his allowance because he dined with friends mostly and that he was planning to do some shopping at the end of the tour towards his wedding on September 30. No News of the World marked money was found on Asif but Jafferjee said that was only through luck. "You did not receive News of the World cash because you were out at a restaurant. That's why only two received the cash and you didn't," he said. "Well why could Majeed not have left it with Amir or the Butt," came Asif's response. On Monday morning, Jafferjee will give a closing speech for the prosecution, before the lawyers for the defendants present theirs to the jury, prior to Justice Cooke's summing up. The case continues. Source

[Cricket Tragic]

It's damn quick tbh. The talk was that the process would take ages to finish.

[Cricket Tragic]

Pakistan duo Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt turn on each other in court

Mohammad Asif, who bowled the second no-ball against England, blamed Salman ButtÃÔ aggressive captaincy for making him over-step the mark. Alexander Milne, QC defending Asif, said Butt told the Pakistan fast bowler to ÅÓun faster ------? in order to ensure he bowled a no-ball which had been arranged by his agent with an undercover News of the World journalist. Asif also claimed ButtÃÔ decision to position himself at silly mid-off to Andrew Strauss in the 10th over of EnglandÃÔ innings, when the no-ball was bowled, was suspicious and in order to sledge the bowler. Milne stated to the jury that Asif also became frustrated because he had two appeals turned down early in the 10th over adding to the rush of blood which led to the no-ball. It was also alleged that Strauss stepped away at one stage because of the shouting by PakistanÃÔ fielders. Butt often laughed and shook his head in the dock as Asif gave evidence for more than five hours. Ali Bajwa, QC defending Butt, questioned Asif for two hours, describing his story as a ÅÅesperate invention and that it was ÅÕhe best story you could think of after viewing his over on video. Bajwa broke AsifÃÔ over down ball by ball, pointing out he only, in fact, had one unsuccessful appeal - the other against Alastair Cook was a replay from a previous over - and that anyway he was a ÅÑatient bowler, happy to wait for wickets. He also asked why Asif told police in interview that he did not come under pressure from Butt to bowl a no-ball and did not change his run-up. Asif said the police had not ÅÂsked me the question about speeding up his approach to the wicket. Bajwa also described ButtÃÔ position at silly mid off as a normal tactical decision when a bowler was swinging the ball into a left-hander such as Strauss. The court heard more cricket terminology on Thursday than at any other stage during the trial and Asif asked for a cricket ball to demonstrate seam bowling. Asif claimed he met Mazher Majeed, the agent alleged to have masterminded the spot-fixing ring, only ÅÕwo or three times and that he never signed a formal contract with him. The prosecution concentrated on this relationship. ŵhe sad truth was you had been sucked into this web of corruption, Aftab Jafferjee, QC prosecuting, said. Å¢nd there were two people equally responsible for sucking you in - Majeed and Salman Butt. Jafferjee pointed out that during police questioning Asif failed to state Majeed was his agent and the record of telephone calls between the two was an example of the closeness of their relationship. Asif and Butt deny charges of conspiracy to cheat and accept corrupt payments.

[kabira]

so what will be verdict??

[VRV Singh]

Asif and Butt guilty of conspiracy to cheat. Both unanimous verdicts. Butt also guilty of accepting corrupt payments. http://twitter.com/#!/Cricketer_RDJ

[BERGKAMP]

BUTT Guilty of conspiring to cheat Guilty of accepting corrupt payments ASIF Guilty of conspiring to cheat No majority verdict of accepting corrupt payments Butt could face upto a maximum of 9 years in prison. Sentencing later this week.

[saneindian]

Wow..so this means at least a few years in the British jails for these two. Pak cricket has achieved another first here.

[Rahul Dravid]

Butt and Asif GUILTY http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/538829.html + Cricinfo in Facebook says Butt faces 7 years in Jail?.. if this is true, i am VERY VERY happy.

[ganeshran]

Asif wont be jailed. Butt might get a couple of years I guess