Scotland Yard finds no solid evidence of matchfixing - ICC Suspends Trio

[thevortex]

The only way the accused players will get out of this is if the video footage is fake. There might not be conclusive evidence to convict anyone in court, but that does not mean ICC/PCB will not punish the players (if the provided evidence is the real deal). If circumstantial evidence proves that there was something wrong, then it's enough for the cricket authorities to take some action. There was no conclusive evidence against Jadeja, Azhar but they still got life bans. Didn't they?

And I am sure not everybody agrees with those life bans without absolute evidence!

[Hindustani]

Not sure what is going on as I am not following this Spot fixing scandal, but if the inquiry was done today, how come the report also got finalized and made public in less than 6 hours ? I mean, Holy Atomic Pile Batman!!!

[Nova]

And I am sure not everybody agrees with those life bans without absolute evidence!

The duration of the ban is not relevant here...I was just citing a precedence. The point to understand is that one has to differentiate between "evidence required for criminal conviction" and "evidence enough for ICC to take some action".

[thevortex]

The duration of the ban is not relevant here...I was just citing a precedence. The point to understand is that one has to differentiate between "evidence required for criminal conviction" and "evidence enough for ICC to take some action".

Can they really be different? If that is so, why then have these small matters of rules and all that? Plus appeals and the incumbent legalities and all that? There can only be innocent or guilty. Not various levels in between. At least insofar as the law is concerned.

[The Outsider]

The duration of the ban is not relevant here...I was just citing a precedence. The point to understand is that one has to differentiate between "evidence required for criminal conviction" and "evidence enough for ICC to take some action".

Moreover, this evidence is already much more than what was against Azhar and Jadeja for example. The main evidence against them was the testimony of a bookie and cell phone records of calls placed (not the actual recordings of the conversation). In this case the evidence is so overwhelming that it would be sham of the highest order if the involved players get away.

[The Outsider]

Can they really be different? If that is so, why then have these small matters of rules and all that? Plus appeals and the incumbent legalities and all that? There can only be innocent or guilty. Not various levels in between. At least insofar as the law is concerned.

There is a huge difference. You might be breaking your contract and terms of employment with your employer even without doing anything illegal or criminal. If you start yelling at the top of your voice in your workplace, your employer can fire you for impeding the work of your other colleagues, but you have certainly not done anything criminal for the judiciary to be able to take legal action against you. The ICC Anti Corruption code states : "Fixing or contriving in any way or otherwise influencing improperly, or being a party to any effort to fix or contrive in any way or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any International Match or ICC Event." The said players are clearly in violation of this clause of the code to which their board is a signatory, even if they might not have done anything illegal in the eyes of the judicial system and so ICC has the right to punish them for violation of this code.

[SachDan]

This is such a misleading title...no statement what so ever from Scotland Yard on fixing scandal yet we came to the conclusion that they don't have enough evidence! :congrats: Sadly what's a "breaking news" at PP also automatically happens to be one at ICF as well! No mod is bothered to check the credibility of the news but changes titles in a jiffy.When someone points to mediocrity of the source involved, it's not even taken for face value :(

[Serani]

this title seems very apt. Any journalist thats fins it odd why a sunday paper waited till sunday to publish its findings is a very dodgy source indeed!

[thevortex]

There is a huge difference. You might be breaking your contract and terms of employment with your employer even without doing anything illegal or criminal. If you start yelling at the top of your voice in your workplace, your employer can fire you for impeding the work of your other colleagues, but you have certainly not done anything criminal for the judiciary to be able to take legal action against you. The ICC Anti Corruption code states : "Fixing or contriving in any way or otherwise influencing improperly, or being a party to any effort to fix or contrive in any way or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any International Match or ICC Event." The said players are clearly in violation of this clause of the code to which their board is a signatory, even if they might not have done anything illegal in the eyes of the judicial system and so ICC has the right to punish them for violation of this code.

If these players are indeed guilty of influencing the match improperly and bowling no-balls on cue, then by all means what you say is true. But then what of the case if the video in itself was made after the no-balls were delivered? There is still some doubt left in this case, I feel. Lets see where this heads. If this is as open and shut a case as you make it out to be, then I see no reason for any delay. On the part of the PCB or even the ever-somnolent ICC!

[saneindian]

this title seems very apt. Any journalist thats fins it odd why a sunday paper waited till sunday to publish its findings is a very dodgy source indeed!

They shot the video on Wednesday(day before the test started) and then consulted their legal team, plus ensuring if they have a good case or not...took another 2 days before the story was out on Saturday evening. Doesn't sound like they delayed it for too long.

[The Outsider]

If these players are indeed guilty of influencing the match improperly and bowling no-balls on cue, then by all means what you say is true. But then what of the case if the video in itself was made after the no-balls were delivered? There is still some doubt left in this case, I feel. Lets see where this heads. If this is as open and shut a case as you make it out to be, then I see no reason for any delay. On the part of the PCB or even the ever-somnolent ICC!

Oh man, I think you have been spending too much time on PP - video made after the match! :hysterical: So, you think Mazhar, who is the agent of the said players will conspire with NOTW to stage a video? And even if that were the case, wouldn't he or NOTW inform Scotland Yard of that fact when they arrested him? He is on the verge of being charged with money laundering cases and he or NOTW will still not inform the police that it was a hoax? It's one thing to be skeptical, another to buy into any old conspiracy theory that floats around! That you don't see any reason for inaction from the PCB except that they are genuinely investigating the case shows how naive you are. You are talking about a board which has refused to take action against it's players down the years for all kinds of cheating, drugs, and fixing.

[Ram]

If these players are indeed guilty of influencing the match improperly and bowling no-balls on cue, then by all means what you say is true. But then what of the case if the video in itself was made after the no-balls were delivered? There is still some doubt left in this case, I feel. Lets see where this heads. If this is as open and shut a case as you make it out to be, then I see no reason for any delay. On the part of the PCB or even the ever-somnolent ICC!

:hysterical: What can you even say in response to such deluded statements?

[SachDan]

They shot the video on Wednesday(day before the test started) and then consulted their legal team' date=' plus ensuring if they have a good case or not...took another 2 days before the story was out on Saturday evening. Doesn't sound like they delayed it for too long.[/quote'] That was a sarcastic comment from serani. Edit: serani hates NOTW. brb checking whether they did any damages to WI :D

[Nova]

Can they really be different? If that is so, why then have these small matters of rules and all that? Plus appeals and the incumbent legalities and all that? There can only be innocent or guilty. Not various levels in between. At least insofar as the law is concerned.

Yes, there are various levels in between and there is difference according to the laws of a given country, because it just depends on how any scandal was revealed. The law is there to see if something illegal was done or not, and how is it decided if something is illegal? It depends on the tolerance of a society and the levels of immorality involved. In direct relation to the ongoing accusations, the bookie would have had to actually place a bet to make it illegal. So legally he might not be accountable because he was in the initial phase of his misdoings. If NOTW would have waited for some more time, it's possible that they would have had more evidence just enough for the law to take its course. My thinking is that it was imperative for the tabloid to expose this during a ongoing tour and not wait longer, so as to generate more interest coz people were actually following and watching the test series...thus generating more newspaper sales and publicity. Now let's look at another angle. In cases of pedophilia, the federal law in US can convict if one has shown intentions to do it even though the actual act did not take place as they were caught by the media before something illegal was done. Undercover FBI agents and the media (eg. Dateline) routinely do entrapment cases. In a similar way, NOTW has done entrapment and exposed the alleged players before something more serious would have happened - like match fixing in the ODI series. Intention to engage in such activities was already shown by the players and they did bowl no balls under the direction of the bookie. The video footage clearly establishes this. Now if the video is real or not... that will have to be seen as further investigations are being done. In the case of Azhar, Jadeja, etc..there were clear intentions. BCCI set a precedent and by punishing the players they gave us a message of "zero tolerance". PCB has failed to do that in the past and today the result is in front of everyone to see.

[Nova]

Moreover' date=' this evidence is already much more than what was against Azhar and Jadeja for example. The main evidence against them was the testimony of a bookie and cell phone records of calls placed (not the actual recordings of the conversation). In this case the evidence is so overwhelming that it would be sham of the highest order if the involved players get away.[/quote'] Indeed. The level of punishment is debatable but as of now there is enough evidence for ICC to act.

[Serani]

That was a sarcastic comment from serani. Edit: serani hates NOTW. brb checking whether they did any damages to WI :D

I wasnt being sarcastic as such, just the "AAJ" piece which claims scotland yard have no evidence also says the investigators are trying to find out why the NOTW waited two days before spilling the beans. Well thats quite obvious that a paper that is only out on sunday would not leak the info on the friday. Hardly a "mystery" from this "notorious" tabloid. Seems the well renowned news company AAJ is just trying to smear the NOTW.

[putrevus]

if that newspaper wanted to clear any doubts why didn't they have date and time stamps for recordings that would have given lot of credibility to them and leave no room for any ambiguity, how do we know that those recordings are not after actual events just playing devil advocate.

[Gunner_Mania]

They shot the video on Wednesday(day before the test started) and then consulted their legal team' date=' plus ensuring if they have a good case or not...took another 2 days before the story was out on Saturday evening. Doesn't sound like they delayed it for too long.[/quote']

That was a sarcastic comment from serani. Edit: serani hates NOTW. brb checking whether they did any damages to WI :D

The newspaper/tabloid is published on Sunday hence that is the only day they could publish it

[kabira]

^LOL so if they had timestamps on the recordings? that will be creditable LOL.

[The Outsider]

if that newspaper wanted to clear any doubts why didn't they have date and time stamps for recordings that would have given lot of credibility to them and leave no room for any ambiguity' date=' how do we know that those recordings are not after actual events just playing devil advocate.[/quote'] :hysterical::hysterical: How long does it take to change the time and date settings on a camcorder?