INDEX

• LHC bond may compel Ata to return for perjury case

• Latif asks cricket world to follow suit

• Rehman's life ban means little in the Ribblesdale League

• Australia appoints special investigator into match-fixing

• Prabhakar Names Kapil

• Malik Banned For Life

• Malik has confirmed my allegations - Latif

• ACB to investigate Malik's 'double fix' claims

• MacLaurin calls for check on 'criminal mafia' at top level

• Qayyum cautious

• Bacher denies Woolmer gave bribes Warning :

• Cricket: Justice Qayyum to take tough stand against defaulting cricketers

• Revealed: How to lose a match

• PCB chief's statement surprises Iqbal Haider

• Pakistan clears its players of match-fixing

• Tarar thinks Justice Qayyum had no business recommending punishment

LHC bond may compel Ata to return for perjury case

KARACHI: Ata-ur-Rehman may have to cut short his league contract in England and return to Pakistan to face a charge of perjury. Ata, the former Test bowler now playing league cricket in Lancashire, could be forced to return to face a charge of perjury under a bond he had signed with the Lahore High Court. Judge Malik Mohammad Qayyum, who headed the match-fixing inquiry and recommended Ata's life ban for perjury, said from Lahore that he would start hearing evidence of perjury against the pacer in a fortnight.

Ata has given a personal assurance backed by a bond to the Lahore High Court that when the case against him started he would appear. Qayyum said: "He has to come back. Where will he go? I know he is playing cricket in England and this could mean his cricket season would be interrupted, but that cannot be helped.

"This man is a self-confessed liar. He gave a statement under oath, then withdrew it under oath and one of them must be wrong. I was waiting for the publication of the report before proceeding with the perjury charge and I now intend to follow through on this."

Ata was the principal witness against former captain Wasim Akram in the match-fixing enquiry. However, in the summer of 1998, after Ata made the initial accusation, he agreed to give a signed affidavit withdrawing the charge. At that time he said he had been told that if he made that charge against Wasim, the allrounder would be removed as captain and he would have more chances to play for the country. He signed the affidavit after consulting family and friends. But on his return to Pakistan, he withdrew the statement, renewed his charges only to withdraw them once again.

Qayyum also revealed he would have considered imposing heavier penalties on leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed, who was fined $9,600 for bringing the game into disrepute, had he been able to locate and assess the evidence of the bookmaker who was alleged to have paid Mushtaq to throw a one-day match against Australia.

KARACHI, May 25

Former Pakistani cricket captain Rashid Latif asked cricket playing nations on Thursday to emulate Pakistan's example of imposing life bans and fines for players involved in match-fixing scandals.

"Pakistan has set an example for others and other countries must follow suit now," he said, following the release of a report by a Pakistan judicial inquiry into match-fixing and bribery allegations.

The report, released Wednesday by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Tauqir Zia, calls for life bans on Salim Malik and Ata-ur-Rehman and fines on several other Pakistani cricketers including former captain Wasim Akram.

"The report vindicates my stance and I believe that the match-fixing menace is not just confined to Pakistan alone," Latif said. Latif, a wicketkeeper of repute, is under a self-imposed exile from international cricket after he alleged fellow players had been involved in match fixing.

"I salute Tauqir Zia for living up to his words of making the report public and releasing it as it is," he said.

Latif said he feared a backlash from the international cricket fraternity after the release of the inquiry report.

"I fear that the International Cricket Council (ICC) may take action against Pakistan," he said, without explaining the grounds for his apprehension.

Latif questioned the life ban on former pacer Ata-ur-Rehman and not other players.

"The commission has put a life ban on Rehman but has let off Wasim Akram with a meager fine only," he said.

Rehman's life ban means little in the Ribblesdale League

David Hopps

Friday May 26, 2000

One of the two Pakistan players banned for life from international cricket after being found guilty of match-fixing was given permission last night to while away his career in the relative calm of Lancashire club cricket.

After a day of mounting bewilderment, the England and Wales Cricket Board gained confirmation from their counterparts in Pakistan that Ata-ur-Rehman would be free to continue his career at club level.

The 25-year-old fast bowler, who played two years for Pakistan as a teenager, will line up for Blackburn Northern against Whalley in the Ribblesdale League on Saturday.

The news came as a relief to the club's secretary Geoff Eccles. "If the authorities had asked us to ban him, we would have had to honour their request," he said. "But there is nothing in the league rules to say whether you can have a replacement overseas player for someone found guilty of match-fixing, so we could have faced a bit of a problem."

As the implications of the Qayyum report were sinking in around the world, Rehman was discovered completing a four-day coaching course in the Old Trafford indoor school. He will sit an exam today for his grade three coaching certificate and, if successful, will be officially entitled to coach Northern's players. Trips down to the local bookies are not expected to be on the agenda.

Rehman, in his first season as a Ribblesdale League professional, said: "I intend to talk to my solicitor to decide what to do next, and I wouldn't want to comment on whether the punishment is harsh. But I intend to keep playing for Blackburn Northern."

An ECB statement said the organisation had "no legal authority to prevent him from playing cricket in this country".

Claims that Rehman repeatedly changed his evidence because he was shaken by threats made against him - behaviour which irritated Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum so much that he found him guilty of perjury - have already filtered through to the Lancashire leagues.

Channel 4 were also poring over the Qayyum report last night. They have enlisted Wasim Akram - a man whose reputation, according to Judge Qayyum, is too "sullied" for him to ever captain Pakistan again - as a commentator for England's forthcoming series against West Indies .

The official line from Channel 4 was that "no snap decision will be made. We will base our decision on the minutiae of the report".

Rehman told an earlier inquiry that Wasim gave him £1,100 to bowl badly in a one-day match in Christchurch in 1994. He maintained to the Qayyum commisssion that he changed his story under coercion after Wasim paid for his air ticket from Newcastle to Manchester: a ticket which Wasim's counsel accepted was paid for on Wasim's credit card.

But Rehman was recalled for cross-examination last September and categorically stated that he had lied to the commission. He was immediately issued with a notice for perjury. In a third appearance before the commisssion, he said he had been induced by team-mate Aamir Sohail to give evidence against Wasim.

Lord MacLaurin, the ECB chairman, said yesterday that the International Cricket Council had the power to press the Pakistan Cricket Board to increase the punishments on their players. "Watch this space, because this is not the end of it," he said. But the PCB director, Yawar Saeed, said he did not fear further sanctions.

Australia have appointed Greg Melick, a lawyer and former part-time army commando, as the country's first anti-corruption watchdog. He has been given sweeping powers to investigate claims of corruption and match-fixing.

Prabhakar Names Kapil

By Dinesh Chopra

New Delhi, May 24

Former India cricketer Manoj Prabhakar finally broke his silence naming Kapil Dev as the India cricketer who offered him a sum of 25 lakh rupees to under perform in a One-dayer against Pakistan in the 1994 Singer Cup in Colombo.

In an interview given to a recently floated website, the excerpts of which were played at a crowded press conference in Delhi, Prabhakar said, “I know the  name I am going to take is a big one but if I do not do it now then fingers will be pointed at me. He knows it, I know it and God knows it. He is Kapil Dev.”

Prabhakar said that he had reported the the incident to then India captain Mohammed Azharuddin and coach Ajit Wadekar. “I told both Azhar and Wadekar about the incident. But they said, ‘forget it, you are too good a player, just  concentrate on the next match.’ I was surprised to see this kind of reaction coming from them (Azhar and Wadekar) on something as big as this.

”When asked who all did he tell this, Prabhakar said, “I told the same thing to  Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar, who were present at the ground as TV commentators. But they also told me to get on with the game.

What took him this long to come out with names? “I was waiting for Kapil to come forward and confess but he did not. And things have reached so far that you can not hide what happened in 1994. ”Prabhakar said that he was prepared to have a lie-detector test. “I can say this anywhere and to anyone. If need be, I can go for a lie-detector test.”

Narrating the incident ex-India allrounder said, “I can never forget that day. It has to be the saddest of my life. I was in bathroom shaving when my roommate Navjot Singh Sidhu came and said, ‘Paaji (Kapil) wants to speak to you, he has some offer.’ I thought it was something to do with the sponsors logo on my bat. But I was shocked when Kapil offered me money to under perform against

Pakistan. I told him that ‘I will not be a party to this. I can not be a traitor to my country’. As soon as Kapil heard this, he left the room.”

Prabhakar claimed that teammates Nayan Mongia and Prashant Vaidya who  were in the adjacent room, heard the exchange and came out of their rooms. “I have come out in the open. Now all of them should come out.”

Replying to a question that whether BCCI ever supported him, Prabhakar said, “never, even the inquiry (Chandrachud committee) which they had formed was absolutely fake. I told them to watch the tapes of the matches but they never did. There are some very obvious fishy things to be seen in the tapes.”

Clearly looking for support, former Delhi cricketer said, “I told this to the Home minister Advani ji and he promised me full support and assured me that State will into the depth of the matter.”

Earlier during the day Prabhakar met CBI Joint Director Special Crime (II) RN Swani. After the meeting both CBI and Prabhakar had remained tight-lipped on the contents of the meeting.

Malik Banned For Life

Islamabad, May 24

The Pakistan Cricket Board, acting on the basis of the Justice Qayyum Report, has banned former captain Salim Malik for life. The report also recommend a 300,000 Rupees fine for Wasim Akram on the basis of his "not co-operating fully" with the enquiry.  

There was also a life ban for Ata-ur-Rahman and fines for Mushtaq Ahmed,  Inzamam-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis. Everyone seems to name Salim Malik as the main culprit in match-fixing, said the much-delayed Qayyum report.

The report found no proof of wrongdoing against Wasim Akram, but recommended that he be kept under observation and that his bank accounts be checked.  Mushtaq Ahmed, like Wasim, currently on tour in the West Indies, was censured for bringing the game into disrepute.

The investigation found no evidence of corruption against Waqar Younis but fined him for failing to cooperate with the probe.  Inzamam-ul-Haq, also in the West Indies, was fined for failing to cooperate with the investigation.

The report said that there was no concrete proof of charges of corruption in the national game or that match-fixing or illegal betting had taken place.  ``However, doubts of various degrees have been cast on some members of the team,'' according to the Qayyum report, which was made public at an Islamabad news conference by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Malik has confirmed my allegations - Latif

By Sunil K. Vaidya

23rd May, 2000

Dubai - "I don't have to say it anymore, the 'main accused' (Salim Malik) himself has been caught admitting that he fixed matches if we go by the news from England," said Rashid Latif to Gulf News from Karachi. Latif added that "Malik vindicated my allegations." Latif feels that despite being provided with sufficient proof by him, the PCB has so far taken no action on match on match fixing.

He reiterated that as many as six boards came and went since he made his allegations and it appears that some of the officials were also being given a piece of the 'pie.' Latif, in his opening comment, was referring to the News of the World expose in which the British tabloid claimed to have video taped Malik while he was boasting of fixing matches. Malik has been reported to have said that he even had an ICC official to do the 'fixing' for him.

"Six boards have come and gone in Pakistan, since 1995, when I raised the alarm that certain Pakistani players were involved in match fixing but nothing has happened," said Latif adding that he suspected some of the past officials to be involved with Malik.

"People also had hopes from the present PCB chief General Tauqeer Zia, when he took over, but still nothing happened and Justice Mohammed Qayyum's report is under wraps," said Latif with a tinge of regret. "We are waiting to see the guilty being punished."

"The international pressure would be tremendous now (after the latest expose) and they (the Pakistan Cricket Board) will have to act on Justice Qayyum's report," he said. Latif now wants a fresh inquiry to be conducted on matches played by Pakistan after the Justice Qayyum commission was formed in '98. He believes that match-fixing has continued last two years. "I strongly believe that 'fixing matches' has not stopped even today," he stressed.

"I have been saying that four to five Pakistani players are involved and now Malik has also admitted that five players are actually on his 'pay roll'," he pointed out. "Whatever I have been saying is now being confirmed by Malik himself when he boasted to the undercover reporters," Latif said.

Latif, however, expressed surprise that Malik had spoken so openly to the undercover reporters. "How can he be so gullible?" Latif believes that efforts by concerned authorities to sweep everything under the carpet has made people like Malik get bolder and openly boast of their ability to fix results of matches.

He said that the guilty players believe that they are 'untouchable'. 'I think it is all the power of money that has corrupted players as well as officials," he stated, adding that "the officials can neither swallow the truth nor can they ignore it," Latif said.

ACB to investigate Malik's 'double fix' claims

21 May 2000

KARACHI, May 21 - The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) intends to investigate fresh claims from former Pakistan cricket captain Salim Malik that a match between Australia and Pakistan in 1994 was a double fix so that both sides were trying to lose.

Britain's News of the World newspaper said it had infiltrated an international match-fixing ring headed by Malik.

Undercover reporters had video tapes of conversations with Malik who promised to fix matches for up to 500,000 pounds (800,000 US dollars) a game, the News of the World said.

The ACB's baggygreen.com website describes the 1994 match in Colombo as being part of a timeline on match fixing scandals.

Australian cricket was dragged into the scandal in 1998 when it was revealed the ACB had fined Shane Warne and Mark Waugh for providing weather and pitch information to an illegal Indian bookmaker over a period of five months from September 1994.

The story had been hushed up.

``Allegedly, the match upon which the information provided by Waugh and Warne most clearly centres (upon) is the Pakistan-Australia match in Colombo,'' the ACB website said Sunday.

`Even when the match was being played, the match draws suspicion in some quarters because of the way in which Pakistan collapsed when victory was clearly within its reach.''

The News of the World reporters posed as high rollers looking to bet on the results of matches.

They quoted Malik as saying: ``It will be very easy for me to fix a match. The players will agree. We've all done it before. It's better than dealing drugs.''

``When you've got the main players in your hand you'll have to be really unlucky to lose.''

``You'll have four or five players in hand and they will be playing just for you,'' Malik was quoted as saying.

Cricket has been rocked by revelations of match-fixing following the confession by former South African captain Hansie Cronje that he had taken money from a bookmaker to influence a game.

Malik is the central figure in Pakistan's match fixing controversy, despite having twice been cleared by a Supreme Court judge.

MacLaurin calls for check on 'criminal mafia' at top level

• An effigy of Jagmohan Dalmiya, the chairman of the ICC, was burnt in Calcutta yesterday when a group of around 200 demonstrators gathered to protest about continued allegations of corruption in international cricket.

Qayyum cautious

Bacher denies Woolmer gave bribes Warning :

Cricket: Justice Qayyum to take tough stand against defaulting cricketers

Special thanks to Rajdeep Sardesai and Fareshteh Aslam

Revealed: How to lose a match

Vic Marks

Sunday May 14, 2000

Deliberate run-outs of team-mates, the intentional bowling of wides, byes and easy-to-hit bouncers, slowing down the run rate, and bizarre adjustments to the batting order are some of the methods cricketers have used to 'throw' matches, according to the investigation into match-fixing carried out by a judge in Pakistan.

The Observer has seen depositions to Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum, whose report is keenly awaited by the International Cricket Council. The leaked excerpts appear to confirm that match-fixing has been prevalent among Pakistan sides since 1994, and do not tally with the assessment of the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia, that 'there has been no planned match-fixing found during the inquiry'.

There are tales of dressing-room fights prompted by arguments over bookies' money, of players declining to name names to the authorities because they feared for the safety of their families, and of the harassment of those players who declined to get involved. One senior figure, giving evidence in October 1998, said that there were only four Pakistan players 'whom I consider absolutely clean'. Another player, who cannot be named for legal reasons, says of another year, 'I can't disclose the names of the main culprits, though as a matter of fact the entire team is involved in match-fixing and betting except one player.'

Another player, now retired, recalls the 1994 tour of New Zealand by Pakistan and the final one-day international. He says that he was told 'we have to lose the match' as a deal had been struck. He goes on: 'I was offered thousands of dollars. I told him [a member of the team I would think about it. There were also four or five other players and it was obvious that they must also have been offered money.' The next morning he was reprimanded when he took a catch and it was reiterated to him that 'we have to lose this match'. He had decided not to be party to match-fixing.

In that game, won by New Zealand by seven wickets, it is alleged that intentional wides were bowled. 'There was a threat of the match being washed out due to rain, which led the bowlers to bowl deliberately in a way that the scoring rate could be accelerated,' claims a player. He also alleges that two deliveries were deliberately bowled so wide that both resulted in four byes.

A prominent Pakistan official also says: 'I was absolutely sure that match-fixing and betting was going on in the Pakistan team.' He then outlines the problem of gaining concrete evidence from a certain player, who had verbally indicated that he had been asked by the twelfth man not to play well. 'I asked him to make the statement in writing. He promised to come over to me and do the needful. Later on he informed me that he could not do the needful as promised because his brother was threatened by dire consequences... if he delivered the statement in writing.' Another leading Pakistani figure explains how, in 1994, 'I went to the Board... and said that stern action should be taken against the culprits even though other players might subsequently lose matches. In my opinion expediency came in the way of the administrators in imposing some punishment as at that time the Pakistan team was very strong and they did not want to disrupt it.' He confirmed the story of a paceman being paid by one of his colleagues to bowl badly.

A bookmaker says that 'most of the matches played by Pakistan and other teams are fixed' and reveals that two players 'had received $100,000 from me on behalf of someone for fixing a match in Sri Lanka. The amount was paid so that Pakistan should lose, which they did.' Among the allegations there are instances of in-form batsmen being asked to retire hurt, of a stand-in captain being chastised for conjuring two quick wickets and of dressing-room fights on the notorious tour to South Africa and Zimbabwe in 1994-95.

These are stories that are simultaneously riveting and infinitely depressing. Assuming these excerpts are in the ICC's version of the Qayyum Report there is a strong possibility that two Pakistan cricketers will be banned for life. If they are absent some serious questions may need to be asked of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Imran, 47, who now heads the Movement For Justice party, pinned most blame on Australia, stating: "I don't know why the ICC has not taken the Australian Cricket Board to task for hiding facts. The ICC instead put pressure upon Pakistan for its match-fixing report."

Thanks (Guardian )

Tarar thinks Justice Qayyum had no business
recommending punishment

By Mazhar Abbas
May 11, 2000

Key Pakistani Cricketers escaped "life ban" after president Mr. Rafiq Ahmed Tarar, Patron of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), raised objections on Justice Malik Qayyum's recommendations saying that he should have confined the report on match-fixing to the findings based on the evidence before him.

The PCB Chairman Lt. General Tauqir Zia, after consulting President Tarar, Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharraf and Justice Qayyum decided that except for the "last two pages" of the which contained the recommendations, the entire 170-page report would be made public by the end of this month.

well informed sources said that the President, in his meeting with the Chairman of PCB last week, returned the report on "match-fixing", raising questions about the recommendations.

Sources said Mr. Tarar, a former judge of the Supreme Court, believes that the purpose of the inquiry was to find out about the on-ground realities and not suggest conviction or punishment. The latter was outside the purview of the inquiry.

Sources further said that the punishment is at the discretion of the patron which he will consider when the report is re-submitted to him by General Zia after "clarification" which the president sought from Justice Qayyum after meeting the President and discussed with him Mr. Tarar's objections to the report. He had also met Chief Executive General Musharraf and discussed the report.

Justice Qayyum is said to have told the General that is upto PCB or the President to accept his suggestions or not but he would not take any portion of his report.

Justice Qayyum, in recent interviews, indicated that he recommended a life ban on at least six cricketers which sources said includes former skippers Salim Malik, wasim Akram, waqar Younus, leg spinner Mushtaq ahmed ctc.

But, General Zia in a statement of Wednesday said that the report had only recommended action against one or two cricketers but without finding any direct evidence against them. "None of the players currently in West Indies will be affected by the report," Mr. Zia said.

sources said there are indications that the PCB may impose a fine on some of the cricketers whose names had been mentioned in the report particularly the key character of the controversy, Salim Malik.

The cricketer who spoiled his career after exposing the controversy, former skipper and wicketkeeper Rashid Latif is disappointed with today's statement by tauqir Zia. he has recently developed his website on match-fixing on which he released statements and transcripts which came before Justice Qayyum.

"I do think they will even make the report public. There is nothing left now. Match -fixers have been saved," Rashid told this correspondent this morning.