LAHORE: The ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit has recorded the statements of Pakistan coach Waqar Younis, ODI captain Shahid Afridi and team’s security manager Colonel Khawaja Najam as part of its evidence building process in the spot-fixing case. “The statements of these three Pakistan team members are part of the file of evidence prepared by the ICC against Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir,” reports quoting sources said.
“The statements of the three players were recorded while the ICC ACU was preparing its file of evidence against the trio,” he said. The source said that the lawyers for the three players were finding themselves short of time to prepare for the case as the ICC ACU has sent them a long list of documentary evidence against the three players. The three players will attend a hearing of the ICC code of conduct commission tribunal in Doha from January 6 to 11 in which the three-member tribunal will decide if the ICC’s ACU have enough evidence to prove the charges against the tainted trio.
If the tribunal finds the evidence strong, the three players may face long-term bans. “The lawyers for the players are going through all the evidence sent to them by the ICC especially Aitzaz Ahsan who recently agreed to represent Salman Butt at the hearing,” a source said. He said the lawyers were working on a strategy to find weaker areas in the ICC ACU code as well as the legalities adopted to suspend the trio. Khalid Ranjha, one of the lawyers who represented Butt in the ICC appeal hearing has already withdrawn himself.
Ranjha has said the presence of Michael Beloff in final hearing was contradictory since he formed the one-man tribunal which upheld the players’s suspension earlier, basically meant there was little chance for the trio to get justice.
