LAHORE – The confrontation between suspended Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and the ICC took a serious turn after it was disclosed that the Butt had expressed his distrust in the ICC chief executive and the head of ICC Code of Conduct commission which will hear his appeal next month.
The Code of Conduct commission returned the reply filed by Butt’s legal team and gave him 24 hours to submit a fresh reply or forgo his right of defence. It was revealed that in his reply, the suspended captain demanded an independent inquiry by a panel of former Supreme Court judges. His preliminary response raised objections to the jurisdiction, composition and process of the commission.
According to a satellite channel, Butt’s 40 pages reply had termed his provisional suspension as “illegal.” Butt’s legal team also pointed out that three months had passed since the suspension was imposed and the ICC had violated its own terms by not reaching a decision on the case.
“Butt has also expressed his no-confidence in Michael Beloff, who heads the code of conduct commission, and Haroon Lorgat and expressed his opinion that he expects no justice from the ICC tribunal that will hear his case in January,” the channel reported.
Interestingly, the channel reported that the legal team had given examples of past cases of match-fixing in Pakistan cricket and noted that some players, despite being fined by the Justice Qayyum commission, were now holding respectable positions in world and Pakistan cricket.
The response allegedly mentioned players like Waqar Younis, Mushtaq Ahmed and Akram Raza in this regard. When contacted, Salman Butt said that no player was mentioned in his reply to the ICC: “Look, I am already under a lot of stress and pressure and I want to make it clear that no names have been mentioned in our reply,” he said.
The ICC refused to accept the reply and asked him to submit a fresh reply, which according to Salman Butt has nevertheless been filed under the ICC dictate through his UK counsel.
