The spot-fixing case which has ruined the careers of three players – Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Amir – is taking a new turn everyday. However the former Pakistan captain, Rashid Latif feared that the judicial process, underway in London, would not yield the desired result. “In fact it’s a waste of time and money. This type of betting (on No-balls) is not done in England therefore the case of defrauding the bookie should not be initiated in London in the first place,” claimed Latif in a TV interview.
The spot-fixing conspiracy was unearthed by the News of the World (NoTW) on August 28, 2010 and later the ICC handed over bans to the players. “I have said it before, and I m saying it again that it was a set-up hatched by Mazhar Majeed and the NoTW”, added Latif. Rashid Latif further revealed that on September 15, 2010, the brother of the “self-proclaimed” bookie, Azhar Majeed, sent him an email and expressed shock over the development. “There is nothing for me to tell, I don’t know what happened and how it happened – the first I heard of this was seeing my brother on TV! (Set-up NOTW)”, Latif quoted Azhar Majeed as saying.
According to Latif the last two lines of the email are indicative of the fact that Azhar Majeed was convinced that his brother (Mazhar Majeed) was hand in glove with the undercover agent of the NoTW (Mazhar Mehmood). “I haven’t and will not be speaking to my brother he working for Mazhar Mahmood & NOTW,” concluded Azhar Majeed in the mail.
