Former Pakistan seamer Shahid Nazir has decided to file a petition against former captain and current chief selector of the national team Moin Khan pertaining to outstanding payments of players who participated in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL).
Nazir confirmed to PTI that he was going to file a petition in the Lahore High Court this week against Moin for recovery of long outstanding dues payable to many Pakistani players who played for Lahore Badshahs in the 2008 edition of ICL.
“The case is being filed against Moin because he signed on players for the ICL through his company and charged us a 15 percent commission from each player from the agreed contract amount,” Nazir claimed.
“He is responsible for ensuring we get our long outstanding dues since he was the ICL agent/representative in Pakistan.”
“We have waited for a long time. Last year, I had sent a legal notice to Moin through my lawyer but than seniors like Inzamam–Haq, Muhammad Yosuf, Imran Farhat and others got involved and assured me the matter would be soon be resolved,” he provided details.
“But this has not happened and I have no option but to seek legal recourse,” he added.
The ICL was launched before the Indian Premier League in 2006-07 and was not recognized by the ICC or the BCCI.
Players appearing in the ICL from Pakistan were banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board but later allowed to represent their country and play domestic cricket after submitting apologies.
Nazir said thousands of dollars still payable to many players including himself, Imran Farhat, Humayun Farhat, Imran Nazir, Muhammad Sami, Rana Naved, Shabbir Ahmed, Riaz Afridi, Hasan Raza, Taufiq Umar, Arshad Khan etc.
“We were not paid at all for the final year and even before that,” he said.
The Pakistani players had also approached the international federation of cricketers for help but to no avail.
Nazir also claimed that while Moin was ignoring the players by stating the company that organized the ICL had closed down but at same time it was also confirmed he had deducted taxes from players income of around 10 million rupees and transferred to his bank account.
Moin when contacted was clearly unhappy with Nazir’s statement.
“Everyone knows the situation and it is not as if the players were just not paid anything they were signed on for handsome amounts. As far as remaining amount is concerned I have told the organizers repeatedly to sort out the matter and they have assured they will do it.”
Moin said he was prepared to face any legal action as he had acted in good faith and the players signed contracts in a transparent process.
The ICL included a team from Pakistan, Lahore Badshah’s and some of their players like Abdul Razzaq also took played for other teams in the outlawed league.
A well informed source one could not rule out the possibility that the ICL issue was being dug up again by Nazir on behest of some people who were not happy at Moin being made the chief selector and manager.
