The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday rejected suspended cricketer Khalid Latif’s appeal challenging the powers of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s Anti-Corruption Tribunal in the PSL spot-fixing case.
The court, during hearing of the case today, demanded response from the federal government and the PCB on June 13 regarding the matter.
The court had earlier accepted Latif’s application challenging dismissal of his petition against proceedings of the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Tribunal in the spot-fixing case.
Latif had filed an intra-court appeal on Wednesday challenging an order of the LHC single bench which had dismissed his petition against the PCB Anti-Corruption Code and tribunal proceedings regarding PSL corruption allegations against him.
In his appeal, the batsman had said that the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Code had status of law and it was mandatory to notify the same in a gazette of Pakistan. Since it was not notified in the gazette, it was illegal and without any force, the appeal had contended.
The application had further claimed that the PCB chairman did not have any powers to form a tribunal, and requested the court to set aside the LHC single-bench order and suspend the tribunal proceedings till the final decision of the appeal.
Latif has been charged for breaching Articles 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.4.4 and 2.4.5 of the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Code.
He faces five charges on counts relating to fixing and failure to report it, and another charge of attempting to lure other players to fixing.
The tribunal, set up to hear the alleged corruption charges against the players, is headed by retired Justice Asghar Haider and comprises former PCB chairman retired Lt Gen Tauqir Zia and former Test captain Wasim Bari.
Meanwhile, the PCB tribunal is set to conduct another hearing of the spot-fixing case against suspended batsman Shahzaib Hasan today.
Shahzaib has been charged with violations of articles 2.1.4 (directly or indirectly facilitating with corrupt activities), 2.4.4 (failing to disclose to the PCB full details of any approaches to engage in Corrupt Conduct), and 2.4.5.
