LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has filed a “comprehensive and hard-hitting” reply to the allegations of spot-fixing ahead of his International Cricket Council tribunal hearing in Doha, Qatar.
According to his lawyer, it was wrong to say that the beleaguered captain was handicapped by the composition of his legal team, which was suffering on account of there being ‘too many cooks spoiling the broth’. The 26-year-old was provisionally suspended by the ICC along with fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer following claims of spot-fixing during the Test against England at Lord’s in August.
Butt’s lawyer Shahid Saeed also hit out at ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat for violating a confidentiality agreement.
“Butt on December 13 has filed a detailed, comprehensive and hard-hitting 40-page response to each and every allegation brought by the ICC with regard to spot-fixing levelled against him,” Shahid Saeed, advocate of M/s Aitzaz Ahsan and Associates, said in a statement. No details of the reply would be made public, the statement said, because of the confidentiality agreement – which it said Lorgat had breached.
“The ICC itself is violating the agreement, as evident from the recent comments of Lorgat,” said the statement. The chief executive was reported by BBC as saying that he “would be disappointed if the tribunal finds Pakistani players accused of spot-fixing not guilty.”
Butt, Asif and Aamer are due to appear before an ICC anti-corruption tribunal in Doha, Qatar from January 6 to 11 and face severe punishment if found guilty, including lengthy bans.
Saeed has replaced lawyer Khalid Ranjha, who represented Butt in his failed appeal against suspension in October, while another lawyer Aftab Gul returned to assist Saeed after deciding to quit last month.
Aftab Gul, speaking in an interview on Sky Sports News, said: “Corruption is rife in world cricket. I have so much evidence. I will tell you names which will make your hair stand on end.”
Butt, along with fellow Pakistan internationals Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, have been charged under the ICC’s anti-corruption code in relation to allegations of spot-fixing during the fourth Test against England at Lord’s in August.
The three were provisionally suspended pending a hearing by an independent tribunal in Doha due to take place between January 6-11. Each man denies the allegations against him.
Asked what the biggest form of corruption is, Gul said: “It has now become spot fixing, it is much easier.”
Meanwhile, Salman Butt said thousands of pounds discovered in his London hotel room came from daily tour allowances, bat sponsorship and opening an ice-cream parlour.
Scotland Yard raided Pakistan’s team hotel and seized money after reports in the News of the World claiming several visiting players took money from a bookmaker to obey orders during the Lord’s Test.
‘Ice-cream parlour can prove my innocence’: Former captain Salman Butt insists a London ice-cream parlour could help clear him of ‘spot-fixing’ allegations. Butt said thousands of pounds discovered in his London hotel room came from daily tour allowances, bat sponsorship and the ice-cream parlour opening. His explanation is set to form part of his defence at a make-or-break disciplinary hearing, in Doha, Qatar, next month. He set out his case in a lengthy interview in Lahore to a ‘Special Report’ on British-based satellite station Sky Sports News broadcast Monday. Sky put a figure of 29,000 pounds (46,000 dollars) to him as the amount found in his room.
“Everybody knows the PCB pays us daily allowances on tours and it was a long tour, so about 11,000 pounds of this money was from my daily allowances,” he said. “Being captain I have extra entertainment allowance which amounts to about 4,500 pounds from the tour – which I had with me,” the 26-year-old opening batsman added. “The rest of the money was advanced payment for my bat stickers which I was under contract by Capital Cricket which shows on the back of my bat.
“People can have their opinions but I know where the money came from.” Pressed on whether the money was “clean”, Butt added: “Of course, 100 percent. “2,500 pounds was given to me for the opening of an ice cream parlour in Tooting (south London). “As you guys (Sky) are from England you can go there any time to Tooting. I believe the name is Afters and the manager, the people working over there, they will tell you that I had to do the opening of the ice cream parlour along with Mohammad Aamer. “And that’s what we were paid for.”
Butt insisted there was no way as a novice skipper he could have improperly influenced Aamer and Asif. “These kind of people do not let others decide their roles,” he argued. “I wish all three of us get back and play for our country which is our passion because we love cricket and we would love to get back and play for our country,” Butt said. “I know inside what I am made of, where I have come from and how I have played my cricket and believe me it has been a lot of passion throughout my life…the love of the game has brought me there. And that love is bigger than anything, any corrupt thing which exists. “So I believe, inshallah (god willing), that I will be back playing for my country again.”
