KARACHI, (Reuters) – Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has called on the Interntional Cricket Council (ICC) to intensify efforts to stamp out corruption in the sport.
The cricketer turned politician told reporters during a visit to the Moin Khan cricket academy the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit needed to be more productive.
“I think specal measures are required like keeping a constant check on assets and accounts of players and giving the ACSU more authority to curb corruption,” Imran said.
Imran’s comments on corruption in cricket come a few days after former Sri Lankan captain Hashan Tillakaratne claimed in a television interview that match-fixing had been going on in his country since 1992.
The Sri Lankan cricket authorities have asked Tillakaratne to produce evidence to back up his claims.
Imran said it was very difficult to detect spot-fixing instances in matches, insisting other steps were required to meet the challenge of fighting corruption.
“It is very hard to detect such things and than find evidence to prove spot fixing has happened in a match,” he said.
“But the more these instances are spoken about the more damaging it is to the sport’s credibility.”
Three of Pakistan’s top players — Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir — were were banned for a minimum of five years last February by the ICC anti-corruption tribunal after being found guilty of spot-fixing during a test match on the England tour last year.
