DUBAI, (Reuters) – The guilty verdicts handed out to Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif in a British criminal court yesterday should act as a deterrent and stop others from corrupting the sport, International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat said.
“We hope that this verdict is seen as a further warning to any individual who might, for whatever reason, be tempted to engage in corrupt activity within our sport,” Lorgat said in a statement.
They were suspended from cricket for at least five years by the ICC earlier this year and Lorgat said those penalties remained unchanged.
“These outcomes appear to be consistent with the findings of the independent anti-corruption tribunal…earlier this year. Those proceedings ultimately resulted in the three players being found guilty of offences under the Anti-Corruption Code and they were accordingly suspended from all forms of cricket,” Lorgat said.
“To be clear, the developments in the English criminal courts will have no impact upon those periods of suspension, which will remain in full force and effect.”
Tuesday’s findings followed allegations in a British newspaper that the trio had arranged for deliberate no-balls to be delivered in the fourth test at Lord’s last year.
