Fixing for a fight
Investigators say they have enough evidence to proceed against Malik
Posted: Saturday December 05, 1998 11:39 AM
| |
Malik is the second highest run scorer for Pakistan Shaun Botterill/Allsport |
KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) -- Investigators probing
corruption in Pakistan cricket have found enough evidence to
recommend action against former national captain Salim Malik, a
lawyer said on Saturday.
"There is enough direct evidence against Salim Malik. I
don't know what the judicial commission judge will do, but with
whatever has come against him there's more than sufficient to
prove his involvement in betting and match-fixing," Ali Sibtain
Fazli, a lawyer for the Pakistan Cricket Board, told Reuters
from Lahore.
The news comes at a time when Pakistan cricket is reeling,
having lost in October to Australia, the country's first home
test series defeat in 39 years.
The Pakistanis are also trailing 1-0 in the series against
Zimbabwe which resumes with the second test starting on December
10.
Fazli said the Australian duo of Mark Taylor and Mark Waugh,
looking directly at Malik during a cricket board hearing in
early October, testified he offered them bribes when they toured
Pakistan in 1994-95.
"In addition to this, a bookie, Salim Pervaiz, admitted he
paid $100,000 to Salim Malik to fix a Singer Cup one-day
international against Australia in 1994-95 (in Sri Lanka)."
Fazli said Pakistan had lost the game by about 20 runs and
the allegations had been confirmed by what he termed
"circumstantial collaboration."
But he added it was up to Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum, who
conducted the hearings at the request of the government, on what
he would say in his report and on what recommendations he would
make.
"He is scheduled to submit his report before December 30.
It will be upon his report that the government will decide how
to proceed. The guilty players can be banned or even criminal
proceedings can be started against them," he said.
Malik has played in 99 test matches in more than 15 years of
international cricket, and is the second highest run scorer for
Pakistan after Javed Miandad.
An interim report released by the cricket board in September
recommended that Malik, Wasim Akram and Ijaz Ahmad should not be
selected for the Pakistan team until the investigations were
completed.
All three players have denied the charges and Wasim and Ijaz
played in the first test with Zimbabwe. Malik was omitted and he
was also left out of the squad for the second test when it was
named on Saturday.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
| 
