LAHORE: Pakistan suspended batsman Khalid Latif appeared before retired judge Justice Fazal-e-Miran Chohan here on Thursday to argue that a Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) tribunal hearing the Pakistan Super League (PSL) corruption case cannot be impartial. Latif is facing six major corruption charges, but he boycotted proceedings and instead filed a separate motion questioning the fitness of the three-member panel led by Justice (retired) Syed Asghar Haider. Latif and his lawyer Badar Alam said that Haider (a former PCB legal advisor), Tauqir Zia (former PCB chairman) and Wasim Bari (former PCB official) had all been on the payroll of the Pakistan Cricket Board at some time and hence cannot be impartial. Chohan is appointed head of the PCB disciplinary tribunal to hear objections of Latif over eligibility of PCB anti-corruption tribunal’s head Asghar Haider. Chohan heard Latif’s concerns, and the rebuttal from the PCB, and reserved his judgment. He is expected to announce it over the next two days. Alam, after presenting his argument, briefed the media, saying the PCB could not nominate tribunal members with whom the board has had previous relations. He cited various instances in Pakistan’s legal history where judges had decided against hearing cases in which they were perceived to have conflicts of interest. For example, the high-profile Panama Papers investigation in Pakistan, which is probing potential financial irregularities that could implicate the country’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Alam said the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Saqib Nisar, had recused himself from the case because he had been the Secretary of Law when Sharif was Prime Minister in 1997. The PCB however, rebutted that there was no such provision written in the code. “The only provision mentioned in the code is that members should not have any association with the case and none of the three members has any direct or indirect association with the case,” Tafulzul Rizvi, PCB’s legal advisor said. Published in Daily Times, June 30th, 2017.