Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) security and vigilance department on Monday issued a notice of demand to all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz over possible breach of the PCB anti-corruption code. Nawaz has been asked to appear before the security and vigilance department. Nawaz is currently at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore as part of an ongoing allrounders’ camp the PCB is conducting.

According to a statement issued by the board, the notice of demand has been issued under Article 4.3 of the PCB anti-corruption code. “The notice requires Nawaz to appear before the PCB security and vigilance department for an interview to investigate possible breaches of the PCB anti-corruption code by the accused,” read the statement. The recent step taken by the PCB is “in continuation of its fight against the menace of corruption in cricket.” There were speculations floating around claiming Nawaz had failed to report bookies who approached him over possible match-fixing. The release also said the PCB would not make further comments due to the “sensitivity of the matters under question.”

Nawaz, 23, is the sixth player named in the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the Pakistan Super League held in United Arab Emirates (UAE). Fast bowler Mohammad Irfan confessed to receiving offers and not reporting them to the PCB and was banned for one year, with six months suspended, and a fine of one million rupees ($10,000) in March. Openers Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif, Shahzaib Hasan and Nasir Jamshed are also provisionally suspended on various charges being investigated by a ant-corruption tribunal. Nawaz, a left-arm spinning all-rounder, has been part of the Pakistan team in all three formats since last year. He was part of Pakistan’s Twenty20 team on the current tour of the West Indies. If proven guilty the players face a minimum ban of five years, with a potential lifetime ban.