Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Anti-Corruption Tribunal (ACT) held a preliminary hearing at the National Cricket Academy here Friday, where formal charges were read out against Sharjeel Khan in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) spot fixing case. Khalid Latif, his team-mate for Pakistan and Islamabad United and similarly implicated, did not appear, citing health reasons. This forced the postponement of his hearing by a week on the condition that no future adjournment would be granted. The tribunal is comprised of chairman Justice (r) Asghar Haider, Lieutenant General (r) Tauqir Zia and former Test captain Wasim Bari. Also present on the occasion were PCB general manager legal affairs Salman Naseer, PCB’s vigilance and security officer Colonel Mohammad Azam and PCB’s legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi who was accompanied by Advocate Haider Ali Khan.

The tribunal, extending Latif’s date, told him to appear on March 31 to chalk out a timeline for the formal hearing. “He made an application for adjournment via email to the chairman of the tribunal citing health reasons and requesting that proceedings be adjourned to next week,” a PCB statement said. “In the interest of justice the request is allowed and the proceedings in respect of Khalid are adjourned to 11:30am on 31st March 2017. Notice would also be issued with a stipulation that no further adjournment would be granted.”

Reading out charges against Sharjeel, the tribunal leveled allegations of breaching the PCB Anti-Corruption Code for Participants 2015. Sharjeel and his lawyer agreed to the timelines to be adopted under the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Code, with the formal hearing set for May 15 in Lahore. He was given a deadline of May 5 to respond to the alleged code-of-conduct breaches he and Latif were accused of during the PSL. The PCB said in the press release that it “may, at its discretion, file a rebuttal by May 10.”

Sharjeel and Latif were provisionally suspended last month under the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Code as part of an investigation into an organisation’s alleged attempts to corrupt the second season of the PSL. Both players had denied some of the alleged breaches they were accused of but admitted to at least one of the more minor charges.

It is understood that Nasir Jamshed, who was arrested in the UK in relation to the same case, was in touch with both Latif and Sharjeel during the PSL. The PCB, as part of its prosecution, will send two officials to travel to the UK to question Jamshed. So far, five Pakistan cricketers have been suspended in the spot-fixing case – besides Sharjeel, Khalid and Nasir, the list also includes Shahzaib Hasan and paceman Mohammad Irfan. On March 20, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan approved putting the names of the five players involved in the PSL spot-fixing scandal on the Exit Control List (ECL). The minister also ordered investigations against the bookies involved in the practice as well.