Ban countries over fixing, urges ex-corruption chief
THE FORMER anti-corruption chief of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has called on the world governing body to consider banning Pakistan over the spot-fixing scandal.
Lord Condon urged the ICC to prove its credibility by imposing the toughest sanctions possible for countries who do not do enough to prevent corruption in their teams.
“This is another big wake-up call for cricket,” said former Met Police commissioner Condon. “The ICC has to get tougher. It has to be prepared to give the harshest sentences it can – not just to cricketers but boards as well. If a board is not doing enough to prevent corruption they should also suffer consequences and the nuclear option is teams would sadly have to be excluded from world cricket if they are not getting their act together.”
The comments follow last week’s jailing of Pakistan trio Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir after they were found guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments. The charges relate to their deliberate bowling of no-balls during a Test match against England at Lord’s last year.
Former captain Butt was sentenced to 30 months, Asif for 12 months and Amir for six months.