The trial of the three Pakistan cricketers accused of spot fixing at last year’s Lord’s Test match concluded yesterday at Southwark Crown Court with prison sentences for them and their Croydon-based agent who orchestrated the fix, Mazhar Majeed.
Majeed had entered a plea of guilty in September, but court restrictions prevented that being reported until Wednesday, once the trial process for the three cricketers had run its course. He claimed to have been fixing cricket games “constantly”.
The unmasking of Majeed in September last year put local football club, Croydon Athletic, into near-meltdown.
Today veteran cricket writer Ted Corbett has detailed the sentencing thus:
Mazhar Majeed, the agent behind the scheme, went to prison for two years and eight months, Salman Butt, the captain when the offences were committed for two and a half years, Mohammad Asif, the wily swing bowler, for a year and young Mohammad Amir, the finest fast bowler of his age, for six months. He is to appeal his sentence, no doubt hoping it will be suspended but risks it being increased.
The case depended almost entirely on the secret filming and investigative journalism of the News of the World. As Corbett suggests, might Majeed still be operating his clever little fixes if the matter had been left to the sports authorities and the police?
via Court out? Cricket fixers undone by a tabloid « Sports Journalists’ Association.
Related articles
- Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Mazhar Majeed all imprisoned for spot-fixing (telegraph.co.uk)
- Mazhar Majeed: ‘I have been fixing cricket matches constantly’ (telegraph.co.uk)
- Cricket stars’ £77k for no-balls scam (thesun.co.uk)
- Fixer Mazhar Majeed’s guilty plea revealed in Pakistan spot-fixing trial (telegraph.co.uk)
