Lorgat warns cricketers not to be tempted

Dubai: Haroon Lorgat, the International Cricket Council chief executive, has warned cricketers not to be tempted to engage in any corrupt actitivity within the sport.

Speaking from the ICC headquarters in Dubai late on Tuesday night following the guilty verdicts on Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif in the spot-fixing trial by Southwark Crown Court in England, which could land both the cricketers in jail for seven years, Lorgat said: "This verdict is seen as a further warning to any individual who might, for whatever reason, be tempted to engage in corrupt activity within our sport.

"The ICC takes no pleasure from the fact that these players stepped outside not only the laws of the game but also the criminal laws of the country in which they were participating."

Criminal trial

Lorgat revealed that the ICC has been closely following the criminal trial in England over the past few weeks. "These outcomes appear to be consistent with the findings of the independent anti-corruption tribunal which was appointed earlier this year to hear charges brought against the three players by the ICC under our own Anti-Corruption Code.

"We note that the jury has found Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif guilty of the criminal offences with which they were charged and also that Mohammad Amir had pleaded guilty to the criminal offences with which he was charged. They were accordingly suspended from all forms of cricket for five, seven and ten years.

"The developments in the English criminal courts will have no impact upon those periods of suspension, which will remain in full force and effect," he added.

Anti-corruption code

Stressing on the role of the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code, he said: "Under the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code, for which sporting sanctions have been imposed, such conduct has now been shown to constitute criminal behaviour for which serious criminal sanctions can also be imposed."

Hoping for a better future for the game free of such corruption, he said: "I believe that this case has shown that it is possible for criminal authorities and sports bodies to co-operate with each other, in difficult circumstances, in the best interests of the sport and the public at large."