Bangladesh’s Shohely Akhter is first female cricketer to get ICC ban on corruption charges

Dubai: Bangladesh offspinner Shohely Akhter on Tuesday became the first female cricketer to be get a ban from the International Cricket Council (ICC) on corruption charges.

The 36-year-old is banned from all forms of cricket for five years after she admitted breaching five provisions of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.

According to the ICC, Shohely was found guilty of attempting to fix, seeking or offering a bribe and obstructing or delaying the investigation being carried out by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code (ACU).

The charges around her relate to corrupt approaches made in relation to matches in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 held in South Africa.

Shohely has represented Bangladesh in 13 women’s T20I’s and 2 women’s ODI’s. According to ICC, the investigation revolved around the approach she made on February 14. 2023, prior to Bangladesh’s match against Australia in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.

Akhter contacted her friend and teammate via Facebook Messenger, sending her voice notes in which she tried to persuade her to agree to carry out fixes in future Bangladesh matches. The player who was approached by Akhter rejected the offer and reported it to the ACU.

The player provided the ACU with copies of the voice notes Ms Akhter had sent her, which she had forwarded before they were deleted.