Islamabad: Pakistan's top crime investigative agency will send a team to Britain this week to look at corruption allegations against some of the country's cricket players, a senior official said Tuesday.
Investigations by British police and the International Cricket Council (ICC) are already underway into a newspaper report alleging three Pakistan players had been bribed to fix incidents in last week's fourth test against England.
London police confiscated the mobile phones of test captain Salman Butt as well as pace bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, and the trio — plus wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal — were questioned at the team's hotel.
A senior official at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Karachi said the three-member team was likely to leave for London today and planned to meet British police and players.
President Asif Ali Zardari, who is the patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has sought reports from Pakistani officials in London, according to his official spokesman.
"The President is in touch with the High Commissioner in London and has asked for reports on the issue," Farhatullah Babar told reporters.
The Pakistan team arrived in Taunton in west England on Monday to play a warm-up game for two Twenty20 internationals and a five-match one-day series against England, which starts on Sunday.
No suspension
PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said the players being investigated would not be suspended without proof of wrongdoing, however.
"There is a case going on over here with Scotland Yard," Ijaz told website cricinfo.com.
"This is only an allegation. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken."
The ICC's anti-corruption unit has been asked to submit a report on its investigation within the next three days, the world governing body's president Sharad Pawar said.
"We at the ICC are waiting for definite information from the PCB and our own anti-corruption unit. We hope to get something in the next two to three days' time and that information would lead to appropriate action, if required," he said.
The scandal has outraged cricket fans in Pakistan and the country's federal sports minister, Mir Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani, said the players would be given "maximum punishment" if allegations against them were proved.
"No one has the right to play with the dignity, honour of the country," he said. "If the allegations are proved then there could be maximum punishment.
"It could be lifetime ban, it could be anything, it depends on the allegations."
Family shock
Family and friends in Amir's home village said they were shocked by the allegations against the 18-year-old, who had been named Pakistan's man of the England series after becoming the youngest player to capture 50 test wickets.
"Like the entire nation, I and my family are truly disappointed," Amir's elder brother, Mohammad Ramzan said at the family home in the Punjab village of Changa Bangial.
"We are praying day and night that they come clean on these allegations and continue to play. This is a conspiracy."
