Dubai: UAE’s three star cricketers are being investigated by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on allegations of breaching their code of conduct.
UAE skipper Mohammad Naveed, Shaiman Anwar and Qadeer Khan have been dropped from the UAE squad for the ICC T20 World Cup qualifiers and are being probed.
According to ICC, the three UAE players and a player in a Ajman cricket event have been charged with 13 counts of breaching cricket’s anti-corruption rules and the players have been provisionally suspended with immediate effect.
The Emirates Cricket Board has acknowledged that the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) is investigating three of their players. Skipper Naveed has been charged with two breaches of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code: “contriving, or being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of matches” in the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019.
Naveed has also been charged with a further two breaches of the Emirates Cricket Board Code for the T10 League. The ICC has been appointed by the ECB as the Designated Anti-Corruption Official for the purposes of the ECB’s Code at the T10 League (as it had in previous editions) and as such has issued the charges on the ECB’s behalf
Anwar, one of the prolific scorers for UAE, has been charged with the following two breaches of the ICC Code: contriving, or being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of matches in the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019. He has also failed to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in conduct in relation to the ICC World T20 Qualifiers that would amount to corrupt conduct under the Code.
Khan has been charged with six breaches of ICC code — which involves failing to disclose to the ACU full details of any approach or invitation received to engage in conduct that would amount to Corrupt Conduct under the Code in relation to the Zimbabwe versus UAE in April 2019.
The players have been given 14 days from October 16, 2019 to respond to the charges. Mehardeep Chhayakar is the fourth cricketer who participated in the Ajman event and also charged with breach of the ICC Code.
ECB said in a statement: “The Board fully supports the ICC and the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit in their efforts and denounce any activities of corruption. The Board will wait for the conclusion of proceedings before making any further comment. Emirates Cricket’s immediate focus remains firmly on the ICC World T20 Qualifiers.”
