Pakistan cricketers guilty of corruption NEWS
Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif have been found guilty of corruption by a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London.
Despite consistent protestations of their innocence both former captain Salman Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif have been found guilty of corruption for their part in a spot-fixing plot.
The two Pakistan cricketers had been charged with conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments for their part in the scam that involved a plan to bowl deliberate no-balls during a Pakistan versus England Test Match at Lords last year.
Spot-fixing or spot-betting involves gamblers making bets on what would be regarded as low-key events in a sporting encounter, such as the timing of the first corner in a football match or, as in this case, the timing of a no-ball(s).
The jury, who deliberated for over 17 hours, unanimously found both cricketers guilty of conspiracy to cheat, and by a majority, found Butt and Asif guilty of conspiracy to accept corrupt payments.
The prosecution of the players was the result of a tabloid newspaper sting operation in which the players were filmed agreeing to fix parts of the match last year. Also involved were cricketer Mohammad Amir who, it was revealed, pleaded guilty and UK based sports agent Mazhar Majeed.
Sentencing for the ex-players will follow and there is the possibility of a custodial sentence for the pair which would surely send out a strong message to other potential cheats in an international sport that has been accused of 'rampant corruption'.
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