Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer could face jail terms of up to seven years after being convicted of spot-fixing at a trial that laid bare a culture of corruption at the heart of international cricket.
The convictions deal a huge blow to the reputation of the game and the trial could lead to further damaging revelations, with the International Cricket Council (ICC) set to launch an investigation into corruption allegations heard in court against two other members of the Pakistan touring squad, Kamran Akmal and Wahab Riaz.
Following the four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court, Butt and Asif were each found guilty of conspiracy to accept corrupt payments and conspiracy to cheat, offences that carry a maximum jail term of seven years.
Aamer, 19, pleaded guilty to the same offences at a pre-trial hearing two weeks before the case began, a fact not revealed to the jury until they had returned verdicts on his senior colleagues on Tuesday afternoon after more than 17 hours of deliberation.
At the pre-trial hearing Ben Emerson, QC representing Aamer, said the player had been subject to “extreme pressure” from senior colleagues, “Aamer wants to make it clear he wants to take full responsibility for what he did by deliberately bowling two no balls. This vulnerable 18-year-old boy, as he was then, was subjected to extreme pressure from those upon whom he should have been able to rely. He recognised the damage he has caused Pakistan cricket and he wants to do his best to put this right.”
Aamer was to face questions about his guilty plea from trial judge Justice Jeremy Cooke on Wednesday and will be sentenced alongside Butt and Asif on Thursday. The convictions mean the trio become the first sportsmen convicted for on-field corruption in a UK court since the 1960s, when three footballers, including two from Sheffield Wednesday, were jailed for throwing matches.
The ICC will now launch a fresh investigation into kamran Akmal and Wahab Riaz. Both players were linked in court to betting scams allegedly organised by Majeed. Akmal’s name also came up in correspondence between Majeed and his contacts around the world in evidence collated by police from the early stages of Pakistan’s fateful tour of England. Prosecuting counsel Aftab Jafferjee QC said in court that Akmal had led a “charmed life” to escape investigation. He also said the roles of Riaz and Akmal “raise deep, deep suspicions”.
Akmal has not played for Pakistan since the World Cup although Riaz is in the squad playing in the UAE against Sri Lanka.
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