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September 7, 2010

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Players' assets to be probed

THE Pakistan government will investigate the assets of past and present cricketers after the International Cricket Council suspended three Pakistan players over allegations of match fixing.

Leading Urdu language daily Jang reported yesterday that the Federal Bureau of Revenue has instructed all its regional officers to collect details of bank accounts, assets and even the number of cars in the possession of players who have represented Pakistan over the last five years.

An FBR official was quoted by the paper as saying the Pakistan Cricket Board will also be asked to submit its expenses for the players, selectors, coaches and managers.

The ICC last week charged and suspended Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir over allegations of match fixing. They were accused of conspiring with bookmakers to deliberately bowl no-balls during the fourth test against England at Lords. The three have also been questioned by British police.

The News of the World also claimed on Sunday that a fourth Pakistan player is being investigated by the ICC, which has refused to comment on the report.

The tabloid said the three suspended players face a total of n23 charges from the ICC. It also alleged that at least 10,000 pounds (US$15,400) of the marked bank notes the newspaper gave to middleman Mazhar Majeed in return for knowing when no-balls would be bowled in the recent test series against England had been recovered from Butt's room.

Meanwhile, Pakistan test opener Yasir Hameed said on Sunday he had been duped into making statements alleging widespread match-fixing by his teammates.

Hameed was quoted as saying that teammates were fixing "almost every match".

Hameed released a statement through the Pakistan Cricket Board in which he said he had never been approached by The News of the World. He said he had in fact been approached on August 30 by a man who introduced himself as Abid Ali and offered a sponsorship deal with an airline. Hameed said he had subsequently discovered that Ali was the News of the World investigations editor Mazher Mahmood.

"Naturally I was interested in what he had to say and we began conversation. He offered me at least 50,000 pounds (US$77,340) for the deal," Hameed said.

"Then Abid Khan started asking about the current match fixing allegations and as I saw him as a friend and a potential agent I naively started to answer his questions.

"He asked me about the match-fixing allegations against the current three Pakistani players and if I had any further knowledge. As far as I can recall I only told him whatever I had already read in the newspapers about this matter."




 

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