Judgment today in spot fixing case

Geo
DOHA: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and his teammates Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif are expected to find out on today if they will face punishment for alleged spot-fixing.

The judgment will be given at 3:00pm

The three cricketers, who are alleged to have delivered no balls to order in the fourth Test against England at Lord's last August, have spent the last six days before a full hearing of an Independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal in Doha.

The trio were all charged with various offences under Article 2 of the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code. They all deny any wrong-doing, but have been provisionally suspended since the allegations came to light in the days following the Test.

Butt, Amir and Asif have appeared before a three-man committee made up of chairman Michael Beloff QC, South African Justice Albie Sachs and Sharad Rao, a Kenyan member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

At the hearing, the players have faced cross-examination as they sought to defend themselves on the charges.

The ICC hearing into the conduct of the suspended trio has been sitting for a fifth day in Doha.

Asif was the last of the three to give evidence in his defence on Monday before closing arguments.

A three-man panel, chaired by Michael Beloff QC, retired to deliberate on verdicts likely to be made public on Tuesday.

The backbone of the evidence against the trio is a 54-page document detailing the News Of The World's investigation.

The cricketers are accused of organising and carrying out three allegedly pre-ordained no-balls last August.

In the NOTW document it is understood there are details of numerous phone calls and texts involving the players and investigative journalist Mazher Mahmood.

The ICC are hoping that further corroboration from telephone records obtained from the police investigation will make their case against the players watertight. The prosecution was also hoping about clearing up a suggestion by the Pakistanís high commissioner in Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, that the News of the World recorded Majeed's "predictions" of no-balls on the first day of the Lord's Test, after it was all over.

It is expected independently sourced telephone records will confirm the paper's story.

Scotland Yard has told Sky News that files detailing its investigation, separate from the ICC's, are "currently with the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision".

A verdict would bring to a close a scandal that has rocked Pakistan and world cricket since the News of the World published a story claiming businessman Mazhar Majeed accepted £150,000 to arrange for Butt, Asif and Amir to deliberately bowl no-balls.