The former Pakistan captain Salman Butt claimed that he never asked bowlers Mohammad Asif or Mohammad Amir to cheat during a test match against England last year, a British court heard Friday during a trial for claimed spot-fixing.
Butt and Asif, who arrived two hours late for court due to poor health, are facing accusations of scheming to cheat, and plot to gain and accept dishonest payments, following the match in August 2010 when they supposedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenage fast bowler Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif refute the accusations.
The jury at London s Southwark Crown Court heard a recorded from police interviews with Butt in September last year, just after an undercover investigation into alleged corruption by the Pakistan cricketers and Majeed that was published in the now defunct British tabloid, the News of the World.
The court heard Butt describing in the police interview,
Butt mentioned that,
“I don t think anybody could influence me to cheat my country. I play this game for the love of the game and for the love of my country.”
He further added that,
Pakistan team.
When Asif’s first police interview was played to the court he also refuted any wrongdoing and asserted that nobody had pressured him into doing something corrupt and said he was “not protecting” Butt.
The court heard Butt saying in the police interview,
“(There s) no pressure, how can he (Butt) put pressure on me? How can he pressurize me? Nobody can pressurize me as I have played in the (Pakistan) team for a long time.”
Detective Constable Steven Blake later took the witness stand and volunteered in-depth details to the court of Majeed s finances, when probed first by the prosecution and then Butt s lawyer Ali Bajwa QC.
Bajwa highlighted the complex details told to the court of more than 30 bank accounts in Majeed s name. He said that Majeed had bank overdrafts worth around 700,000 pounds ($1.1 million). One of his 21 accounts with the NatWest Bank, the court heard, was 497,949 pounds overdrawn.
Additional, of the 150,000 pounds cash that the undercover News of the World journalist paid Majeed to set up the sting, 104,300 pounds is yet to be recovered.
Pak Updates
Butt and Asif, who arrived two hours late for court due to poor health, are facing accusations of scheming to cheat, and plot to gain and accept dishonest payments, following the match in August 2010 when they supposedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenage fast bowler Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif refute the accusations.
The jury at London s Southwark Crown Court heard a recorded from police interviews with Butt in September last year, just after an undercover investigation into alleged corruption by the Pakistan cricketers and Majeed that was published in the now defunct British tabloid, the News of the World.
The court heard Butt describing in the police interview,
“There s no way I could tell Amir or Asif (to cheat).”In the first police interview, in which Butt explained Majeed’s subsequently accurate predictions of the three no-balls as “a freak occurrence”, he said he never took money corruptly and insisted his former agent Majeed had no influence over him, contrary to what Majeed said on the News of the World s secret tapes.
“They are the two players that most teams would want to have. When we pick our team those are the first two names that we have to write.”
Butt mentioned that,
“I don t think anybody could influence me to cheat my country. I play this game for the love of the game and for the love of my country.”
He further added that,
“I have played at all levels for Pakistan and in ten years of playing for Pakistan I have never had any charge against me.”“This is the first time I have had a charge (against me),” before denying any knowledge of cheating in the
Pakistan team.
When Asif’s first police interview was played to the court he also refuted any wrongdoing and asserted that nobody had pressured him into doing something corrupt and said he was “not protecting” Butt.
The court heard Butt saying in the police interview,
“No I m going to protect myself. How can I protect Salman Butt? Even in the game and in my life I am going to protect myself.”He further included that,
“(There s) no pressure, how can he (Butt) put pressure on me? How can he pressurize me? Nobody can pressurize me as I have played in the (Pakistan) team for a long time.”
Detective Constable Steven Blake later took the witness stand and volunteered in-depth details to the court of Majeed s finances, when probed first by the prosecution and then Butt s lawyer Ali Bajwa QC.
Bajwa highlighted the complex details told to the court of more than 30 bank accounts in Majeed s name. He said that Majeed had bank overdrafts worth around 700,000 pounds ($1.1 million). One of his 21 accounts with the NatWest Bank, the court heard, was 497,949 pounds overdrawn.
Additional, of the 150,000 pounds cash that the undercover News of the World journalist paid Majeed to set up the sting, 104,300 pounds is yet to be recovered.
Pak Updates
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