Spot-fixing

Mohammad Amir features in ACSU's educational video

Umar Farooq

April 5, 2012

Mohammad Amir, the Pakistan fast-bowler banned from competitive cricket for five years for his part in the spot-fixing scandal of the 2010 Lord's Test, has appeared in an educational video on behalf of the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).

In the five-minute video, Amir speaks about his life after being trapped by the illegal betting mafia, his embarrassment at lying to the ICC during its Qatar hearings and his three months in a British prison. Amir recounts his career, coming into the Pakistan team, and the Lord's Test, of which he says, "I took six wickets but I did something very bad… after a couple of hours, my life is changed, my life is ruined because of two no balls." It is understood the Amir video has also been shown to players from the various IPL teams in the lead-up to the event, which began on Wednesday.

Amir said he had wanted to confess to the ICC anti-corruption tribunal during their hearings in Qatar last January, but had been unable to do so. In the video, he says, "I always knew this was cheating cricket but I was under pressure. But I accept my mistake. When I was in the ICC hearing, I knew I was totally embarrassed because I knew I am lying. I wanted to tell the truth but I didn't have courage."

He said had bowled the no-balls at Lord's because, "some senior players put me under pressure. I didn't want to. One day I was on the top and the next day everyone was calling me cheater and fixer. You don't have words to explain that." The spot-fixing episode, he said, had been an act of entrapment but accepted his mistake of becoming a part of it. He said he was tricked into spot-fixing and he was not aware of the the player-agent Mazhar Majeed's intentions.

When he found himself facing a criminal trial, Amir said he had decided to tell the truth. The spot-fixing exercise was exposed by a sting operation arranged by the now defunct UK Sunday tabloid, the News Of the World. Amir who will turn 20 on April 13, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to accept corrupt payments and conspiracy to cheat at gambling and did not stand trial in London. He was sentenced to six months in jail and in the video says, "When the police put me in handcuffs I was literally crying and I was thinking I am not going to play cricket ever again."

His parting message in the video is, "Prison is a bad place for everyone. Don't make the mistakes which I did. I was stupid I didn't tell anybody because I didn't have coverage...If someone comes to you and asks you to do those kind of things, go straight to ICC team and team management they can help you."

Since his release after serving half of his six-month custodial sentence in England, Amir has been in contact with the ICC and PCB for an educational and rehabilitation program, which "remains confidential".

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo last month, the ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat had suggested the idea of Amir featuring in videos to point out the perils of corruption as part of educating young cricketers. "If Mohammad Amir stands up and delivers a message of caution about this murky world, people are going to sit up and listen. That is one example of rehabilitation,' Lorgat said.

In a televised interview with former England captain Michael Atherton last month, Aamer said his friendship with former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt was betrayed as it was Butt who had lured him into spot-fixing. Amir is currently living in Lahore, and serving his five-year ban which will run till 2015. There is no suggestion that Amir's appearance in the ACSU video will lead to a reduction of his ban.

There has been a lot of sympathy for Amir largely due to his age. Former captain Ramiz Raja met the bowler last week said, "the lad is obviously shaken badly by the gravity of events." The PCB at the moment is keen to take care of the bowler but is yet to launch any rehabilitation program officially; it is understood the ICC is supporting the PCB in the process. An ICC spokesman told ESPNcricinfo: "The ICC has been in contact with Amir and the PCB about appropriate education and rehabilitation at an appropriate time, the details of which remain confidential."

Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo's Pakistan correspondent

I was tricked into spot fixing - Amir

Spot-fixing
I was tricked into spot fixing - Amir
David Hopps
March 19, 2012
 Mohammad Amir, in his first comments on the spot-fixing affair that disgraced Pakistan cricket, has presented himself as a victim of a plot organised by his captain at the time, Salman Butt, and the agent, Mazhar Majeed, and pleaded for forgiveness.

Amir was jailed for six months after pleading guilty at Southwark Crown Court last year to conspiracy to accept corrupt payments and conspiracy to cheat at gambling after a plot was uncovered in a sting operation arranged by the now defunct UK Sunday tabloid, the News Of the World, involving the bowling of deliberate no-balls in a Test against England in 2010.

His guilty plea meant that unlike his co-conspirators, Butt and Mohammad Asif, his fellow fast bowler, he had no chance to tell his story, and indeed did not face the challenge of cross-examination. In a statement through his lawyer, he had ventured at Southwark Crown Court: "I want to apologise to all in Pakistan and all others to whom cricket is important. I did the wrong thing. I was trapped, because of my stupidity. I panicked."

Now he has expanded on that defence to the former England captain, Michael Atherton, on Sky Sports.

"I ask everyone to forgive me," he said. "I messed up… Thanks to Allah I have taught myself to distinguish between right and wrong. I have never done anything wrong. I was manipulated."

Butt was sentenced to two-and-a-half years, Asif was jailed for one year, and Majeed received a sentence of two years eight months. Butt and Amir subsequently lost appeals against the sentence.

Amir told Sky that he did not admit guilt during an investigation by the ICC because "I could not find the courage." Instead, he placed the blame firmly upon Butt, a man who he learned to view in the Pakistan Academy, before his international debut, as a rare example of a friendly senior player eager to encourage him. "I was so angry with Salman," Amir said. "He took advantage of my friendship. And I used to respect him like an elder brother."

Amir was full of remorse during an hour-long interview that will bring the subject of his potential rehabilitation to the fore. He claimed that he bowled two deliberate no-balls in the Lord's Test because Majeed and Butt called him to a car park at the Pakistan team hotel in London and duped him into believing that his phone conversations with an unidentified fixer called Ali, whose name had not been revealed in court, had been recorded by the ICC.

After the calls from Ali, he said that the day before the Lord's Test came the meeting with Butt and Majeed. "I received a call from Mazhar that I should go to the car park…when I got into the lift I bumped into Salman… All of a sudden it was as if someone had launched an attack. He told me that my calls with Ali had been recorded by the ICC. He told me I was trapped… I panicked so much it did not even occur to me how ridiculous it was."

He said he was taken to a car in the car park and that Majeed said, with Butt sitting silently in the back seat, "Do me a favour. Bowl two no-balls for me."

Amir recalled: "I said Bro I'm scared I can't do it. I was churning inside, thinking about it. I cursed myself. I knew I was cheating cricket...Then I did it."

Phone records show that Ali tried to call Amir 40 times during the build-up to the Oval Test as the spot-fixing plot was being hatched: Amir returned the calls twice. However, he did give him his bank details. "I gave him my contact details because he was Salman's friend," he said. "…Twice he asked me if Salman had had a word with me. I was thinking what does he want from me? Let's try to figure it out."

Amir's rendition suggests that the spot-fixing plot was more sophisticated than previosuly thought. He claimed that Butt, who he knew as an "elder brother," had first brought up the subject of rigging matches for financial gain during the early stages of the tour. "He was smiling and laughing," Amir said. "I didn't take it seriously. I said no bro. I said to him this is forbidden, leave it."

Amir's formative years were spent in Changa Bangyaal near Rawalpindi. He was born into what is widely regarded as a poor family near Rawalpindi. In the interview, he displayed himself as more intelligent and quick-witted than many have presupposed.

"I have support," he said. "Good people are boosting my morals and giving me courage… is not a good place for anyone and nobody would be proud to be there."

He was 18, the forerunner in an exciting new crop of fast bowlers, as he displayed the form that made him Man of the Series in the England-Pakistan Tests.

"One day I was on top of the world and the next it came crashing down," he said. "… I was stupid. I should have told someone. But I didn't know what was happening to me...I had never thought about this sort of thing. I thought it was a load of nonsense. This led to my downfall."

Amir told how after the sting he was visited by Majeed and given £15,500 ($24,500). "He told me I was his little brother. He was buzzing with excitement like he had hit the jackpot... I did not even touch the money. I knew that he had made me do something wrong."

Amir was released from Portland Young Offenders Institution in Dorset on February 1 after serving half of a six-month sentence for his part in a spot-fixing scam.

He returned to Pakistan more than three weeks later, arriving at the international airport in Lahore at dawn alongside his solicitor, Sajida Malik, and leaving through a side exit to evade the media.

Amir's mentor, Asif Bajwa, told ESPNcricinfo at the time. "He made a mistake and he admits it. He is a strong young boy and knows how to withstand pressure both in cricket and in life, so I believe he definitely will return. Now what required is his image building."

That process has begun, led not by the ICC, nor any other professional body but by a former England captain.

David Hopps is the UK editor of ESPNcricinfo

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Amir to focus on ICC ban appeal

Pakistan news
Amir to focus on ICC ban appeal
Umar Farooq
February 26, 2012

Mohammad Amir is set to quickly start the process of trying to rescue his cricket career after returning to Pakistan following the completion of his sentence for spot-fixing. ESPNcricinfo understands that one of his early aims is to pursue his appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) against the five-year ban handed out by the ICC.

Amir returned to Pakistan on Saturday after being released from a young offenders' institute in Dorset after serving half of a six-month sentence handed down in November. The CAS, based in Switzerland, registered Amir's appeal in March 2011 - filed at the same time as those of Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt - after an ICC tribunal had banned the trio from playing any level of cricket.

The CAS is yet to announce a panel to hear the appeal and that will only be formed once Amir takes the process further. The appeal has been delayed because of the criminal charges involved and the sentences imposed.

"It's only the CAS now, which has the right to hear the appeal against the decision," PCB legal advisor, Taffazul Rizvi told ESPNcricinfo. "And any decision made by CAS shall be binding on all."

The PCB is not liable to provide a player financial aid while they pursue a case before the CAS, but the PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf has previously hinted that Amir would be given support while undergoing rehabilitation. "All offences against which the players were accused off were in their personal capacity for their personal acts so therefore they will face these (CAS) proceeding in their own personal capacity," added Rizvi.

"The cases will be handled in accordance with the procedural rules set out in the code of sports-related arbitration," CAS said in a statement when the appeals were lodged. "The parties will first exchange written submissions and will then be heard at a hearing, the date of which will be fixed at a later stage."

Amir will work with London-based solicitor Sajida Malik to draw up the appeal after Malik accompanied Amir back to Pakistan. Both avoided the media on their arrival in Lahore and remained shut away at Amir's home during the day.

The PCB are likely to put Amir into an education programme as part of his rehabilitation but are also keen to talk to him about the spot-fixing case. Under ICC regulations if a player who has been banned wants to return to cricket he must have gone through a rehabilitation course. As the PCB was his employer when the incidents occurred - Amir held a central contract - they can also decide to hold further investigations although Rizvi said it was a complicated process.

"As far as launching any further inquiry at this point that is something we need to look into," he said. "He has already been found guilty and sentenced from two different forums and is undergoing the sentences. It's not a simple matter and is legally complicated. But the PCB does hold the right to investigate the player."

Edited by Andrew McGlashan

Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo's Pakistan correspondent
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© ESPN EMEA Ltd.