The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Disciplinary Committee on Monday banned Umar Akmal for a term of three years after he failed to inform authorities about being approached by corrupt elements in timely manner.
Chairman of the Disciplinary Panel, Justice (retired) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan announced the decision and found that Akmal had violated the Article 2.4.4 of the code.
Earlier, Akmal had said during an interview that he was offered $200,000 by fixers to leave two deliveries in one of the matches. He also claimed that he was offered money to skip matches against India.
“I was once offered $200,000 for leaving two deliveries. I was also offered to skip matches against India,” he said in the interview.
The batsman also said that he was approached during ICC World Cup, including the 2015 edition played in Australia and New Zealand.
However, Akmal had failed to mention if he had reported this to the anti-corruption unit or not.
According to ICC anti-corruption code 2.4.4 and 2.4.5, players are bound to report all the corrupt approaches made to them during any event and failure of doing so carry a minimum punishment of five years.
Akmal was suspended from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) on Feb 2, and charged with two separate violations of the PCB's code of conduct.
Pakistani cricketer Kamran Akmal reacted to Umar Akmal’s three-year ban saying that he was shocked to hear the decision.
“We will reach out to every platform for justice and will definitely exercise our right to appeal,” he said, adding that there are instances when punishments of lower degrees were allotted for similar charges.
“It is incomprehensible that why Umar Akmal is penalised so severely,” he objected, adding that a detailed decision is awaited in this regard.
Separately, PCB’s legal adviser Taffazul Haider Rizvi has said the 29-year-old can appeal against the ban within 14 days of Justice Chauhan issuing the detailed verdict.
“Akmal will be able to appeal to an independent adjudicator,” Rizvi said, adding that the detailed verdict would reveal when the punishment would come into force.
"Umar Akmal had accepted his mistake despite that he continued to give explanations for it," the lawyer said.
He added that the PCB cannot punish bookies or third-parties as they do not come into their circle of authority. “It is up to the law enforcement agencies to take action against them,” he added.
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