The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)'s anti-corruption tribunal Wednesday imposed a ban of five years with a fine of Rs one million upon batsman Khalid Latif for his involvement in a spot-fixing scandal in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The PCB's anti-corruption tribunal, while announcing its short verdict found him guilty of all six charges including that of persuading a few other cricketers including teammates Mohammad Irfan and Sharjeel Khan to get involved in spot-fixing, which marred the opening day of the PSL second edition held in Dubai earlier this year.
Although Khalid Latif did not play in the PSL, he was later charged with luring Sharjeel into the deal and not reporting the matter to the PCB anti-corruption unit. PCB's counsel Taffazul Rizvi told media talk that the duration of ban was in anti-corruption tribunal's hands which heard the case. He added that it is not cricket board's duty to hold the bookie.
It may be added that spot-fixing involves bets on the outcome of a particular passage of play, unlike match-fixing in which there is an attempt to prearrange the result of the match. Latif and Sharjeel were provisionally suspended and sent home from the T20 competition in February, after an investigation by the board's anti-corruption unit.
Earlier in August, Sharjeel was banned for five years for his role in the spot-fixing scandal. He will not be able to play domestic or international cricket for half the sentence and will be kept under observation for its duration. Under the PCB code, players can appeal rulings before an independent arbitrator within 14 days of the decision. Khalid Latif's counsel Badar Alam declined to accept the tribunal's verdict saying the tribunal verdict has no legal value. "We will challenge the decision once the detailed verdict is out. The verdict is unacceptable," he said.
During the case proceedings, Latif and his lawyer continued to challenge the constitutional validity of the tribunal and its appointed members. Attempts by Latif to challenge the tribunal in the Lahore High Court, however, failed more than once. The PCB's Anti-Corruption Tribunal was comprised of Justice (Retd.) Syed Asgher Haider, Lieutenant-General (Retd.) Touqir Zia and Wasim Bari.
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