The ICC on Thursday banned two UAE gamers Amir Hayat and Ashfaq Ahmed for eight years after they have been discovered responsible of making an attempt to repair T20 World Cup qualifying spherical matches of their nation, colluding with an Indian bookie.
While the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Tribunal had charged each the Pakistan-born cricketers again on September 13, 2020, the backdated quantum of sentence was handed on the day.”The bans are backdated to 13 September 2020, when they were provisionally suspended for corrupt conduct in relation to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 in the UAE,” the ICC launch said.Both cricketers had taken 15,000 AED (United Arab Emirates Dirham totalling USD 4083 approx) from an Indian bookie, recognized as Mr ‘Y’ within the ICC charge-sheet for fixing the qualifying spherical video games. Hayat is a medium pacer whereas Ahmed is a batsman.As per ICC’s anti-corruption code, the duo has been charged on 5 counts which incorporates failure to reveal a corrupt strategy, making an attempt to improperly affect the result of a match, and accepting presents value greater than USD 750.”In October 2019, the ICC ACU commenced an investigation into allegations that members of the UAE senior international team may have had dealings with a known corruption network controlled by an Indian man named [Mr Y],” the detailed ICC judgement said”Steven Richardson, the ICC ACU’s Coordinator Investigations, testified that the ACU had known of [Mr Y] for some time because he had been reported as having approached a number of players (either directly or via a third party) to get them involved in corruption in cricket.”The ACU was additionally conscious that [Mr Y] had been concerned in unsanctioned cricket tournaments which had corruption and betting hyperlinks,” it further stated.The judgement also mentioned that both Hayat and Ahmed had attended four and three anti-corruption education sessions organised by the ICC.It also mentioned that there were WhatsApp messages that were shared between the two players and the Indian corruptor but the meeting that was scheduled on a specific date didn’t take place.”The UAE was on account of take part within the ICC World T20 Qualifiers within the UAE in October 2019 and it’s alleged that the Players understood that this cost of the AED 15,000 anticipated their engagement in corrupt conduct through the Qualifiers, with exactly what can be anticipated of them to be supplied at a later date,” the ICC stated.”WhatsApp messages between the Players counsel that the Players and [Mr Y] have been making an attempt to rearrange a gathering on 7 September 2019, at which, it’s to be inferred, particulars of what they might be requested to do within the Qualifiers can be given to them. The Players say that this assembly didn’t in truth happen.”Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager Integrity Unit, said: “Both Amir and Ashfaq had performed cricket on the highest degree for lengthy sufficient to know the menace from match fixers.”The two UAE players, attended several ICC anti-corruption education sessions, and knew how to avoid becoming involved in any corrupt activity. Their lengthy ban should serve as a warning to others.”