Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif are innocent, claims UK journalist
Three Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, who were jailed in Britain last year for spot-fixing in a Test against England in 2010 are innocent, claimed a British investigative journalist.
Ed Hawkins, an investigative sports journalist, made the claim in his upcoming book ‘Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy: Journey to the corrupt heart of cricket’s underworld,’ saying the judgment of Justice Jeremy Cook to send the players behind the bars was wrong as they were trapped into spot-fixing.
A British newspaper Daily Mail published more excerpts of the book, which is set to be published on November 15.
Former skipper Salman, and pace duo Asif and Amir, who received lengthy suspensions by an International Cricket Council anti-corruption tribunal in February 2011, have already served their prison sentences in the spot-fixing case.
Justice Cook of Southwark Crown Court of London sentenced trio players for different lengths after they were found guilty of conspiracy to cheat and accepting corrupt payments in Lords Test against England in August 2010.
The players were alleged of conspiring with agent Mazhar Majeed to bowl pre-arranged no-balls as a part of lucrative gambling scam. The scandal which rocked the cricketing world was unearthed by the British tabloid newspaper News of the World.
Hawkins had earlier claimed that the high-voltage Semi final between arch-rivals Pakistan and India in World Cup 2011 at Mohali was fixed.
According to Hawkins, the bookie had a contract with Pakistan which envisaged that the term will lose match by 29 runs. However, the bottom-line was slightly different as the men in green lost by 20 runs.
The author also claimed that Bollywood actresses were used as a honeytrap in the fixing process.