Dubai, April 17 (IANS) The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) Wednesday rejected the appeals by tainted Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif against the International Cricket Council's (ICC) ban on them.
The independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal, chaired by Michael Beloff, had found Butt, Mohammad Amir and Asif guilty of charges relating to spot-fixing at the Lord's Test match between England and Pakistan in August 2010 and banned the players in February 2011. In addition, Butt was also found guilty of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code by failing to report an approach made to him by bookie Mazhar Majeed during The Oval Test match.
Butt was given a 10-year ban from any involvement in cricketing activities, five years of which were suspended. Asif was punished with a seven-year term, two years of which were suspended while Amir chose not to appeal against the five-year ban.
ICC chief executive David Richardson welcomed the decision saying: "The ICC notes and welcomes the decisions of the CAS as they vindicate and confirm the processes and procedures followed by the ICC over the past couple of years in respect of this important, sensitive and high-profile matter. The decisions strengthen our resolve to always remain vigilant and keep the game clean at all cost, whilst continuing to educate the players about the threats and ways to combat the challenges faced by our sport."
Butt's appeal was limited to challenging the sanction only while Asif challenged both liability and sanction. In both cases, the appeals were dismissed in their entirety.
The ICC announced they will now review the detailed judgement before making any further comments.