ICC's ASU tipped off PCB about spot-fixing in PSL: Flanagan

The head of the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, Sir Ronnie Flanagan has made it clear that they had first tipped off the Pakistan Cricket Board's ACU about possible spot- fixing in the Pakistan Super League.

Contrary to what the PCB has so far been claiming that their ACU officials discovered the spot-fixing scandal in the league in February, Flanagan told the media in Lahore that the ICC ACU had informed their PCB counterparts on the basis of information they received from the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom.

Asked pointedly who uncovered the spot-fixing issue in the PSL, Flanagan said we did.
 

Flanagan appeared as a witness for the PCB in the ongoing hearings by a three-member tribunal appointed by the board to rule on the spot-fixing cases.

The tribunal which is now holding a day-to-day hearing against suspended Pakistan test batsman, Sharjeel Khan was appointed after the PCB had already suspended Sharjeel and other Pakistani players, Muhammad Irfan, Khalid Latif, Shahzaib Hasan and Nasir Jamshed in the case.

This week the board also imposed a two-month ban on all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz after he admitted that he was approached by bookmakers during Pakistan's tour of Australia last year.

Flanagan, however, said that the ICC has nothing to do with the case and it was an internal issue of the PCB.

"This is PCB's case to deal with," said Flanagan. "The case is being heard professionally and it shows that PCB wants to eliminate corruption from the game of cricket."

But he confirmed that it was the ICC's ACU that had first tipped off the PCB about what was going on in the PSL.

But the PCB's legal advisor, Tafazzul Rizvi insisted that both the bodies worked in close coordination with each other on the case and it was the PCB which took the initiative to probe into suspected meetings between players and bookmakers.

Flanagan also made it clear that the ICC ACU was inking agreements with the police of different countries to bolster the fight against corruption and they also wanted a working agreement with Pakistani police.