Pakistan Cricket Board today slapped bans on umpires Nadeem Ghouri and Anis Siddiqui for four and three years respectively after finding them guilty of corruption in an expose by an Indian television channel last year.
The two umpires were found guilty of agreeing to extend undue favours for material gains in the sting operation carried out by India TV in October last. The PCB's integrity committee headed by chairman Zaka Ashraf took the decision today.
Ghouri is an international umpire and has officiated in Test matches while Siddiqui is a first class umpire.
"We are committed on creating awareness amongst our players and officials with regards to the possible pitfalls," Ashraf said in a statement.
Ghouri, also a former Test spinner who has worked on the ICC international panel and has 13 years of umpiring experience, was not immediately available for comments but both umpires appeared before the committee in Lahore today to give their version of the story.
India TV had carried out a sting operation in October last in which reporters posing as agents contacted umpires from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and induced them to give undue favours in return for monetary gains in league matches.
Ghouri and Siddiqui were shown conversing with the undercover reporter on Skype with the former apparently agreeing to the terms and conditions set by the agents.
Last month, the Bangladesh Cricket Board also banned its top umpire Nadir Shah for 10 years as he was also found guilty of corruption in the same sting operation.
Another Bangladesh umpire, Sharfuddoula Saikat, was cleared of any misconduct in the inquiry by his board.
The Indian TV sting operation alleged that six umpires were willing to give decisions favouring players for money in Twenty20 warm-up games ahead of the 2012 World Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka.
