PCB hits back at Sharjeel Khan Allegations
Shares
LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board said on Wednesday that it is unbecoming of convicted spot fixer Sharjeel Khan and his legal team to deliberately level patently false allegations against Chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board, Najam Sethi and head of PCB anti corruption unit, Col. (retd) Muhammad Azam Khan and other PCB officials in the aftermath of the punishment handed over to the cricketer.
"We want to put the record straight and to correct certain misrepresentations by Mr. Sharjeel Khan at a press conference held yesterday, Tuesday," said a spokesman of the PCB.
He said Sharjeel Khan claims that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) amended its Anti-Corruption Code (the "PCB Code") with the aim of preventing players from filing appeals before Pakistani courts. This is completely wrong.
The true state of affairs is that under both versions of the PCB Code (old and new) an appeal against the order of the Anti-Corruption Tribunal lies with the Independent Adjudicator. Article 7.5.4 provides that the decision of the independent adjudicator on the appeal shall be final and binding on all parties.
The amendment made by PCB in fact provides parties with an additional opportunity to appeal i.e. before Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). Sporting bodies including cricket regard CAS as the final court of appeal, he asserted.
"To dispel the misinformation reference can also be made to Article 11.5 of the PCB Code, the relevant portions of which are reproduced below:"the Courts of Pakistan shall have exclusive jurisdiction to issue relief. and/or to hear and determine challenges to any decision issued by the Anti-Corruption Tribunal and/or CAS." It may also be clarified that the amendment will affect future cases and does not apply to Sharjeel Khan.
"The PCB team has proven all charges of Corrupt Conduct that it made out against Cricketers Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif before the Independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal," said the spokesman.
Thereafter, Sharjeel appealed his conviction on all 5 charges before the Independent Adjudicator (an Honorable Former Judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan) who rejected Sharjeel's appeal and upheld the charges. This is indicative of the volume and gravity of evidence that was presented by PCB and underlines the fact that the case was not prejudiced by any personality.
PCB remains resilient in its efforts to eliminate the menace of corruption from the game of cricket, he said.
