LAHORE - The Appellate Tribunal of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday waived a Rs1 million fine imposed earlier on disgraced cricketer Khalid Lateef for his involvement in spot-fixing, but upheld the five-year ban handed to him.
The right-handed top-order batsman had faced six charges, including that of persuading or attempting to persuade three other cricketers — Mohammad Irfan, Shahzaib Hasan and Sharjeel Khan — to get involved in spot-fixing.
The reports of the cricketers' misdoing had surfaced on the opening day of the second Pakistan Super League (PSL) T20 tournament held in Dubai last year.
Khalid was tried by the PCB's Anti-Corruption Tribunal (ACT), which had awarded him a five-year ban and Rs1 million fine in September last year.
After the verdict was announced, Khalid’s lawyer, Badar Alam, had said since the PCB did not file any appeal to enhance the punishment given to Khalid by the PCB ACT, his client is confident about fighting his case.
PCB’s lawyer Taffazal Rizvi, however, said the body did not appeal Khalid’s punishment because it considered it enough.
The Appellate Tribunal had already upheld the ACT’s order in the case of Sharjeel, rejecting the appeal of both PCB and the cricketer. The ACT has announced a five-year ban for Sharjeel with half of the period suspended in case he strictly adheres to the Code of Conduct of the PCB. While the PCB had contested to get Sharjeel’s punishment enhanced, the opener had fought for it to be reduced.