Players admit taking cash

“The players also showed their written contracts for these sponsorship deals to the police,” Pakistan legal advisor Tafazzul Rizvi told Geo TV.

“The players have contested the allegation and also volunteered themselves for police investigations,” he said. According to a report in The Daily Telegraph,the trio was “questioned by detectives over text messages,phone calls and secret bank accounts linked to alleged match-fixing.” Amir spent almost five hours being quizzed by the police and he was reportedly asked about a “message he allegedly sent to Majeed.”

“Shall I do it or not?” was the text message that Amir allegedly sent Majeed a night before sending down a deliberate no-ball in the Lord’s Test against England last week. “They were asked about secret accounts in Swiss and British banks,which,according to The News of the World investigation,Mr Majeed said he had set up in their names,” the newspaper reported.

According to reports,50,000 pounds were recovered from the hotel room of Butt. The three players were suspended by the ICC after a british tabloid claimed that they were involved in spot-fixing.

“Just having currency does not mean the player is involved in criminal or illegal activities,” he contended. They were not aware of their agent’s illegal activities. They only had a relationship of player-agent with him. They have constantly proclaimed their innocence of the charges against them,” Rizvi added.

Rizvi said that until any concrete evidence was brought against the trio they were innocent. “You can’t make any player a criminal just because his agent is involved in illegal activities.”

Rizvi also said that any financial dealings between the players and Majeed were the result of sponsorship and endorsement deals which were normal in such a relationship. “The money transferred to the players by Mazhar related to sponsorship and endorsement deals. The PCB has given the players the right to appoint their own agents,” he said.

Meanwhile,the British tabloid The News of the World,is likely to release more details which could bring more embarrassment for the PCB.

Afridi apologises

Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi on Saturday apologised to the cricket lovers on behalf of the team for the recent spot-fixing scandal. “I think this is a very bad news. On behalf of these boys — I know they are not in this series — I want to say sorry to all the cricket lovers and all the cricketing nations,” Afridi said.

Pakistan will take on England in the first T20 on Sunday. “These two Twenty20s and five ODIs (against England) are a big challenge for me as a captain. The coach (Waqar Younis) and I have told the boys not to talk about this (spot-fixing) issue. It is none of our business and we are here to play cricket,” he added.

ICC warned ECB on Mushtaq

The ICC has said it had warned the England and Wales Cricket Board against recruiting former Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed,implicated in a match-fixing scandal 10 years ago,as its spin bowling coach. “We highlight anybody we’ve got on a list who has been labelled in one way or another,so I wrote to the ECB and issued them with a cautionary suggestion that they had to do due diligence on Mushtaq. But they were satisfied with the appointment,” ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat was quoted as saying in The Guardian.