Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
So butt was quite when asked Is Amir involved in fixing or not ?
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
It seems everyone was ‘sucked in’ … doodh peetey bachey hein yeh!!
Now Asif blaming Salman Butt … How convenient
http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/537340.html
**
Asif blames Butt’s swearing for his no-ball**
http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/537298.html
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
So if all 3 are convicted.. what will the punishment be under UK law?
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
Prison sentence cannot be ruled out
**“The charges against the pair — conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, and with conspiracy to cheat at gambling — carry maximum sentences of seven years and two years in prison respectively.”
**http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/05/prosecutors-to-outline-case-against-asif-butt.html
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
Put all of these low lifes in jail. Asif is a serial offender, he will make a perfect professional criminal considering his history.
Hope they get jail sentences...
Amir 2 years in Jail
Asif 4 years in Jail
Butt 7 years in Jail to wipe that smug look of his pathetic face.
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
Put all of these low lifes in jail. Asif is a serial offender, he will make a perfect professional criminal considering his history.
Hope they get jail sentences...
Amir 2 years in Jail Asif 4 years in Jail Butt 7 years in Jail to wipe that smug look of his pathetic face.
And what kind of jail will this be? A proper one with inmates? Or some silly house arrest pretend jail?
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
And what kind of jail will this be? A proper one with inmates? Or some silly house arrest pretend jail?
They should be sent to American jails where they can be someone's bi@tches :D
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
‘The captain knows,’ says Asif
Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif highlighted the involvement of his former skipper Salman Butt while in the witness stand during day 13 of the alleged spot-fixing trial by telling a London court “the captain knows”.
Asif, 28, was under cross-examination from chief prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC when he raised the role of Butt. It was in reference to the questionable no-ball that Asif bowled in the Lord’s Test last year, which was delivered on the sixth ball of the 10th over that had been previously predicted by agent Mazhar Majeed when secretly recorded by an undercover journalist.
Butt and Asif are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments following the Lord’s Test when they allegedly conspired with agent Majeed, teenager Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif, who left the witness stand at 3.30 pm, deny the charges.
The inference from Asif, wearing a grey-coloured suit with a shirt and tie, was that a fix involving the 10th over could not be made if the captain was not party to it. Asif denied any knowledge of the alleged fix, inferring that the captain had to be involved to keep him bowling.
Asif, speaking in reference to the secretly-filmed handover of £140,000 by undercover journalist Mazhar Mahmood to Majeed before Majeed listed the no-ball detail, said: “The captain knows. What I have told you the last two days…the captain knows. He is the one who brings them (bowlers) on. So what is he (Majeed) saying?”
Jafferjee took stock of what Asif had said, removed his glasses, paused and returned to Asif by saying that he felt they had both reached the same conclusion - which was that Butt was central to the fix. “You’re telling me it’s down to Butt aren’t you?” Asif, though, stopped short of actually agreeing by saying, “You can see the CD what he (Majeed) is saying.”
Asif was much more argumentative and passionate in his exchanges with Jafferjee than on his first day in the witness stand. At one stage, when discussing the telephone traffic evidence in a printed transcript that has colour-coded all involved parties, Asif asked Jafferjee: “Who’s the yellow number?” To which Jafferjee replied, “I wish we knew, Mr Asif.” Asif came back: “You’re trying to ruin my life and you can’t tell me who yellow is?”
“If anyone is trying to destroy your life, Mr Asif, it’s you,” Jaffejee said.
The prosecutor also asked Asif why, if he was not involved in the fix, Majeed called him 59 seconds after leaving the Copthorne Tara Hotel at 23.18, with a briefcase with £140,000 in cash on the night before the Lord’s Test.
“Was he calling you about a sponsorship deal or to arrange dinner, Mr Asif?” Jafferjee said sarcastically.
“You think he’s calling me to do the fix?” Asif replied. “He’s already done the fix,” Jafferjee said. “Now he wants you to know about it.”
Jafferjee added: “Why is this man, who you say is not your agent, whom you have only met three times in person since May 2010, why is he calling you now?”
Asif responded by saying that if they were talking about fixing why was the call only 16 seconds long. “If we were talking about something as big as this do you think we would only need 16 seconds,” Asif said. Shortly after that, Butt rang Asif, a call spanning 14 seconds.
Asif repeatedly denied being part of the fix and suggested that Majeed had two phones, one of them secret and that he never called him on that secret phone like he did other people who are implicated. Asif also questioned why the undercover journalist never managed to have Asif on record like he did Butt and Amir “with all his equipment and money”.
In closing his defence Asif’s lawyer Alexander Milne QC clarified that Asif would have accrued approximately £6,000 in daily expense allowances - paid in cash - by the time of Lord’s Test and that he brought £2,700 with him from Pakistan to justify why he had just over £8,000 found in his London hotel room during a police search.
Asif reasoned that he didn’t spend much of his allowance because he dined with friends mostly and that he was planning to do some shopping at the end of the tour towards his wedding on September 30.
No News of the World marked money was found on Asif but Jafferjee said that was only through luck. “You did not receive News of the World cash because you were out at a restaurant. That’s why only two received the cash and you didn’t,” he said.
“Well, why could Majeed not have left it with Amir or the Butt,” came Asif’s response.
On Monday morning, Jafferjee will give a closing speech for the prosecution, before the lawyers for the defendants present theirs to the jury, prior to Justice Cooke’s summing up.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/537450.html
:hmmm:
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
Amir ‘the sacrificial goat’ says prosecution Richard Sydenham at Southwark Crown Court
October 24, 2011
Text size: A | A
The prosecution told the jury in the alleged spot-fixing trial that teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir was being singled out as “the sacrificial goat” as both defendants Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif have each acknowledged that Amir must have participated in bowling fixed no-balls.
The comment regarding Amir came on the 14th morning of the trial, being heard at Southwark Crown Court in central London. The prosecution was giving its closing speech, before Butt’s lawyer Ali Bajwa QC was to follow with Asif’s lawyer Alexander Milne QC to close their defence on Tuesday.
In their cross-examinations, former captain Butt and fast bowler Asif each conceded that the prosecution’s evidence seemed to suggest guilt on the part of Amir, now aged 19. But Jafferjee picked up on this tone by declaring the two senior players were looking to lay any blame in the case elsewhere.
Asif pointed the finger at Butt, blaming his no-ball on the alleged abuse he received from his captain the ball before overstepping, telling him to “run faster f*****, have you slept?” Butt, in his denial, has focused more on distancing himself from Majeed and has maintained he never had any knowledge of the alleged fix.
His reference to the “goat” as opposed to “lamb”, came after Butt told in the witness box how the Pakistan team call the night-watchman a goat because he is to be sacrificed for the team. The court received his comment with laughter.
“The exuberant, respecting Amir, respectful of Butt, and highly talented,” Jafferjee said. "Everybody in this case has said that Amir sadly was part of the fix. Amir has been corrupted. So what do we make of it?
He added: "How does he become to be in on it? I had to ask this question twice of Mr Butt, who introduced him to Mazhar Majeed. Butt said all this has gone on behind his back. That is the one chorus shared by Butt and Asif. ‘Whatever is happening, it’s all behind my back’.
“In reality for the purpose of this trial, the sacrificial goat, has become Amir.”
Butt and Asif face charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord’s test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-determined no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/story/537799.html
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
Prosecution sets out facts in closing statement
Richard Sydenham at Southwark Crown Court
October 24, 2011
[TABLE="align: right"]
http://www.espncricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/137900/137931.2.jpg
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD=“class: stryPicCptn”] The trial involving Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif is drawing to an end with closing arguments © Associated Press
[/TD]
[/TR]
The prosecution in the alleged spot-fixing trial told a London court of 13 “facts” that it believes prove the guilt of defendants Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif.
On day 14 and into the fourth week of the trial that has become one of the biggest controversies in cricket history, chief prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC addressed the jury at Southwark Crown Court with his closing speech, setting out its case in a nutshell.
Butt and Asif face charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord’s test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-determined no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.
“Shorn of cricketing terminology about mid-on and mid-off, shorn of jargon of attacking shots and defensive shots, this is a case of corruption through the vehicle of a sport,” Jafferjee said.
“It is nothing to do with being blinded with the technicalities of cricket. It is no different to a fraudster (manipulating) markets and saying ‘you do not understand the market’. You the jury do understand deceit, greed and corrupt practice by some on the inside who are lucky enough, through talent, who have the opportunity to exploit it.”
Jafferjee, who was expected to complete his closing speech by mid-afternoon, faced the jury and went through the major factors with which he is spearheading his prosecution.
**"Fact number one: There is an old adage. There is no legitimate reason to bowl a no-ball.
"Fact two: Since May 2010, Butt receives texts from Mazhar Majeed and participated in phone conversations with Majeed on matters of fixing. Leave aside whether this is a “joke” or a “tester”. He participated in conversations about corruption.
"Fact three: At 11pm on August 25 at the Copthorne Hotel, Majeed told (journalist Mazhar) Mahmood that on the following day these no-balls will happen. Mohammad Amir will bowl a no-ball on the first ball of the third over. He said Asif will bowl a no-ball on the sixth ball of the tenth over. He said Amir will bowl a further no-ball when he bowls round the wicket to the right-hander (Jonathan) Trott. He said the captain is in on it.
"Fact four: Due to adverse weather conditions the third no-ball was unable to be bowled.
"Fact five: Mohammad Amir was the least experienced and youngest one to bowl.
"Fact six: On the first ball of the third over, Mohammad Amir delivers a massive no-ball.
"Fact seven: Mohammad Asif is older and more experienced.
"Fact eight: Mohammad Asif bowls a clear no-ball on the sixth ball of the tenth over.
"Fact nine: (Statistician and prosecution witness David) Kendix has told us that there is nothing in the bowling history or pattern which would enable anyone to predict this would happen.
"Fact ten: On August 26 at 22.11, Majeed told Mahmood that the remaining no-ball will take place on Mohammad Amir’s third full over (the next day) on the third ball.
"Fact 11: On August 27 Mohammad Amir is bowling with deadly accuracy and deadly control, the complete antipathies to bowing a no-ball.
"Fact 12: Just before that glaring no-ball, Amir is in conversation with Butt.
"Fact 13: Mohammad Amir bowls another no-ball. **
Jafferjee continued, looking at the jury: “These are facts. Ask yourself, against that plain background, who needs to lie in this case? Majeed? Mahmood? Or Butt and Asif? People who commit offences and who are caught and brought to trial have a choice. They can either plead guilty, and get credit for pleading guilty, or they can plead not guilty,” adding that those pleading not guilty either believe they have been wrongly charged or they are “trying to pull the wool over the eyes of a jury”.
“In this case we have two defendants effectively turning on each other with a view to wriggle out of what each other has done.”
He added: “The sad truth in this case is that there are decent things to be said of everybody - perhaps not Majeed. But none of this could have happened without these four people involved. Butt, Asif and Amir were involved. And all for what? Money. More money.”
Jafferjee also highlighted an apparent flippant attitude towards fixing from Butt by repeating an answer received from a question during his cross-examination. When speaking to his own counsel, Butt said that corruption in cricket is terrible, is bad for the game, the team and the country.
Although, Jafferjee went on, “when I asked him if cheating could destroy cricket, he then referred to WWF (World Wrestling Federation) and said ‘everybody knows it’s fixed but it still has a lot of following and viewing’.”
The case continues.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/537793.html
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
I hope ICC gives him some leniency too
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
I hope that jury gets it right and find both Asif and Butt guilty too. You never know how stupid the jury is :hinna:**
Amir and Majeed involved - judge**
Justice Cooke began his summing-up of the alleged spot-fixing trial and directed the jury to deliberate for a verdict on the basis that agent Mazhar Majeed and teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir were “involved in spot-fixing”.
The judge began his speech at about 3.45pm on Tuesday afternoon on the 15th day of one of the biggest controversies in cricket history. He told the jury he expects to take all of Wednesday to complete his overview of the evidence. Defendants Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif sat in the dock, listening intently, both smartly dressed in suits but without ties.
“You can proceed on the basis that Majeed and Amir were involved in the spot-fixing at Lord’s, as all parties agree that is the case,” the Judge said. “But don’t be concerned by their absence from this trial.”
He went on: “You should return true verdicts according to the evidence. Don’t let sympathy enter your verdicts and don’t speculate on what you might have heard outside of this courtroom. You should base your decision on the evidence alone and draw inferences, which I mean by drawing common sense conclusions.”
The prosecution completed its closing speech on Monday afternoon, before Butt’s legal counsel had their closing split into two days. Asif’s defence, which was the shortest presentation of the three of about 90 minutes, ended on Tuesday afternoon.
Former captain Butt and fast bowler Asif face charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord’s Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with Majeed and Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
this spells doom for butt and asif :k: but dang Butt’s lawyer is good!
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
Butt is very clever
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
Pakistan fast bowler Aamir and his agent Mazhar Majeed were involved in Spot Fixing: says Judge
Justice Cooke began his summing-up of the alleged spot-fixing trial and directed the jury to deliberate for a verdict on the basis that agent Mazhar Majeed and teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir were "involved in spot-fixing".
The judge began his speech at about 3.45pm on Tuesday afternoon on the 15th day of one of the biggest controversies in cricket history. He told the jury he expects to take all of Wednesday to complete his overview of the evidence.
[News Story copied from ESPNCricinfo]
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
‘Follow the money’ jury told by Asif’s lawyer
http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/537948.html
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
**Lawyers are the only thing in this world who can match reasoning that begum does…
Follow the money’ jury told by Asif’s lawyer**
Mohammad Asif’s lawyer urged the jury at the alleged spot-fixing trial to “follow the money” and suggested that if they do that they would conclude that his client is innocent of any wrongdoing.
Alexander Milne QC took about 90 minutes to present his closing speech to the jury on the 15th afternoon of the trial, in which Asif and his former captain Salman Butt stand accused of cheating. It was by far the briefest of closings after the prosecution and Butt’s counsel had each taken over four hours.
Milne relied on short, sharp facts to make his impact on the jury and his key points surrounded a lack of clear association between his client and the agent at the centre of the alleged fix Mazhar Majeed, while also revealing how Asif had never pocketed any money at any point from the agent, who had received payments of £10,000 and then £140,000 from an undercover News of the World journalist. No marked money was discovered in Asif’s room during police searches.
**“Where did that the News of the World money (£150,000) go?” Milne asked the jury. "It went to Mr Butt (£2,500) and Mr Amir (£1,500). It’s up to you members of the jury what conclusions you draw from that but none of that money went to Mr Asif. "
**
Asif was out of the team hotel when Majeed arrived with the money for the players. “If Majeed was that keen to pay Mr Asif he would have found a way. If you follow the money, you will find that it does not lead to Mr Asif,” Milne added. Milne made reference to the 1970s Watergate scandal involving President Nixon which coined the phrase “follow the money.”
Butt and Asif face charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord’s Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with Majeed and Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.
Milne spent the first half of his speech seeking to distance Asif from Majeed. The court has already heard in various ways over the last three weeks that Asif liked to dine alone with friends outside of the team, never with the likes of Majeed and Butt.
“Asif was never in Majeed’s company,” Milne said. “The only times they spent together was on a tennis court in the West Indies (during the Twenty20 World Cup) and twice in London hotel foyers during the tour. There are no photos, no signed contracts between them and there were never any dinners.”
Milne held aloft the telephone transcript, a beefy wad of papers held in a plastic binder, which has been circulated as evidence of the traffic between the various implicated parties. He explained to the jury that in the period investigated from August 15 to August 28, Majeed contacted Amir and Butt every day but never Asif.
"When Mazhar Majeed says he speaks to ‘his boys’ every single day, I can tell you ladies and gentlemen that he is not referring to Mr Asif. The contact between Majeed and Mr Asif in that period comes down to just 12 minutes (collectively). That is the entire contact between Majeed and Mr Asif. There is no talk of an Adidas deal, no Tag Heur, no Ray Bans or anything else for Mr Asif.
"Majeed said the boys have dinner with him. Not Mr Asif and that’s because they never spent any time together. Mr Asif has got nothing legitimate from Majeed and nothing, we say, illegitimate. Not even from (his former manager) Azhar (Majeed).
** "Majeed never spoke to Mr Asif in the 36 hours leading up that meeting at the Copthorne Tara Hotel when Majeed received the £140,000. However there were 65 forms of contact between Butt and Majeed and Amir and Majeed. That equates to contact every 34 minutes in that period. Butt and Amir were in very, very regular contact with Majeed. Mr Asif? Not a word. Not a whisper. Not a meeting.
"Of course, Mr Asif did hear from Mr Butt then for 16 seconds after the meeting. The assumption from the prosecution is that Butt says ‘jump’ and Asif says ‘how high’? The truth is 16 seconds is barely enough time to say hello, how are you, never mind arranging a fix.
**
“The prosecution says it’s not the number of calls with regards to Mr Asif, it’s the context. But what they would love to be able to say is it’s not the number of calls, it’s the content, which they don’t have.”
Milne added: “This man (Asif) hardly knows Mazhar Majeed. He has never received anything from him. He owes him nothing. So why would he risk his career for a few hundred pounds?”
Milne also pointed out to the jury - with a printed booklet containing graphics - the clear difference between Amir’s two no-balls and Asif’s single no-ball, which he suggested was “an inch or an inch and a half over the popping crease” after a 28-yard run-up.
He also again pointed the finger at Butt and said the unorthodox fielding position that Butt took up in the tenth over and the abuse he allegedly directed at Asif was meant to “get a rise out of Mr Asif as he knew how to increase the probability of a no-ball”, adding that Butt was in cahoots with Majeed as much as Asif was not.
The case continues.
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
It looks like Asif will get away. Butt will be in trouble, and Amir has already been pronounced guilty by the judge.
So who's looking forward to seeing Asif in the Pakistan team?
Re: Spot-fixing trial begins in London/ Three further Pakistani players named.
It looks like Asif will get away. Butt will be in trouble, and Amir has already been pronounced guilty by the judge.
So who's looking forward to seeing Asif in the Pakistan team?
If Asif gets away from this the ban ICC has put on him wont get away!
Or Am i Wrong?