Bureau Report
Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to file an appeal against reduction of Umar Akmal’s ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), in Lausanne, Switzerland.
According to the details, ex-Supreme Court judge Mr. Justice (retd) Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, in his capacity as an independent adjudicator had reduced Akmal’s ban to 1.5 years from 3 years.
Now, PCB, after reviewing the detailed order of the independent adjudicator, has decided to appeal against the decision as they think the cricketer violated anti-corruption code despite knowing its consequences.
“The PCB takes matters relating to anti-corruption very seriously and firmly maintains a zero-tolerance approach. The PCB believes a senior cricketer like Umar Akmal was aware of the consequences when, after having attended a number of anti-corruption lectures at domestic and international level, having witnessed the consequences of indulging in corrupt conduct, still failed to report the approaches to the relevant authorities,” read PCB’s statement.
“The PCB doesn’t take any pride in seeing a cricketer of Umar’s stature being banned for corruption, but as a credible and respectable institution, we need to send out a loud and clear message to all our stakeholders that there will be no sympathy whatsoever for anyone who breaches the regulations,” it added.
“The PCB, in its commitment and drive against corruption in sports, has already submitted a draft proposal with the relevant government authorities around legislation on criminalising corruption in sports and has also reviewed the existing legislation enacted within Pakistan whilst noting that the same fail to adequately target and address corruption/illegal manipulation in sports,”
“In the draft paper, the PCB has proposed severe sanctions pertaining to corruption, illegal manipulation, betting, match and spot-fixing as well as aiding and abetting such conduct; and proposes the penalties to be imposed on individuals found guilty of engaging in such offences,” it concluded.
It must be noted here that under Article 7.5.4 of the PCB Anti-Corruption Code, an appeal against the decision of the independent adjudicator lies exclusively before the CAS.
