LAHORE (Pakistan): Pakistan bastman Umar Akmal was handed with a three-year ban by Independent Disciplinary Panel for the two charges of violating the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Anti-Corruption Code.
The chairman of the Independent Disciplinary Panel, Justice (retired) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan submitted his detailed judgement on the Akmal case to PCB.
The ban will be deemed to have come into effect from the date of Akmal’s suspension i.e. February 20, 2020.
On 9 April, the PCB referred the matter to Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee after determining that the batsman had not requested for a hearing before the Anti-Corruption Tribunal.
The 29-year-old right-hander who has played 200 internationals across three formats of the game since 2009, was charged last month with two unrelated breaches of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Anti-Corruption Code.
The clause under which Akmal was found guilty relates to a failure to inform authorities about approaches to engage in corrupt practices, including match-fixing or spot-fixing.
Both periods of ineligibility will run concurrently, meaning Umar Akmal will now become eligible to return to cricket activities on 19 February 2023, PCB said on their website.
Akmal was charged with two breaches of Article 2.4.4 of the PCB Anti-Corruption Code in two unrelated incidents on 17 March.
On 9 April, the PCB referred the matter to the Chairman of the Independent Disciplinary Committee after the batsman opted not to request for a hearing before the Anti-Corruption Tribunal.
Justice Chauhan in his remarks said: “It appears that he (Umar Akmal) is not prepared to show remorse and seek apology, make admission that he failed to fulfill his responsibility under Anti-Corruption Code, Article 2.4.4, rather he tried to take refuge under the pretext that in the past whenever any such approaches were made, the matter was reported by him.”
