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The Justice Quayyum Report

First and foremost, this Commission must acknowledge Mr. Rashid Latif, albeit with some reservation because, of inter alia, the tainted evidence he handed in. Nevertheless, his persistence in pursuing this matter needs to be appreciated. If he had not taken the steps he did, the Australians may well have not come forward openly and this Commission would not have been able to clear the air. To this end, as mentioned later, Rashid Latif be given immunity from offences arising out the tapping of phones, if the conversation therein produced was for use by this commission and was produced in an authentic form (see recommendations later).

It must be noted with great regret that a number of people were quite uncooperative and not forthcoming in these proceedings:

For one, this commission must take note of the counterproductive nature of those who promised much but had little or no evidence. Mr. Aamir Sohail needs to be pinpointed. He promised a lot in public, gave a lot of interviews but in court he came to be non-committal. If he had no evidence then he should have remained quiet about the matter. Later, he came up with further allegations which he should have made in the first instance. Generally if people have no evidence, then they should not vilify people in public. Moreover, Aamir Sohail's case was sad as he by his later actions has effectively condoned the corruption that he had alleged and the people he had accused.

This commission felt a lot of the time that most of the people appearing before it were not telling the truth, or at least not that whole truth. Even more regretful was the attitude and statements of those who said they had not even heard of match-fixing. Some appeared tutored, while others seemed unwilling to blow the whistle. Mr. Waqar Younus, for one, initially said he had not even heard of anyone being involved in match-fixing. Inzamam-ul-Haq similarly seemed to suffer from amnesia. They both needed stern prompting to speak true and even then it is doubtful they spoke the whole truth. This commission understands that people feel a sense of loyalty towards players they have played with, but such a feeling is very misplaced. Corruption in any walk of life ought to be weeded out and by withholding information people do themselves and all around them a great disservice. Prompting should not be needed to tell the truth.

This commission must also take notice of the (in)action of Mr. Asif Iqbal. His name has been bandied around the most during this inquiry as being the first Pakistani involved in match-fixing and even now when allegations are made of gambling in Sharjah, his name features. The Ehtesaab Bureau also reports against him. Yet he has never came forward to clear his name. Asif Iqbal legally does not need to come forward and defend himself. But morally, he ought to have cleared the air.

The attitude of the Australian Cricket Board needs to be appreciated with some reservation. They initially did not present their players to Justice Ebrahim for cross-examination. That goes to their discredit. (They had to their credit however invited the Ebrahim inquiry to Australia.) However, since the tour of Pakistan and particularly the embarrassment of their players as regards their own involvement in bribery, the ACB has been very helpful. All expenses for the representatives of the Commission to go and be in Australia were paid by the ACB and all requests by way of protocol were entertained. The Australians fully accommodated the Commission in Australia and that has to be appreciated: they provided the sub-commission with a Court room, one right down to the picture of the Quaid, allowed the Pakistani court-dress code with gowns, and followed Pakistani evidence procedure.

However, it must be noted with regret that Mr. Waugh and Mr. Warne were initially not above board. They could have volunteered their involvement with bookies in confidence. This information was material as to why they were asked by Salim Malik to fix the Test Match. It appears that after Sri Lanka and dealings with John, the word was out in the gambling community that Warne and Waugh could possibly be bought. As such the green light was given for Salim Malik to approach them. That they declined Malik's offer goes to their credit. That they withheld this information from this Commission goes against them.

It is of great regret that the commission was prevented from inquiry into the World Cup through a notification dated 18th August, 1999 after having initially been given the green light through a notification on the 16th August, 1999. Questions about the team's performance in the final and against Bangladesh still linger and looking into that matter would have only helped clear up the air.

This Commission would like to extend its thanks to all concerned with the inquiry. Mr. Ali Sibtain Fazli as amicus curiae and his associates have been invaluable to the court. The counsels for the accused, Mr. Khwaja Tariq Raheem, Mr. Azmat Saeed and Mr. Tariq Shamim are to be appreciated too for their efforts. Information sources such as CricketInfo, Wisden and articles by Mark Ray, Fareshteh Gati-Aslam, Donald Topley, Imtiaz Sipra etc. for reference and background were useful. Mr. Abdus-Salam Khawar, Additional Registrar High Court was tireless in his assistance. The concerns of the public at large are to be appreciated too. While for obvious reasons this commission has tried to stay away from the many letters it received regarding this inquiry, all of them were read by assistants who indicate that all of them deserve to be acknowledged. The amusing and encouraging ones need to appreciated and the angry ones need to be told that Cricket is only a game and the players only human beings.

In order to prevent match-fixing in the future it is recommended…

That the Captain of Pakistan Cricket team should be a person of impeccable character and not someone anyone can point a finger at. From the evidence recorded, it can be seen that the Captain is the key player to be bought to fix a match. Hence, this strong recommendation.

That similarly, the manager should be a person of impeccable character. A manager should realize that there are people on this earth who would lie even on oath. A manager needs to keep a stern hand with the players.

That all foreign tours should take along an independent third party, an ombudsman of sorts to deal with players complaints and indiscipline. Such a person could be the chairman of the PCB or his impartial nominee.

That a new code of conduct should be introduced for the players. The ICC code of conduct needs to be tightened and more provisions need to be introduced, targeting specifically the threat of match-fixing. To this end, under the code, players should be stopped from associating with known bookies or people who are convicted of match-fixing and similar offences. Such terms should be made a pre-condition to employment by the PCB and should be incorporated into the players' contracts.

That a permanent Review Committee should be formed to look into inter alia allegations of the match-fixing in the future. It should consist of people independent of the Board. The members of the review committee should have a good knowledge of cricket and have clean records. The Committee may also have a member being a former judge of the High Court or the Supreme Court of Pakistan. At the end of tours such a committee should look into the performance of the team and allegations of irregularities if any. Whenever there are any allegations, whether of match-fixing, ball-tampering or any other misconduct, the match should be reviewed by the Committee and its report should be submitted to the board. Such a committee should be prompt in its disposal of the matters raised, as lingering over the matter only makes matters worse.

That, inter alia, in order to facilitate the review committee, it should be made mandatory on the Board to collect video recordings of all the matches that have been played by the team and stored in its library. Such video recordings should be free of advertisements as it is when these ads are being shown i.e. at fall of wickets and change of ends that suspicious interchanges are likely to occur. This latter point is particularly raised as the moment in the Christchurch one-dayer where Salim Malik allegedly is said to have been angry with Rashid Latif for taking a catch is cut out by an advertisements break.

That the Review Committee adopt the two sub-offences approach to match-fixing as used by this Commission. This would allow it to sideline or warn players well before they can damage to the good name of the team.

That the PCB should adopt a zero tolerance approach in this matter.

That Pakistani cricketers should declare their assets at the time they start their career and annually submit their asset forms to the Pakistan Cricket Board. This would ensure that their assets can be compared with their earnings and spendings. Such information may be kept confidential by the PCB. The Board should also compare these figures against figures obtained through independent inquiries from the players' employers (Counties, Leagues, Banks, etc.)

That players be forbidden to speak to the press unless authorized though a clause in their contract like the one contained in the ACB contract. Only after all PCB avenues of recourse have been exhausted can a player be excused from going to the press. This restriction may be limited to controversial matters only if the Board is so minded.

That in conjunction to the ban on speaking to the press, the PCB should actively take to defending its players, present and past, and not allow anyone to defame them. The players are the PCB's true capital and it should recognize that.

That generally Pakistani Law needs a summary procedure for damages for defamation. Such a procedure would be a deterrent to baseless allegation and would provide satisfaction to the innocents accused.

That the ban on cellular phones and outside communication generally during matches should be strictly applied. Phones, if necessary, can be routed through the manager. Any breach of this regulation should be strictly taken note of.

That generally discipline of the team be strictly monitored and maintained. Allowing minor breaches to go unpunished leads to players taking liberties and bigger breaches follow.

That players be prepared for the possibility that they can be blackmailed. Gamblers try to lure them in with all sorts of offers. Offers of cars, women, etc. can all lead to blackmail if accepted. We have seen it happen to others. Pakistani players should not be left naïve and it should be the duty of the board to educate these players when they come into the team as to the dangers and temptations are to that are faced by them.

That the Pakistan Cricket Board should consider not sending Pakistan to venues which are reputed to be dens of bookies.

That this report should be released to the public. To give it wide publication this may also be released on the internet too. To this end a copy of the report is submitted on disk too (Microsoft Word format).

That the PCB increase the pay of its Cricketers and develop for them more avenues of income (some are suggested below). It has been noticed that the Cricket Board is no longer a body which is running on grants by either the Federal government or by Federal Government institutions. The Board has of late become self-reliant and it is believed that the coffers of the Board are full. The Board after all generates money through the players and in all fairness the players deserve to receive more than they are presently receiving. An ACB cricketer earns in the region of US$250,000 to US$400,000 plus almost as much in endorsements on the side. Currently the PCB pays Pakistani cricketers around US$70,000 a year. Pakistani players for all their talent are not as well-paid as their counterparts abroad. As long as they are underpaid the tendency to be bribed remains. However, it should also be stated that such increases should not be to as high a level as some other countries because the cost of living in Pakistan as regards to the other countries is much lower. An increase with an eye on the standard of living in Pakistan is the order of the day.

That there are other avenues for funds that can be tapped by cricketers or the PCB on their behalf. Memoirs, biographies, tour diaries, sale of autographs and memorabilia can provide cricketers with adequate secondary remuneration. Moreover, with chances of playing cricket abroad (County, League, etc.) and employment available locally for cricketers (banks, etc.), this Commission finds it very painful to see that a cricketer would accept a bribe for instant money than avail any of the above noted opportunities for clean money.

That winning should be made more lucrative to players. To this end, further and more substantial win bonuses should be introduced. If players receive larger sums for playing well and winning tournaments, it would be an incentive to stay straight. No one is born corrupt or a match-fixer. This is especially so in the case of sportsmen. We have all heard of sportsman spirit and it is this spirit that needs to be inculcated into every child while he is developing his skills in the game. It is in this rationale and background that it is suggested that if players were to receive major sums of money for playing well in the form of win bonuses, the very temptation for an innocent sportsman of getting corrupt would in all probability be eliminated. This would, of course, be a scenario after all corrupt elements have been weeded out and punished.

That the pay structure of the PCB to its players be revised. Instead of being only based on seniority, when paying players, their performances, past and recent, should be worked into the pay-structure too. A player who fixes a match by getting a low score will feel the affects in his pay packet. That might be another incentive to stay straight. The pay structure now is strange in that if Salim Malik came back to the team he would get more than say Shoaib Akhtar. This leads to dissatisfaction among the younger stars and raises the possibility of corruption.

That, witnesses should be reimbursed for all the expenses they have incurred in following up this matter.

That Rashid Latif be given immunity for the offence of tapping phones as long as such an offence was committed so as to assist this commission of inquiry and the tapes were produced before this commission in an unedited and authentic form. For the purpose of this immunity, there be a presumption that the tapes are authentic unless proven otherwise: the burden to prove them fakes lies on the parties alleging they are fake. Thereafter, fakes may well be acted upon.

That the Pakistan Government should investigate gambling in Pakistan. Gambling is against Islamic law, yet the extent to which it is carried out in Pakistan and tolerated was a revelation. The people named in the Ehtesaab Report and the ones captured during this inquiry need to be investigated and prosecuted.

That, the following avenues if the patron be so minded be investigated. Inter alia, for lack of time, these were not pursued.

A more thorough investigation into allegation of match-fixing in domestic matches.

Verification of all the Rashid Latif tapes, inter alia by confronting players with them. (Saeed Anwar, Javed Burki, Arif Abbassi, etc.)

That, it needs to be said to the general public, this matter now needs to be put to rest. When they react to losses, the Public should be more tolerant in its criticism and remember that cricket is still a game of chance and the players are indeed human still. The other team is there to play too and the Pakistan team is not that invincible, at least not all of the time, that if they lose or fail to come from behind there must be something amiss. Even some of the Pakistan team coaches need to take note of that. (Haroon Rasheed's allegation against Saqlain was ludicrous.)

That, to those disappointed with their fallen heroes, it be suggested that humans are fallible. Cricketers are only cricketers. Please maintain a sense of perspective when you react and criticize.

The allegation that the Pakistan team is as a whole is involved in match-fixing is just based on allegation, conjectures and surmises without there being positive proof. As a whole, the players of the Pakistan Cricket team are innocent.

However, there is clear evidence of match-fixing against Mr. Salim Malik. He should be banned for life from Cricket. Further an inquiry should be conducted into his assets and charges brought against him in a criminal court of law.

The evidence against Wasim Akram has not come up to the requisite level, primarily because of Ata-ur-Rehman's perjuring himself. This Commission is willing to give him the benefit of doubt. However, there has been some evidence to cast doubt on his integrity. As such, this Commission recommends that he be removed from the captaincy of the Pakistan Cricket Team and a person of impeccable character be appointed. Moreover, he should be censured, kept under watch and his finances should be investigated.

Ata-ur-Rehman is being proceeded against for perjury. Further, it is recommended that he be banned from international cricket.

This commission recommends that PCB should enforce declaration of assets by all its players and, if necessary, initiate a probe into their accounts.

In addition to recommendation of other punishments, fines are recommended against the following players as follows (as explained esrlier):

Salim Malik Rs. 10 lac
Wasim Akram Rs. 3 lac
Mushtaq Ahmad Rs. 3 lac
Ata-ur-Rehman Rs. 4 lac
Waqar Younis Rs. 1 lac
Inzamam-ul-Haq Rs. 1 lac
Akram Raza Rs. 1 lac
Saeed Anwar Rs. 1 lac
It may be recommended inter alia that a watch-dog Review Committee be formed to deal with future allegations if any. Further that all Pakistani cricket players should declare their assets at the time they start their career at the national level and annually submit their asset forms to the Pakistan Cricket Board. A zero tolerance approach be taken against match-fixing in the future and strict discipline generally be maintained.

(Sd/- Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum)