ICC Suspends Three UAE National Team Players on Charges of Corruption

Naveed, UAE skipper who has played 39 ODIs and 31 T20s, has been charged of breaching two ICC anti-corruption rules pertaining to the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019.

Three UAE national team players, including captain Mohammed Naveed, have been provisionally suspended on charges of corruption, the ICC said on Wednesday. Batsman Shaiman Anwar and right-arm pace bowler Qadeer Ahmed were the other national team players charged by the ICC.

A fourth individual, Mehardeep Chhayakar, who has participated in cricket in Ajman League, was charged for refusing to co-operate with the ICC. “The UAE players and a participant in cricket from Ajman have been charged with 13 counts of breaching cricket’s anti-corruption rules and the players have been provisionally suspended with immediate effect,” the ICC said in a statement.

Naveed, a 32-year-old fast bowler who has played 39 ODIs and 31 T20s, has been charged of breaching two ICC anti-corruption rules pertaining to the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019 and two Emirates Cricket Board Code for the T10 League.

The first charge relate to “contriving, or being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of matches in the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019”.

The second breach was for “failing to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in conduct in relation to the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019 that would amount to corrupt conduct under the Code”.

Qadeer Ahmed Khan has been charged with six breaches of the ICC Code pertaining principally to UAE’s series against Zimbabwe and Netherlands.

His charges include “failing to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in conduct that would amount to Corrupt Conduct under the Code in relation to the Zimbabwe v UAE series in April 2019” and “disclosing inside Information to Mehar Chhayakar in August 2019 in circumstances where he knew or should have known that the information might be used for betting purposes”.

Shaiman Anwar Butt has been charged with the following two breaches of the ICC Code:

Breach of Article 2.1.1: contriving, or being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of matches in the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019.

Breach of Article 2.4.4: failing to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in conduct in relation to the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019 that would amount to corrupt conduct under the Code.

The players have 14 days from Wednesday to respond to the charges.