DOHA: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were banned for at least five years Saturday after they were found guilty of corruption by an International Cricket Council (ICC) tribunal. The 26-year-old Butt, who led the Pakistan team in last year's Test series against England, was banned for 10 years, with five of them suspended, for his part in the spot-fixing scandal. Asif, 28, was ruled out for seven years – two of which are suspended – while 18-year-old Amir was banned for five. News of the punishment came a day after British prosecutors announced the trio would face criminal charges over their actions in the fourth cricket Test against England at Lord's. Michael Beloff, the lawyer who headed the tribunal, said the suspended parts of the sentence were dependent on the players committing no further breach of the code and attending an anti-corruption program run by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). A three-man tribunal considered the case for six days last month following allegations in a British newspaper that the trio had arranged for deliberate no-balls to be delivered in the fourth Test at Lord's last year. All three can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after the tribunal. “I am very disappointed but we are hopeful we can appeal in 20 days' time,” Amir's lawyer Shahid Karim told reporters. Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said the trio, along with 35-year-old sports agent Mazhar Majeed from Croydon, England, had been charged with conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments and with conspiracy to cheat. The trio denied spot-fixing, the offense of pre-arranging individual events within a match which may not affect the result. Meanwhile, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said Pakistan will not appeal against the five-year bans imposed on the three cricketers. “The PCB does not have the jurisdiction to challenge the bans on these three players because this is a matter directly between the players and the ICC anti-corruption tribunal,” Butt told Reuters.
