Handed match-fixing proof to ICC: Veena Malik

Veena Malik, ex-girlfriend of Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Asif, has handed over the evidence on his involvement with Indian bookies in recent times and also engaging in spot fixing to International Cricket Council?s (ICC) Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), reports said on Thursday.

?From top to bottom, Pakistani players are involved in match-fixing. I have handed over Asif?s voice recordings with a bookie to the ICC,? said the model-turned-actress.

Malik further said: ?Before Pakistan?s tour to Autralia, Asif told me that an Indian bookie offered him $40,000 for under-performance. But Asif demanded $200,000. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) too was aware of this deal and had evidence too. But the officials did not take any action against Asif.?

?This is not an isolated case. I have ample proof that Asif was involved in match-fixing,? she added.

Reza Hasan of ICC’s ACSU reached in Pakistan on Wednesday to meet Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) officials and also gather information from Malik.

Malik has claimed that Asif had told her that the Pakistan team will not win matches till the year 2010.

She also named an alleged Indian bookie Dhiraj Dikshit, with whom Asif was apparently involved in spot-fixing for matches.

Meanwhile, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, the three Pakistan players accused of involvement in the spot-fixing scandal, have been dropped for the limited-overs leg of the England tour, team manager Yawar Saeed confirmed.

He said three replacement players will be called in.

The three Pakistani players were quizzed by the Pakistan Cricket Board and Scotland Yard on Wednesday on the alleged match fixing issue as the International Cricket Council (ICC) insisted on having their names cleared before England and Pakistan T20 and ODIs begin this week.

ICC’s chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the governing body will take action against the players found guilty in the ‘spot-fixing’ scam before they take to the field in the current tour of England.

Earlier, Mazhar Majeed, the prime suspect of the alleged betting scam involving Pakistani cricketers, was let out on bail, as the cricket world reeled from British tabloid News of the World?s Saturday expose regarding the scam.

The 35-year-old-man had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers following the tabloid’s claim that he took money in return for exact details of no-balls in the Lord’s Test match between England and Pakistan.

News of the World said it paid Majeed 150,000 pounds in return for advance details about the timing of three no-balls in the fourth and final Test, which England won on Sunday to take the series 3-1.

The report said Aamer and Asif delivered no-balls at the exact points in the match indicated by the alleged middleman.