Paymaster Mazhar running out of credit

KARACHI, January  5, 2011 (AFP) - Mazhar Majeed is the man at the centre of cricket’s spot-fixing scandal which could end the careers of Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer.

Mazhar, 35, was described as a “marketing agent” by the Pakistan players helped to secure contracts, but declared “persona non grata” by the team’s embattled management.

He hit the headlines on August 28 last year when he was arrested by Scotland Yard detectives on a tip-off from the News of the World.

The newspaper said it paid him 150,000 pounds (185,000 euros, 230,000 dollars) in return for advance knowledge of pre-arranged no-balls which could then be bet upon in Pakistan’s Lord’s Test against England.

Test captain Butt and pace bowlers Aamer and Asif were named by the newspaper as the players involved.

In a video made during the sting operation, Mazhar claimed he had “several Pakistani players in his pocket” and that they had deliberately bowled no-balls during the Test.

Scotland Yard raided the Pakistan team hotel and confiscated large sums of money with some of the notes allegedly marked by the News of the World’s reporters.

Mazhar was released on bail but will report to police again on January 11.

He could face charges of defrauding bookmakers - a criminal offence which carries a 10-year prison sentence.

If found guilty, Mazhar will enter a cricket hall of shame where the likes of Mukesh Gupta, Sanjeev Chawla and Mukesh Kochra already reside.

Mukesh was the subject of an inquiry which led to fines for Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne and compatriot Mark Waugh after they were alleged to have provided match-related information during a one-day tournament in Sri Lanka in 1994.

Chawla was arrested in London in 2001 following a confession by the late South African captain Hansie Cronje that he took money to fix matches in 2000.

Kochra’s involvement with Marlon Samuels ended in a two-year ban for the West Indian batsman in 2008.

Mazhar’s brother and business partner Azhar have termed the current spot-fixing allegations as “rubbish” and “laughable”.

But the International Cricket Council (ICC) provisionally suspended the three players and formed an anti-corruption tribunal to hear the case. The trio face severe punishment, including life bans at the hearing which takes place in Doha from January 6-11.

Pakistani media have criticised experienced team manager Yawar Saeed and security manager Khawaja Najam for not stopping the players from meeting Mazhar.

But Saeed, who stepped down after the England tour, said the players were warned.

“When we started the England tour, I told the players they should not be entertaining these two (Majeeds) in their hotel rooms,” said Saeed.

Migrating from the Pakistan city of Faisalabad, where their parents were involved in watch-repair business, the Majeed brothers set up a marketing company, TBL, earning professional contracts for Pakistan players.

Kamran Akmal confirmed the Majeeds have been players’ agents for several years.

“The Majeeds have been agents for Pakistan players since 2006 and I got commercial contracts through them but never knew anything wrong about them,” said Akmal, who was embroiled in allegations of fixing in Pakistan’s shock Sydney Test defeat in January last year.