CASE STUDY 4: Corruption & the Media

What Happened? In 2010 three members of the Pakistan national team, including the captain, Salman Butt, were involved in a high profile fixing scandal. Reporters (posing as bookies) secretly videotaped sports agent, Mazhar Majeed accepting money and informing the reporters that fast bowlers Mohammed Asif and Mohammad Amir would deliberately bowl no-balls at specific points in an over. The fix was carried out as planned.

This case demonstrated not only the ongoing interest by the media to expose corruption in cricket, and indicated the lengths wot which some members of the media will go to for a story. It was also clear that age is no barrier to players being approached and corrupted; Amir was 18 at the time of his offending.

Consequences: The three players were investigated and charged under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code for their involvement in spot-fixing. All three players were banned for terms between 5 – 10 years. Significantly in this case, Majeed and the three cricketers were also the subject of a criminal investigation by the Police in the United Kingdom. All four men were found guilty of criminal offences and were given prison sentences ranging from 6 months to just under 3 years.