PCB forms committee to probe umpire fixing allegations

In this photograph taken on April 13, 2008, Pakistani batsman Kamran Akmal bows down to the ground after scoring a century (100 runs) against Bangladesh as field umpire Nadeem Ghouri (rear) looks on during the third One-Day International cricket match between Pakistan and Bangladesh at The Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore. Umpires at the centre of a bribery scandal denied October 9, 2012, that they were willing to fix matches for cash as cricket authorities announced an urgent probe into the allegations aired in a television sting. An undercover investigation by the private India TV channel allegedly found that six umpires, including one who is a regular fixture on the international circuit, were willing to give decisions or provide inside information on the teams and playing conditions in return for illicit payments. AFP PHOTO

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has constituted an committee to probe into the allegations of corruption against umpires, Nadeem Ghouri and Anis-ur-Rehman.

Although the PCB is yet to make an official announcement regarding the formation of this committee but reliable sources have said that board's legal experts were on the panel.

"The PCB executive co-ordination committee that met yesterday discussed about Nadeem Ghouri. The members were briefed that the committee had already requested the Indian channel that carried out the sting operation to provide the unedited tapes," a source in the board said.

Ghauri and Rehman have been accused, along with four other umpires from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, of corruption by India TV, which carried out a sting operation to get the umpires to speak on camera.

But Ghouri has vehemently denied the allegations and said the video was fake.

The ICC has already suspended the six umpires named in the sting operation and asked the respective home cricket boards to carry out their own investigations into the matter.

"The PCB executive co-ordination committee discussed the Ghouri issue in detail and also the fact that he had been claiming that he had already informed a board official about the offer made to him by the undercover reporter," the source added.

The source said the committee would be questioning the two umpires and would also like to question the undercover reporter.

"The committee has legal experts on it as the ICC has indicated that it wants to get to the bottom of the truth," the source added.

The PCB executive co-ordination committee is said to have also discussed the performance of the national team in the recently-held ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.

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