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***Official*** Spot-Fixing Scandal

social

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Blaze 18 said:
In my mind there is no doubt that Salman Butt is guilty. Forget the proofs and everything, when he was first asked about the whole spot-fixing saga, his reply was "we are innocent until proven guilty" (or something along those lines anyway). Would an innocent man have said that ? Mohammad Aamer is the most interesting case. I reckon he was persuaded to do it by Salman Butt. Mohammad Asif probably has the best case of the three, because his foot was only just over the line. His past misdemeanours mean that I am not going to give him the benefit of the doubt, however.

I don't think they should be thrown behind bars for this. I don't think they will be either; I am sure any decent lawyer can get them off on some technicality or the other. I do support the bans though, they made a grave mistake and deserve to pay for it. To claim that they have been discriminated against because they are Pakistanis, as Social is doing, is bordering on ridiculous. What was Shahid Afridi's punishment for that ball biting episode again ? A measly two T20 internationals. It seems to be that some people are reluctant to accept that what the trio have done is serious. You can't just screw with your country and the game itself and expect to get away with it.
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I dont feel that they are being discriminated against because of nationality

I just reckon it makes them an easier target than, say, taking on an Indian or Australian with the backing of their boards
 
zaremba

zaremba

Cricketer Of The Year
Agent Nationaux said:
For 1b how were Asif and Amir enabling or assisting gambling? As I mentioned there isn't really any evidence linking them to Majeed or the money. For all we know they could have just been asked/coerced to bowl the no-ball.
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They enabled / assisted cheating at gambling in one of two ways. (1) If there were bets placed on that particular match, then the bowling of deliberate no balls to
order clearly assisted others to cheat at gambling. (2) Even if no
bets were to be placed on that match, and it was all about demonstrating the power of the fixer to arrange events,, their actions clearly assisted his enterprise, which was all about cheating in relation to gambling. I really don't see a problem with that as a basis for a prosecution. As fred points out, though, the issue will all be about the defendants' state(s) of mind. And if there is any evidence of coercion, that of course will be quite properly relied on by the defence.

Having said all of which, we would most of us be well advised to take a dose of humility and accept that we don't know either the evidence or the law in the same detail as do the CPS lawyers (and that even includes dear old social who seems to be holding himself as some sort of expert in these matters). Fred an honourable exception from a
legal perspective although I'm sure he'd be the first to say that without access to the evidence in the hands of the CPS we are all basically guessing here.
 
Furball

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Would I be correct in saying that if the CPS went to the media and said, "look, here's all the evidence we've gathered to charge the individuals named" they'd basically be prejudicing the entire case?
 
fredfertang

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
GingerFurball said:
Would I be correct in saying that if the CPS went to the media and said, "look, here's all the evidence we've gathered to charge the individuals named" they'd basically be prejudicing the entire case?
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Yes - the case would undoubtedly be thrown out

Applications can be made to lift reporting restrictions but it very rarely happens
 
Agent Nationaux

Agent Nationaux

International Coach
zaremba said:
They enabled / assisted cheating at gambling in one of two ways. (1) If there were bets placed on that particular match, then the bowling of deliberate no balls to
order clearly assisted others to cheat at gambling. (2) Even if no
bets were to be placed on that match, and it was all about demonstrating the power of the fixer to arrange events,, their actions clearly assisted his enterprise, which was all about cheating in relation to gambling. I really don't see a problem with that as a basis for a prosecution. As fred points out, though, the issue will all be about the defendants' state(s) of mind. And if there is any evidence of coercion, that of course will be quite properly relied on by the defence.

Having said all of which, we would most of us be well advised to take a dose of humility and accept that we don't know either the evidence or the law in the same detail as do the CPS lawyers (and that even includes dear old social who seems to be holding himself as some sort of expert in these matters). Fred an honourable exception from a
legal perspective although I'm sure he'd be the first to say that without access to the evidence in the hands of the CPS we are all basically guessing here.
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I guess you are right, especially about the evidence part. And Fred did mention earlier that the gambling act did not discriminate on whether bets were placed or not. However I would like to repeat what I wrote earlier, which was that during Majeed and Amir's phone conversation, Majeed was treating him like dirt, by swearing at him and intimidating him. This to me seems as if Amir was being coerced into the whole thing.

@ Fred

Can a defendant request the court for the CPS's evidence in order to prepare for his case or will he have to guess what evidence the CPS is holding and prepare his defence according to that?
 
fredfertang

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Agent Nationaux said:
@ Fred

Can a defendant request the court for the CPS's evidence in order to prepare for his case or will he have to guess what evidence the CPS is holding and prepare his defence according to that?
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A Defendant is entitled to see all of the case against before he decides how to plead - you usually get some additional evidence served during the course of the proceedings after a not guilty plea but the CPS cannot "ambush" a Defendant - prior to around 1997 the defence, on the other hand, were allowed to play their cards close to their chest and not disclose their defence in advance but those rules have been eroded since then and the defence do now have to state in advance what defence is being run
 
fredfertang

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
If there is any truth in that, and tbh I can't imagine that there is, then Mr Beloff has behaved execrably
 
Spikey

Spikey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Spot-fixing controversy: Tribunal charts fascinating course, points out weak defence | Cricket News | Cricinfo ICC Site | ESPN Cricinfo

"It therefore followed that the three players' defences before us were different. Mr Butt accepted there was a fix, but denied that he was a part of it. Mr Asif asserted that Mr Butt was a part of a conspiracy and that he himself was, as we shall explain, the unwitting instrument of Mr Butt. Mr Amir denied his involvement in any fix, the existence of which he did not formally accept." Later it confirms the report that Asif's defence of the no-ball was that Butt had told him to "run faster", which caused him to over-step.
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Spot-fixing controversy: Tribunal charts fascinating course, points out weak defence | Cricket News | Cricinfo ICC Site | ESPN Cricinfo

Pretty interesting. also lol at Amir.
 
salman85

salman85

International Debutant
Yes.Afterall 19 year olds are accused of match fixing every other day with their careers put on the line :)
 
Spikey

Spikey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
wait are you defending him? really? honestly? still? even after being found guilty and the two other accused admitting something was going on? (even if they didn't say they were in it). jesus christ.
 
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