Ex-Zimbabwe official suspended from cricket for 20 years

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that it has suspended Rajan Nayer, the Treasurer and Marketing Director of the Harare Metropolitan Cricket Association, from all cricket activity for 20 years after he accepted a charge of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.

Nayer was charged with the following three offences under the Code for approaching Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer:

--Article 2.1.1 - being party to an effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspects of an International match or matches;

--Article 2.1.3 - offering Cremer US $30,000 to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspects of an International match or matches; and

--Article 2.1.4 - directly soliciting, inducing, enticing or encouraging Cremer to breach Article 2.1.1.

Nayer accepted the charge of 2.1.4 and, on this basis, the ICC has agreed not to pursue any of the alternative charges based on the same facts. The range of permissible sanctions for a breach of Article 2.1.4 is a period of ineligibility of a minimum of five years and a maximum of a lifetime.

The suspension shall be backdated to the start of his provisional suspension on January 16, 2018 and as such he will be eligible to participate in cricket from January 16, 2038.

Alex Marshall, General Manager - ICC ACU said, "I welcome the result of the investigation and the substantial sanction imposed upon Nayer. It is important that the seriousness of his offences were reflected in the length of ban.

"I would like to place on record my thanks to Graeme Cremer, who has acted with the utmost professionalism throughout this process. Immediately after he received the approach from Nayer he reported it to the ICC and we were able to get an investigation underway swiftly. Graeme has been involved and updated throughout the investigation and has played a critical role in ensuring that corruption has no place in our sport."

"I would also like to extend my thanks to Zimbabwe Cricket with whom we have worked closely throughout the investigation.