Justice Haider to head investigation on spot-fixing charges

A former judge of the Lahore High Court, Justice Asghar Haider has been appointed to head a three-member judicial tribunal to investigate the spot-fixing charges against Pakistani batsmen Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif.
The other members of the tribunal include former Test captain Wasim Bari and former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Lt General (retd) Tauqir Zia, who headed the Board between 1999 and 2003.
Sharjeel and Khalid were sent back from the Pakistan Super League in Dubai last month after being suspended by the PCB on charges of violating the Anti-Corruption Code of the board.
The two batsmen in their replies to the show cause notices issued to them have denied all charges of spot-fixing or trying to coax other players into fixing match moments, but admitted they breached discipline by not reporting offers made to them by a bookmaker who was introduced to them by Pakistan Test opener Nasir Jamshed.

The British Crime Unit is also investigating the case and questioned Jamshed and the bookmaker Yousuf in London last month before releasing them on bail and asking them to again appear in April.
Interestingly, Tauqir Zia was at the helm of affairs in Pakistan cricket when the Justice Malik Qayyum judicial inquiry into match-fixing allegations against the national team players was carried out over 18 months.

Tauqir was the chairman of the board when on the recommendations of the Qayyum report former captain Salim Malik was banned for life for match-fixing and some other players including Wasim Akram were fined for not cooperating with the tribunal.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan has said that both players face life bans if charges against them are found to be true.
Sharjeel, a dashing left handed opener from Hyderabad, has played a Test, 25 ODIs and 15 T20Is for Pakistan before he faced disgrace in the PSL.
Khalid, who has played five ODIs and 15 T20Is, was a member of Pakistan's T20 World Cup squad last year in India.