A cricket agent accused of taking bribes to fix matches claimed that Australian players were "the biggest" when it came to rigging games, a London court has heard.
In February, British prosecutors had "authorised charges of conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, and also conspiracy to cheat" against the tainted Pakistani trio- Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif- implicated in the spot-fixing scandal as well as alleged bookmaker Mazhar Majeed.
Majeed, 36, told an undercover journalist that Australian cricketers and Pakistan stars were involved in betting scams, Southwark Crown Court was told during the trial.
The jury was played secret recordings of meetings between London-based agent Majeed and former News of the World journalist Mazher Mahmood, who was posing as a rich Indian businessman seeking major international players for the tournament, media reports.
Majeed met Mahmood at a London restaurant on August 18 last year - the first day of Pakistan's Oval Test against England - and after the meal discussed match-fixing in the undercover journalist's car, the court was told.
Majeed alleged that Australian players would fix "brackets", a set period of a match on which punters bet, for example, how many runs will be scored.
"The Australians, they are the biggest. They have 10 brackets a game," he said in the tape played to the court.
Claiming match-fixing had been going on "for centuries", Majeed named celebrated former Pakistan fast bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis as alleged participants.
"It's been happening for centuries. It's been happening for years. Wasim, Waqar, Ijaz Ahmed, Moin Khan - they all did it," he was quoted as saying.
Majeed also complained that Pakistan cricket players were paid "peanuts", but said that there was "very big money" to be made from match-fixing.
At an earlier meeting with the undercover journalist at the Hilton hotel in Park Lane, London, on August 16, 2010, Majeed claimed that he could recruit Hollywood star Brad Pitt, tennis ace Roger Federer and other celebrities to bring some glitz to the proposed UAE cricket tournament, the report said.
He also told the reporter that he managed ten Pakistan cricketers, as well as "a couple of Indian players", Australian fast bowler Nathan Bracken and West Indian all-rounder Chris Gayle.
However, Bracken's manager, Robert Horton, told the ABC Radio that the cricketer had never been represented by Majeed and had never been involved in match fixing anywhere in the world. |
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Spot-fixing case: Majeed claims Australian cricketers 'biggest' match fixers