Pakistan cricketer Khalid Latif’s lawyer Badar Alam has alleged that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is trying to malign the name of his client and ruining his career by calling him to attend the tribunal committee meeting in Lahore in a bid to pressurise him to accept the mistake.
“The PCB are trying to ruin the career of my client. They only want to pressurise him into coming up with an agreement with the board,” Alam was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.
The 31-year-old top-order batsman Latif, who has been suspended after the spot-fixing scandal surfaced during the recently concluded Pakistan Super League (PSL) has been provisionally suspended from domestic matches as well.
“The PCB has no proof of Latif’s involvement in match-fixing,” Alam said.
Alam further remarked the case is being undertaken by Lahore’s High Court while stating the national board cannot call him for the tribunal meeting which according to him is unethical and unlawful and further could be termed as harassment.
“The only thing that they have is a video message in which my client has accepted that he did meet the bookie. They do not have any proof that he was involved in fixing,” Alam remarked.
However, PCB in its press release recently has categorically stated that copies of a report were provided to Sharjeel, the other suspended cricketer.
“At the hearing, Mr. Sharjeel Khan’s Counsel, Mr. Shaigan Ejaz requested that better copies of certain pages PCB’s Opening Brief be provided,” it added.
Earlier, the Lahore court has dismissed the petition filed by Latif after he failed to attend the meeting on numerous occasions.
“Upon directions of the Tribunal, the same were provided by PCB and Mr. Sharjeel Khan was given till 10th May 2017 to file his Answering Brief. Thereafter, PCB shall have the option of filing a Reply Brief, if it deems necessary by 13th May 2017,” it concluded.
The Tribunal hearing was conducted on Saturday at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore which was attended by the committee chairman Asghar Haider (retired justice), member Tauqir Zia (retired Lt. Gen), former wicket-keeper batsman Wasim Bari alongside Sharjeel Khan and his advocate Shaigan Ejaz.
Head of PCB’s Vigilance and Security Department Mohammad Azam Khan had also attended the board’s Tribunal hearing for suspended cricketer Sharjeel.
Moreover, Salman Naseer, General Manager for PCB’s legal affairs, and two advocates for the country board with the likes Taffazul Rizvi and Haider Ali Khan attended the meeting.