ECB Reiterates 'Zero Tolerance' Approach

ECB Reiterates 'Zero Tolerance' Approach

Mohammad Amir is one of the three players convicted by jury at Southwark Crown Court

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The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has reiterated its commitment of zero tolerance towards corruption in the game following the conclusion of the hearing into the spot-fixing case involving Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir.

All three men face sentencing having been found guilty (in the cases of Asif and Butt) or pleaded guilty (Amir) to charges of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments.

The statement, titled 'ECB reinforces need for integrity to be at the heart of sport', reads as follows:

"Following the recent outcome of the court case in Southwark, the ECB has reiterated its policy of zero tolerance in respect of corruption in sport.

"ECB will make no comment on the court cases of Butt and Asif but hopes that such criminal actions will act as a strong deterrent to support the eradication of such activity in sport.

"The England and Wales Cricket Board has recently established an Anti Corruption and Education unit chaired by Jane Stichbury and supports training programmes for the education of players and officials in addition to implementing the ECB Regulations concerning Anti Corruption. 

"ECB Chief Executive David Collier commented: "Integrity and fair play are the foundations for any sporting contest. ECB fully supports the work of the ICC Anti Corruption unit. We have established a unit at Lord's to both educate players and officials and seek to protect the integrity of the sport and we hope that criminal proceedings will act as a strong and firm deterrent to complement this work."

In the case of Amir, the ECB carried out an investigation in June after he defied the terms of an International Cricket Council ban and appeared in a club game in Surrey.

All three players were already serving bans handed to them by the ICC for breaching the ICC anti-corruption code before the court case began.

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