***Official*** Spot-Fixing Scandal

[Faisal1985]

He's under no complusion to say anything on the video. And he's entitled to recant on it.

But if he does you get the obvious, don't you?

- Are you lying now, or were you lying then?
- Is it unusual for you to just lie to people about things like this?
- How can we know you're telling the truth now?

and of course the immortal

- Sir, are you just making this up as you go along?

His evidence, if he does that, could in no way be said to be reliable.

Then again, maybe that's just what he and his team mates want.

Bloody hell I'd want the fee up front if I was representing them. TBH they've probably got plenty anyway, it's just none of it was legally obtained

How would the factor of being under the influence of alcohol play out in the trial?

 

[PhoenixFire]

Yeah it's all the NOTWs fault that there are cheats in the Pakistan team

Who gives a damn about the NOTW right now when there are obviously more important matters at hand. i.e Match fixing.

 

[outbreak]

That's the opinion i have phoneix. Does anyone complain when police/news shows catch paedophiles by posing as a kid online?

 

[duffer]

Yeah it's all the NOTWs fault that there are cheats in the Pakistan team

Who gives a damn about the NOTW right now when there are obviously more important matters at hand. i.e Match fixing.

Heh, exactly.

 

[Faisal1985]

Yeah it's all the NOTWs fault that there are cheats in the Pakistan team

Who gives a damn about the NOTW right now when there are obviously more important matters at hand. i.e Match fixing.

really...if they are so darn sure of Yasir's words then why offer 25k for making a statement? Why even ask for a statement from him? Obviously nothing wrong with illegally video taping someone in the first place who is innocent...and then blackmailing him to issue an official statement...

 

[four_or_six]

NOTW may be gutter press, but they've done a brilliant job on this one. I don't see what's wrong with offering sweetners to persuade players to dish the dirt on their teammates, especially if that player has been mouthing off about them already.

Lol at Afridi though. They were showing the ball-bite again yesterday, hard to take him calling someone else out on their maturity after that.

 

[Jayzamann]

Just read about the Sri Lankan players approached.

I see why the floodgates are opening now, reporters are asking any player they interview whether they've been approached, and if they have they're going to say yes - as well as how they told their team managers straight away. But seeing a new headline every few days about more players being approached over the years exacerbates this scandal in a little way in the back of your mind.

 

[four_or_six]

Just read about the Sri Lankan players approached.

I see why the floodgates are opening now, reporters are asking any player they interview whether they've been approached, and if they have they're going to say yes - as well as how they told their team managers straight away. But seeing a new headline every few days about more players being approached over the years exacerbates this scandal in a little way in the back of your mind.

I'm actually quite reassured to see how many players have reported approaches. It makes you realise that there's plenty of guys who don't want anything to do with the bookies.

 

[Adamc]

really...if they are so darn sure of Yasir's words then why offer 25k for making a statement? Why even ask for a statement from him? Obviously nothing wrong with illegally video taping someone in the first place who is innocent...and then blackmailing him to issue an official statement...

You can argue that it's underhanded, unethical or whatever else and I might agree with you, but on what basis is it illegal? Given that the tabloids do it all the time, I'm pretty certain videotaping a conversation without the other party's consent isn't of itself illegal under English law. It might be under some circumstances, but probably not these. Not sure where blackmail is involved either. They offered him money to make a statement, which he declined. If they said 'make a statement or we'll release the video' it might be blackmail, but this wasn't the case.

 

[SJS]

All those who say they have never ever been approached may not be telling the truth.

All those who say they have been apprached but refused may also not be telling the truth. They may or may not have been approached and if aproached they may or may not have refused. Of course they just might be telling the truth but why should anyone believe them if they were aproached and never informed their boards.

That betting goes on in a big way is known to one and all and accepted by everyone openly.

That the betting syndicates have been working in the 'business' of fixing matches 'results or events within matches' is accepted by many on record and almost everyone off the record. Reasons for public denials of knowledge of such fixing vary from individual to individual; actual belief that there is no fixing of any sort exists only in the mind of fans of the ostrich family.

The very first step towards eradicating the menace starts with the acceptance that such a menace exists. The fact that so many are living in denials (at least in the public sphere) makes it virtually impossible that any official (read by any of cricket boards or the ICC)attempts to fight it will succeed. it is not a co-incidence that the only two occasions when any real evidence came up of corruption in cricket, neither ICC nor any cricket board could claim credit for it. The Bombay police stumbled on the the cricket betting racket when tapping the phone of someone in a case completely unrelated to cricket and now by a journalistic sting.

It is unlikely that the cricket boards with the biggest problems will do anything about it, their handling of the cases when players do get indicted is a pointer to how they look at the issue. The public cant be blamed for drawing their own conclusions about whether or not big shots of cricket (not to metion politicions) have a stake in the racket.

ICC's stand and actions in this latest scandal will decide whether or not a serious attempt is going to be made to eradicate the cancer if not the fans have to make up their mind whether they prefer watching a game of cricket - WWF style.

 

[Sir Alex]

You can argue that it's underhanded, unethical or whatever else and I might agree with you, but on what basis is it illegal? Given that the tabloids do it all the time, I'm pretty certain videotaping a conversation without the other party's consent isn't of itself illegal under English law. It might be under some circumstances, but probably not these. Not sure where blackmail is involved either. They offered him money to make a statement, which he declined. If they said 'make a statement or we'll release the video' it might be blackmail, but this wasn't the case.

That's more or less what they did. Read YH's statement

 

[Adamc]

That's more or less what they did. Read YH's statement

Gee, what a novel idea. There's nothing in the statement that suggests blackmail. There wasn't any suggestion that the video would not be released if he agreed to make a statement; in any case the contents of the video had already been made public. Seems to me that they wanted him to make a statement because they realised the contents of the video weren't particularly revelatory and having him specifically denounce the accused would be more compelling.

 

[r3alist]

there are two issues being discussed here

both are valid

the first video's of majid seem to be focused on exposing the match fixing - fair enough


this second yasir hameed video is nothing but pointless trash, it adds nothing to the body of evidence and is sheer hyperbole for the plebes to talk about

if the NOTW had left it at last weeks revelations they would be looking a lot better now, this is not investigative journalism - its an attempt to incite and create a furore by targetting vulnerable people through pay offs/

sure - investigative journalism is important - but who the heck says that there are no limits and bounds to how one should go about doing things?

i dont know myself what methods they used - i do think its important to know, i mean if anything but for security as these NOTW guys seem to be deep within the pak team with easy access to the players


and finally its not investigative journalism to try and incduce people to give misleading statements based on a cash payment, there s no investigation going on there, the NOTW have become as bad as the bookies here

 

[vic_orthdox]

Would the decriminalisation of betting in the sub-continent hamper, or help, match fixing?

Obviously there would still be illegal and underground betting going on, but by bringing the majority of it out into the open, it allows filtering out of the betting that is more "innocent" of nature and focus to be more easily applied to those who may be doing it for match-fixing/corruption purposes.

 

[honestbharani]

OK mate, well you asked for the opinion of the impact of video evidence from someone who's worked with it in court.

You got it, didn't like it, so now you're trashing it.

Suit yourself. I don't give a flying ****.

lol. What did you expect from SA?


If your opinion (more valid than his in all probability) doesn't suit his argument, of course it is trash and the standards are woeful in your time..

 

[vic_orthdox]

lol. What did you expect from SA?


If your opinion (more valid than his in all probability) doesn't suit his argument, of course it is trash and the standards are woeful in your time..

honestbharani, no need for the baiting.

 

[blahblahblah]

another interesting piece of news:

AFP: Fresh suspicion over Pakistan-Australia cricket Test

 

[marc71178]

I'm trying to work out how the NOTW are at fault here for Hameed saying what he's said - did he completely miss the furore going on when deciding to open his mouth? Surely he'd have smelled a rat?

 

[r3alist]

I'm trying to work out how the NOTW are at fault here for Hameed saying what he's said - did he completely miss the furore going on when deciding to open his mouth? Surely he'd have smelled a rat?

the problem with stories like these is so much dissemblance is required - both NOTW and hameed will have their own context and story to this.

if its true that the NOTW attempted to bribe hammed into saying certain things then this story is no longer investigative journalism - its an attempt to script a story with a specific outcome, but why are we surprised? this is the NOTW after all

 

[r3alist]

also the PCB need to be overtaken by the ICC or something, how is it that the players are not being protected and watched over - how useless can you get?

and where is ijaz butt hiding?