The preliminary appeal hearing of the Bangladesh Premier League match-fixing trial will start today, said the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s disciplinary panel chairman on Tuesday.
Former national team captain, Mohammad Ashraful, and two other convicts along with the International Cricket Council and the BCB appealed against the decisions made by the BCB’s anti-corruption Tribunal.
The Tribunal headed by the retired justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury, banned Ashraful, who pleaded guilty, for eight years and fined him Tk 10 lakh.
It also banned Dhaka Gladiators managing director Shihab Chowdhury for 10 years along with a fine of Tk 20 lakh.
New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent and Sri Lankan Kaushal Lokuarachchi, who were charged with failure to report for the corrupt approach, have also been suspended for three and one-and-a half years respectively.
The Tribunal earlier acquitted six individuals charged by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.
Barring Vincent and acquitted individuals, all parties involved in the trial have lodged an appeal to the retired Supreme Court Justice, Mohammad Abdur Rashid, the head of the BCB’s disciplinary panel.
‘Tomorrow [Wednesday] we will start the preliminary hearing,’ Justice Abdur Rashid told New Age on Tuesday.
‘There are four parties involved who have appealed against the decisions made by the BCB’s anti-corruption tribunal.
‘We will try to explain them about the entire process and after listening to them we will try to fix a date for the final hearing,’ he said.
The hearing for the appeal will be held at the same place where BCB’s three-member Tribunal completed their entire BPL match-fixing trial.
Justice Rashid refused to set any specific time limit to complete the hearing.
‘I would like to complete it at the earliest,’ he said.
‘Whether, that will be possible or not because it will depend on many factors as everyone who had appealed will give their accounts,’ he said.
Whistleblower Ashraful, who had earlier pleaded guilty and is now seeking a clemency, said he will be present in the hearing personally and will try to know how to go after the entire matter.
‘I don’t expect anything serious on the first day as it is a preliminary hearing but certainly we will know when and how we will take part in the final hearing,’ said Ashraful.
Appealing to the chairman of the BCB’s disciplinary panel is the first step of appealing against the sanctions. If required, the parties can then appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
-With New Age input
