The much-hyped trial of the Bangladesh Premier League’s match fixing scandal got underway at a city venue on Sunday with all nine accused individuals attending the preliminary hearing through their lawyers. The hearing at the Radius Centre, near the tribunal headquarters at Gulshan, where the lawyers of the accused persons, except Mohammad Rafique, explained the role of their clients in the scandal.
Yasin Patel, the lawyer of Mohammad Ashraful and Englishman Darren Stevens, attended the hearing through Skype. While Ashraful already pleaded guilty, Patel’s other client Stevens claimed his innocence.
Stevens is one of two overseas cricketers charged for failing to report the corruption approach that was made to them. The other accused for this offence, Sri Lankan cricketer Kaushal Lokuarachchi, however, pleaded guilty.
A Sri Lankan lawyer, who did not identify himself before the local media, represented Lokuarachchi in the hearing before the three-member tribunal, which included retired Supreme Court judge Khademul Islam Chowdhury, senior lawyer Ajmalul Hossain and former cricketer Shakil Kasem.
ICC’s head of legal affairs Ian Higgins and officials Shelly Clarke and Jonathan Taylor were present in what was otherwise a closed-door trial.
Barrister Nauroz M R Chowdhury and advocate Aminuddin represented Dhaka Gladiators owners Salim Chowdhury and Shihab Chowdhury and their Indian chief executive officer Gourav Rawat, though the franchise officials earlier vowed to defy the tribunal.
Gladiators’ owners said they have a case pending with the Dhaka Judge’s court and until that is resolved the BCB tribunal cannot conduct any hearing.
‘We asked them to stop the proceedings as they failed to form the tribunal in 40 days and we had filed a case in the civil court,’ Aminuddin told the reporters.
‘As the case is pending in the court we want it to be resolved before the tribunal starts its proceedings,’ he added.
Barrister Nurus Sadik represented left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain and pace bowler Mahbubul Alam, who both pleaded not guilty.
‘This is just the beginning. We gave our version to the tribunal and they listened. Nothing more happened at this stage,’ Sadik told reporters.
Tribunal chief Justice Khademul said the next hearing will be held on January 19.
The ICC on August 13 charged nine individuals for their part in match-fixing in the second edition of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 competition. All the accused persons were related to two-time champions Dhaka Gladiators.
Seven of the nine individuals have been directly charged with fixing-related activities, while two others were charged with failing to report corrupt approaches despite being obliged to do so.
The charges were bought after a massive investigation by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, which was engaged by the BCB to provide anti-corruption cover during the BPL’s second edition.
-With New Age input
