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Asif Iqbal clarifies

Former Pakistan skipper Asif Iqbal has strongly denied that he was a go-between Salim Malik and other Pakistan players in match-fixing, and that he deliberately did not cooperate with the Justice Malik Mohammed Qayyum commission which inquired into allegations of match-fixing against Pakistani players.

He was commenting on a report in the Sunday Telegraph, which claimed that "Asif Iqbal, the former Pakistan and Kent player, is the International Cricket Council official alleged to be the go-between in match-fixing by Salim Malik".

The newspaper was quoting the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which obtained a copy of the tapes made by News of the world in which Salim Malik has been caught boasting of his match-fixing connections.

Asif, the chief coordinator of the Cricketers' Benefit Fund Series, in a statement released in Dubai, said he is extremely disappointed to see the newspaper article, which, he claimed, had purposely tried to suppress information about some tapes of the News of the world's 'sting action' that gave a picture opposite to the one the article writer, Scyld Berry, was desperately trying to paint.

The article mentioned that Malik took Asif's name, saying the main bookie would have to pay some money to him (Asif).

Asif said: "The News of the world has tapes of a meeting between myself and Ghazan Iqbal, their mole who they hired to conduct their sting operation. Ghazan Iqbal - - no relative of mine whatsoever - - wanted to see me and seek my advice about setting up some business involving cricket and other sports. When I met him I had no idea that he was wired. The transcript of that conversation speaks for itself. I can be heard there saying distinctly and repeatedly that I did not know of any illegal schemes. I did my utmost to dissuade Ghazan Iqbal from any such schemes as well."

He said the tape was now in everyone's knowledge and he refused to believe that Berry did not know about it or had not seen a transcript of it. "One could conclude that Berry had dishonestly tried to suppress it to further his own bias and the bias of his newspaper."

Asif admitted that he had met Malik in London. "He (Malik) asked me to put in a word to the Pakistan Cricket Board regarding assistance in setting up some cricket academy in Pakistan. "I told him I would see what I could do and accordingly mentioned this to Yawar Saeed of the PCB, who was in London at that time, and Ehsan Mani, the London representative of the PCB, and an ICC official."

Asif said: "Later when the News of the world story broke out and I realised the true nature of Salim Malik's and Ghazan Iqbal's visit to the UK, I wrote to the ICC telling the chief executive about my meeting with both Malik and Ghazan, and offered my assistance should it be needed in any investigation into the matter."

He noted that the Sunday Telegraph had also mentioned the Qayyum Commission's comment that morally he should have attended the inquiry to clear the air.

"The facts on record in this regard are that I received the summons in Sharjah from the commission, giving me only three days to appear before it. I wrote back telling the registrar of the Lahore High Court that I was committed to attend the finals of the Asian Test Championship and would thereafter be busy for a few days with the tournament in Sharjah.

"I, however, added that after these commitments, I would be happy to attend the inquiry and give whatever assistance I could. I also spoke to the registrar on phone explaining the situation to him. The commission, however, never got back to me. The day after the Qayyum report was made public, I wrote to the PCB explaining the above situation to them and sent them a copy of my correspondence with the inquiry commission in this regard. I would have told Berry (the article writer) as much if he had taken the trouble to speak to me," Asif said.

He said: "There seems to be a trend in the British media to take advantage of the fact that legal redress in such situations is beyond the reach of most people. How far that reflects a posture even remotely moral is not an issue I would like to comment on.

UNI