The corruption charges related to the Abu Dhabi T10 League has hit a new low. UK-based club cricketer Rizvan Javed has now being banned for 17-and-a-half years for his multiple breaches of the Emirates Cricket Board’s (ECB) Anti-corruption code for players.
Javed is amongst the eight people (that includes players and officials) who were charged in September 2023 for alleged corrupt practices during the 2021 edition of the tournament. Earlier this year, Bangladesh cricketer Nasir Hossain was banned by the ICC from playing all cricket for two years after he accepted charges of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board’s anti corruption code.
The ICC’s Code of Conduct Committee, who had taken up the investigation on behalf of the ECB, summed up their verdict after Javed’s continuous disinterest to respond to the charges levelled against him. The cricketer also didn’t appeal against the charges and the overall inactivity has forced the committee to come up with this decision that was taken by Michael J Beloff KC, Chair of the committee.
The charges against Javed, as per the press release from the ICC, are as follows.
Article 2.1.1 – Being party to an attempt to fix, contrive or influence improperly matches or aspects of matches in the Abu Dhabi T10 2021 (on three separate occasions).
Article 2.1.3 – Offering a Reward to another Participant in exchange for that player engaging in Corrupt Conduct.
Article 2.1.4 – Directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating any Participant to breach Code Article 2.1 (on three separate occasions).
Article 2.4.4 – Failing to disclose to the DACO full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in Corrupt Conduct under the Code.
Article 2.4.6 – Failing or refusing, without compelling justification, to cooperate with any investigation carried out by the DACO in relation to possible Corrupt Conduct under the Code.
Javed was provisionally suspended on 19th September 2023 when the charges were first levelled against him. Therefore, the ban shall be backdated from that particular date. Javed’s punishment is the latest from ICC’s relentless endeavour to eliminate corruption from the game. While one ban in isolation is far from the objective, ICC’s General Manager Integrity Alex Marshall hopes that this incident shall help to create an awareness among professional cricketers all over.
“Rizwan Javed has received a lengthy ban from cricket for his repeated and serious attempts to corrupt professional cricketers,” said Marshall.
“He has shown no remorse and no respect for the rules that are in place to protect our sport. The sanction imposed should send a strong message to other corrupters trying to target cricket at any level and demonstrates that any attempt to corrupt cricket will be strongly dealt with.”
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