Pakistani cricketers Salm-an Butt and Mohammad Asif were found guilty Tuesday of spot-fixing in the fourth England-Pakistan Test match at Lord’s in August last year.
Mohammed Aamer, teenage bowling prodigy, had pleaded guilty to charges of spot-fixing on September 16 this year and did not undergo trial. He will be sentenced along with Butt and Asif, who pleaded not guilty and were convicted by the jury at Southwark crown court on Tuesday.
Aamer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, but this was not reported due to restrictions imposed by the court to ensure a fair trial for Butt and Asif. Justice Cooke partially lifted the reporting ban to allow it to be disclosed after a clear jury verdict in the case. Justice Jeremy Cooke will start sentencing the three cricketers Wednes-day, but said the sentencing could spill over to Thursday. Aamer, who did not stand trial with Butt and Asif, will be in court on Wednesday for sentencing.
The jury, which took 20 hours and 15 minutes to deliberate the fate of Butt and Asif, found Butt, 27, guilty on two counts and bowler Mohammad Asif, 28, guilty on one count Tuesday morning. The jury was sent back by the judge to deliberate on the second count for Asif and finally decided on the complete verdict by 3 pm Tuesday.
The 12-member jury gave Butt a unanimous guilty verdict on the count of conspiracy to cheat and a 10-2 majority guilty verdict on conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments.
The jury reached a unanimous decision of guilty on count of conspiracy to cheat for Asif Tuesday morning and returned a 10-2 majority guilty verdict for Asif for conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments on Tuesday afternoon. The judge, presiding over the trial since October 4, discharged the jury after it reached clear verdicts on all four counts against Butt and Asif. The two potentially face jail terms of seven years and/or an unlimited fine for obtaining and accepting corrupt payments and two years in prison and/or an unlimited fine over cheating charges.
The two sat impassively, without any visible reaction, through the verdicts, had their bail formally extended by the judge till the end of sentencing. Both Butt and Asif, whose UK visas were to run out October 31, were given 14-day extensions each by the UK Border Agency.
The three cricketers had been banned by the Intern-ational Cricket Council in February after an independent tribunal found them guilty of corruption.