ICC suspends tainted umpires pending inquiry

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The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday suspended the six umpires caught in a TV sting, which alleged that they were willing to fix Twenty20 matches, pending the completion of an inquiry against them.

"The International Cricket Council (ICC) and its relevant Full Member Boards have agreed not to appoint any of the umpires named in a sting operation recently conducted by India TV to any domestic or international cricket matches pending the outcome of the on-going investigations into the allegations made," the governing body said in a statement.

"The officials named are not contracted by the ICC and those Boards who employ and nominate the umpires directly will conduct the investigations as a matter of urgency," it added.
The channel had shown video clips purportedly taken by their undercover reporters in which the umpires were shown to be allegedly willing to give certain decisions in exchange for money.

Sri Lanka Cricket chief executive Ajith Jayasekara said that they are studying the tapes of the sting operation and the local anti-corruption unit will work with the ICC in the investigations.

The channel showed video clips, purportedly taken by their undercover reporters in which the umpires were shown to be allegedly willing to give certain decisions in exchange for money.

The six umpires, who are purportedly shown in the TV sting willing to fix matches, were Nadeem Ghauri and Anees Siddiqui of Pakistan, Nadir Shah of Bangladesh, and Gamini Dissanayake, Maurice Winston and Sagara Gallage of Sri Lanka.

All of them have denied the allegations, insisting that they were trapped by the channel. Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in Chief of India TV, stood by the channel's expose and said it was open to any inquiry or public scrutiny of their journalistic work if the authenticity of the tapes is in question.