His international career ruined due to involvement in spot-fixing, banned Pakistan pacer Mohammad Aamir has backed former Indian captain Rahul Dravid’s suggestion to make fixing a criminal offence.
In an interview to a TV channel, Aamir, who is serving a five-year ban, said the ICC needed to do more to control the menace of fixing in cricket.
“I don’t know what powers or authority the ICC has but definitely it needs to make fixing of matches a criminal offence and there should be jail sentences for those involved in this racket,” he said.
The 21-year old, who will complete three years of his minimum ban period next month, said the ICC should coordinate with the local police where matches are played.
“It can be termed as invasion of privacy but the biggest thing they must do is to keep track of all calls made and received on phones of players and officials involved in a bilateral series or tournament,” the youngster said.
“The ICC must keep track and monitor numbers of all potential and known bookmakers who lure players into the fixing racket. And anyone found guilty must face criminal charges. I don’t think just having education and awareness programmes about anti-corruption is enough to deter such things,” he opined.
Aamir said education and awareness campaigns can only do as much and cannot deter those who have made up their minds.
“Someone who has made up his mind to do something wrong will not be affected by these programmes.”