There just doesn’t seem to be an end to corruption in Pakistan cricket. After Umar Akmal became the lastest cricketer to be suspended for three years after failing to report two separate incidents of approaches to do spot-fixing, Shoaib Akhtar has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) asking why can’t such acts of corruption be criminalised?
Many former Pakistan players have raised their voices after Umar became the latest to fall victim to corrupt practices. The opinion is that fixing should be criminalised so that no player in future dares to go this route.
“Why cannot you make match-fixing a criminal offence in Pakistan? You can give a jail term or seize the offenders’ property, it will put fear in people, the PCB and their legal team are being incompetent, why there is no legislation to criminalise match-fixing,” Akhtar said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
“Now there are people who are asking PCB to bring in legislation to criminalise match-fixing. I want to ask those people what did you do when you held positions in the PCB. There is an urgent of bringing such a law and this can only be done in the national assembly,” he added.
Akhtar then took an aim at Mohammad Amir who himself had served a 5-year ban period after found guilty of doing spot-fixing. In the video, the Rawalpindi Express took at swipe at the left-arm pacer for turning his back on Test cricket despite what PCB had done for him.
