AN Anti-Corruption Tribunal, set up by the Bangladesh Cricket Board to prosecute the alleged Bangladesh Premier League match-fixing, suspended former national captain Mohammad Ashraful for eight years and fined him Tk 10 lakh. The Tribunal has also banned Dhaka Gladiators managing director Shihab Chowdhury for 10 years and set him a fine of Tk 20 lakh. The punishment for the second charge is also the same and an additional Tk 10 lakh fine. For the third and fourth charges he will also receive the same punishment. The punishments, which will start from the day of provisional suspension in June last year, will run concurrently meaning Ashraful will have to serve the ban for only eight years.
However, the Tribunal on February 26 had acquitted six other accused including former Test cricketer Mohammad Rafique, left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain and pace bowler Mahbubul Alam. To the cricket analysts and former cricketers, there are a number of issues involved in this case that went not-so-good. Hearing the verdict, a former cricketer of national team and also a commentator said to electronic media that match fixing cannot be done single handedly. Without the help of the captain and at least a small group of fellow cricketers it is not possible.
So acquitting all others and giving a very harsh sentence to one particular person signals that there might be rats in the whole procedure. It is evident in the Presiding Judge’s remarks in the press conference as well. When asked if the lack of evidence was the main reason as to why the tribunal acquitted six out of the 10 charged for fixing, Justice Islam agreed and said that it depends on the satisfaction of the tribunal. The standard of proof should be beyond reasonable doubt. The ones which did not have them, we left it. That’s why the six individuals were acquitted. During the investigation the tribunal came to know that the ICC’s Anti-Corruption unit could have prevented two fixed games from taking place, but did not in order to gather evidence. So it is the failure of BCB that other match fixers are cleverer than Ashraful and that’s why while Ashraful got a very harsh sentence the clever ones escaped the punishment.
We believe that while all other collaborators are out of any form of punishment whatsoever, the verdict given solely to Bangladesh’s first superstar cricketer Ashraful, the youngest ever Test centurion at 17, is too much harsh. This is justice for some, not for all. We urge the concerned officials to rethink the procedure and punishment as well as bring other perpetrators into justice. On a more general note, we must rethink why cricket is no more a gentlemen’s game and why it has turned out to be a gambling zone of black money and dirty politics as it was previously manifested by the rift between skipper Shakib al Hasan and the then cricket boss. We plead to the officials of cricket to not open one more political war zone in cricket – the last resort and symbol of our national unity and pride.
