LONDON: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt insisted that he never asked bowlers Mohammad Asif or Mohammad Aamer to cheat during a Test match against England last year, a British court heard on Friday during a trial for alleged spot-fixing.
Butt and Asif, who arrived two hours late for court due to illness, are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments.
“There’s no way I could tell Aamer or Asif (to cheat),” the court heard Butt saying in the police interview.
“They are the two players that most teams would want to have. When we pick our team those are the first two names that we have to write.”
In the first police interview, in which Butt described Majeed’s subsequently accurate predictions of the three no-balls as “a freak occurrence”, he said he never took money corruptly and insisted his former agent Majeed had no influence over him, contrary to what Majeed said on the News of the World’s secret tapes.
“I don’t think anybody could influence me to cheat my country,” Butt said. “I play this game for the love of the game and for the love of my country.
Kaneria rubbishes
Butt’s claims
Pakistan’s Danish Kaneria has taken exception to the statement given by banned skipper Salman Butt during the spot-fixing trial in London that he was introduced to agent Mazhar Majeed by the leg-spinner.
“I don’t know what sort of rubbish Salman Butt is talking about. I don’t know this fellow Mazhar Majeed and have had no sort of contact with him. I have instructed my lawyer in London to initiate proceedings to file damages against Butt,” Kaneria said on Saturday.
He made it clear that he was flabbergasted by Butt’s claims about him introducing Majeed to other players.
“It is all rubbish… I don’t know what sort of game this fellow (Butt) is trying to play but he is under oath in the trial and he is telling white lies. He has already been exposed for his activities and apparently he has not learnt his lesson,” Kaneria said.
The leggie, who is also facing issues with the Pakistan Cricket Board over clearance for national selection, insisted that he will not allow Butt to taint his image. (Agencies)