Khalid Latif expected to face ban up to 10 years in spot-fixing case

The three-member Anti-Corruption Tribunal of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is expected to hand a ban up to 10 years to Khalid Latif. The Pakistan batsman has been accused of spot-fixing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), along with another Pakistan batsman, Sharjeel Khan. The duo who from Islamabad United had been disallowed from participating in the PSL in Dubai and sent home earlier in February.

Khalid’s lawyer, Badr Alam, has reportedly filed a petition on Saturday in the Supreme Court on behalf of his client objecting to the formation of the tribunal and its prejudice towards his client. However, this is more likely to damage Latif’s chances of getting a shorter sentence. Sharjeel Khan, on his part, has already been slapped with a five-year ban.

Tribunal could end up finding Khalid Latif guilty on 8 counts

“The PCB has levelled eight charges, four of them serious ones against Khalid and if they are all accepted by the tribunal it could end up banning the batsman for at least 10 years,” stated a PCB official according to PTI. The tribunal includes a former Chairman of the board and former Test captain Wasim Bari.

All the eight counts are related to breaching the board’s anti-corruption code. The 31-year old is facing an additional charge of coaxing and influencing Sharjeel to meet a bookmaker and get involved in spot-fixing. The Tribunal is expected to announce its verdict on the case on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Further, the tribunal is not impressed with the lack of co-operation from Latif and his lawyer.“The tribunal is also not happy with the attitude of Khalid and his lawyer during the hearings,” commented another official. Earlier Khalid’s lawyer had also filed petitions in the Lahore High Court, challenging its authority but the court dismissed them.

The official further elucidated that Sharjeel, who had been found guilty of breaching five clauses of the Anti-corruption code, had received a five-year ban with half of it suspended purely because he and his lawyer had chosen to cooperate with the tribunal, with their behaviour being good during all the hearings. “That apparently is not the way the tribunal feels about Khalid,” concluded the official.