Pakistan cricketer Kamran Akmal has slammed Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for its decision to challenge the reduction of the ban imposed on his younger brother Umar Akmal from three years to 18 months. The apex cricketing body banned Umar for not reporting the spot-fixing advances made by bookies ahead of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Justice (retd) Faqir Muhammad Khokar, an independent adjudicator of PCB, has reduced Umar’s ban-period on the ground of compassion.
PCB challenged this decision in the Court of Arbitration for International Sports (CAS) on Monday, August 10.
Kamran expressed his displeasure over the latest development and lashed out on the board, remarking that his younger brother is being mistreated.
“Umar is being treated unjustly because in the past he has always cooperated with the authorities in such cases and this time also he admitted the mistake of not reporting the matter to the authorities. Even the reduced 18 months ban is hard on him,” Kamran said.
The PCB reiterated that it has a zero-tolerance policy for any corruption charges and a reduced ban of senior players like Umar will set a wrong example for the posterity.
“The PCB takes matters relating to anti-corruption very seriously and firmly maintains a zero-tolerance approach. The PCB believes a senior cricketer like Umar Akmal was aware of the consequences when, after having attended a number of anti-corruption lectures at the domestic and international level, having witnessed the consequences of indulging in corrupt conduct, still failed to report the approaches to the relevant authorities,” the PCB said in a press release.
“The PCB doesn’t take any pride in seeing a cricketer of Umar’s stature being banned for corruption, but as a credible and respectable institution, we need to send out a loud and clear message to all our stakeholders that there will be no sympathy whatsoever for anyone who breaches the regulations,” it added.
So far Umar has featured in 58 T20s, 157 ODIs, and 53 Tests for the national team. His last appearance for Pakistan came in a T20I match against Sri Lanka in October last year.
