The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will co-operate with the England and
Wales Cricket Board (ECB) if cricket officials in England decide to hold
an inquiry into bowler Danish Kaneria's alleged involvement in the
Mervyn Westfield spot-fixing case.
PCB's legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi said PCB observes zero tolerance towards corruption in cricket.
Kaneria,
a former Pakistan and Essex leg-spinner, was named Friday in the Mervyn
Westfield cricket scam that has rocked English county Essex. Kaneria
has been accused of persuading the player to take part in a sports
betting scam.
The 23-year-old Westfield was jailed for four
months after he admitted accepting 6,000 pounds in return for conceding a
set number of runs in an over during a Pro40 match against Durham in
September 2009.
Kaneria was also arrested along with Westfield in 2010 but later charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.
Kaneria now faces the prospect of an investigation by the ECB.
"This
match was an England domestic match, so it's in the ECB's basic
jurisdiction, but since Danish is a Pakistan player we are obviously
looking into the matter with a lot of concern," Rizvi was quoted as
saying by ESPNcricinfo.
"The stance of the PCB is one of zero
tolerance towards any player with questionable integrity. The judgment
of Westfield raised a lot of questions but in law everybody is innocent
until proven guilty. A detailed inquiry is required and the integrity
committee will resume its proceedings in due course. The PCB will be
working closely with the ECB to get to the bottom of this matter," he
said.
Kaneria, however, was not stopped by PCB from captaining Sind in the Pentangular Cup final that started here Saturday.
Kaneria
reportedly did not give an undertaking to return to England neither was
he asked by the Essex Police to return to face any inquiry.
Rizvi said PCB wants to give Kaneria a fair chance to present his case.
"Even
Westfield was suspended after he was sentenced so there should not be a
knee-jerk reaction. The integrity committee has taken up a detailed
inquiry proceeding and obviously fairness has to be followed in all
proceedings," he said.
Kaneria had always pleaded innocence and his lawyer, Farogh Naseem said the spinner had been cleared.
"At
the time of the police inquiry, Kaneria was not charged and (was)
cleared. The ICC cleared him. We feel that Kaneria was discharged in the
case," he said.

PCB to co-operate with ECB on Kaneria's role



