Kaneria refuses to admit guilt, will fight on
12
KARACHI: Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria said Wednesday he would continue to fight his life ban from cricket after losing a second appeal in a London court this week.
On Tuesday, Britain's High Court rejected Kaneria's bid to overturn the ban imposed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in June 2012 for encouraging a team-mate to bowl badly on purpose as part of a spot-fixing scam.
The ECB had charged Kaneria, then playing for Essex, with inducing team-mate Mervyn Westfield to “deliberately concede” runs in an English county limited overs match against Durham in 2010.
The ban was then subsequently applied globally by the International Cricket Council and Kaneria lost an appeal with the ECB disciplinary panel in July last year.
Kaneria took legal action, claiming the panel had been wrong both to uphold the life ban and to order him to pay ECB legal costs of £200,000 ($339,000).
But after Kaneria's second attempts at having the ban lifted were rejected on Tuesday, ECB chief executive David Collier urged the 33-year-old to publicly admit his guilt and apologise.
“Accept guilt? They (the ECB) should first present the evidence against me,” an adamant Kaneria told AFP.
“Where is the evidence that I induced Westfield, is there an email, any sms of mine to him or did I beat him or tortured him to do something wrong.”
”Once I get the full judgement of the court then I will consult my lawyer and decide the next course of action.
“I can go to the European court or the Court of Arbitration for Sports,” he added.
Kaneria claimed that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had sided with the ECB under pressure and “never helped” him with his case.
The ECB took disciplinary action against Kaneria after former fast bowler Westfield agreed to “spot fix” and was jailed, the London court heard.
The incident that sparked disciplinary action against both players took place during a one-day match between Essex and Durham on September 5, 2009.
Westfield later revealed he'd bowled “deliberately badly” after agreeing to concede 12 runs in his first over for “financial reward”, Judge Nicholas Hamblen told the court in Britain.
