LAHORE: Manager Operations of England’s National Crime Agency Andrew Ephgrave recorded his statement through Skype before the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Anti-corruption Tribunal in the PSL spot-fixing case.

However, the PCB did not issue any details to the media about the official’s recorded statement who appeared before the tribunal as a prosecutor witness.

Meanwhile, the counsel for cricketer Sharjeel Khan—one of the four cricketers facing the allegation of spot-fixing—said after the hearing that the tribunal had completed cross-examining of Ephgrave and he would do the same on Friday.

Lawyer for Sharjeel objected to former Test bowler Aaqib Javed recording his statement as expert witness before the tribunal some three days back, stating that the former Test bowler’s oath as a witness was taken on Thursday.

The lawyer said he would consider the legal aspects of the issue in order to raise proper questions before the tribunal.

Answering a question, the lawyer rejected allegation that his client Sharjeel arranged a meeting of cricketers with a bookie, adding it was cricketer Khalid Latif who faced the allegations.

Cricketers Nasir Jamshed and Shahzaib Hasan are two other accused in the same case while pace man Mohammad Irfan who was fined Rs1m is serving one year ban after confessing he had failed to report to the PCB when a bookie contacted him in Dubai before the start of the second edition of the PSL.

Lawyer for Sharjeel said if Khalid’s lawyer had changed the statement of his client about arranging the meeting with the bookie then he could not do anything.

He said the PCB had also withdrawn request to the tribunal for making Khalid’s statement part of the proceedings.

On the other hand, lawyer for PCB said there was no need for Khalid’s statement after Ephgrave’s statement.

He said that after both parties would complete their arguments on Friday (today), regular hearing would start from Monday following submission of written statements, adding the case then would go towards conclusion.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2017