KARACHI, May 13 Suspended pacer Mohammad Asif has hired former Attorney-General Malik Qayyum, who headed the 2000 match-fixing inquiry, to represent him before the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) committee probing his detention in Dubai last year.

“Asif called me up from London and asked for my assistance as he feels the board is being unfair with him,” Justice (retd) Qayyum said on Wednesday.

He said Asif was upset with the board's demand that he pays up around six million rupees. The PCB says the money was spent on hiring a lawyer to defend Asif during the Dubai detention case last year and on sending Board officials to Dubai for the case.

“Asif claims that the board never took his consent before hiring the law firm in Dubai and he points out that no criminal charges were ever filed against him by the Dubai authorities,”Justice Qayyum said.

Asif was detained in Dubai last June while returning from India after 0.24 grams of opium was found in his wallet. He was released after 19 days in detention. The inquiry committee on Monday asked Asif to appear before it in person on June 1 or it would go ahead and finalise its recommendations in his absence.

The inquiry committee has asked Asif to furnish documents confirming he was not deported and that there is no ban on his entering Dubai again. The PCB constituted the three-member inquiry committee to find out if Asif had committed any doping offence or violated the player's code of conduct in the detention case.

Justice Qayyum said he would study the case and decide whether he would just need to represent Asif in front of the committee or file a case in the court to challenge the probe and also the board's demand for payments from Asif.

Asif, who is serving a 12-month suspension from cricket for failing a dope test in the Indian Premier League (IPL), could face financial penalties if he fails to satisfy the inquiry committee. His 12-month ban is due to end in September and he is keen to play in the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa.—Agencies