Life bans for Hong Kong’s Ahmed brothers after ‘sophisticated’ attempts to fix matches and trying to ‘corrupt others’
- Irfan is found guilty of nine offences in the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption code while Nadeem is guilty of three
- Cricket Hong Kong says it cooperated fully with the investigation and supports the ICC in their actions
Hong Kong’s cricketing brothers Irfan and Nadeem Ahmed were involved in a “premeditated and sophisticated” plan to fix matches and also sought to “corrupt others”, according to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The former Hong Kong internationals were on Monday found guilty of fixing or contriving to fix matches by an ICC tribunal and were banned for life. Another Hong Kong player, Haseeb Amjad, was banned for five years.
“This has been a long and complex investigation which has uncovered systematic attempts to influence moments in matches by experienced international cricketers over a period of time,” said Alex Marshall, the ICC’s general manager of its anti-corruption unit.
“Their conduct was premeditated and sophisticated and each of the Ahmed brothers sought to corrupt others.
“With the fixers finding it harder than ever before to penetrate the highest levels of the game, we are increasingly seeing them turn their attention to other avenues in the sport and we will continue to work with members to ensure players at all levels are educated about the dangers of corruption.