ICC officials biased against Pakistan: Imran

KARACHI, MAY 6. Former Pakistani allrounder Imran Khan, on Saturday, hit out at officials of the International Cricket Council (ICC), saying they were biased against Pakistan.

``They should have asked (ICC) chief executive David Richards why he concealed facts about Australian players' confession of having contacts with bookies in 1994,'' Imran Khan said, commenting on the governing body's London meeting this week.

``I don't know why the ICC has not taken the Australian Cricket Board to task for hiding facts. The ICC instead put pressure on Pakistan for its match-fixing report,'' Imran Khan said.

The former Pakistan captain - who now heads his own political party, was referring to Australian players Shane Warne and Mark Waugh who confessed to accepting money from an Indian bookmaker for providing pitch and weather information during Sri Lanka's 1994 tour.

``Richards knew those facts and had action been taken at that time the menace would not have spread like this,'' Imran Khan said. ``Now most of their decisions are baseless and they would not be able to achieve anything,'' he said, adding that the formation of an investigative body ``is the only positive decision.''

Imran also criticised South African official Ali Bacher.

Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, last month told The Australian newspaper that two World Cup matches had been fixed, including one between Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Bacher also expressed suspicions about Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar.

Bacher later retracted, saying he never mentioned any country's or umpire's name.

``He should have been questioned for his irresponsible statement. He deserved expulsion from the ICC for throwing muck on a member country,'' he said.

``I don't know why Pakistan's representative took a lenient action on that.''

Imran said proper investigations into all match-fixing allegations were necessary.

``Now Kapil Dev's name is dragged in India but it should be first investigated properly,''he said.

Imran recommended that any Pakistani player found involved in match-fixing should be banned for life.

``I have been telling the officials and I maintain that any player involved must be banned for life, this is the only way to save the future of the game,'' he said.

``This is a cancer and we have to stop it from spreading. All criminals who made money must get punishment,'' he said.

Imran denied newspaper reports he had met with the country's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf to offer advice on match- fixing reports.

- AFP

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