Photo: Flickr @ Tom Green

The chairman of Croydon Athletic Football Club, Mazhar Majeed, has been charged with conspiring to cheat bookmakers over the Pakistan spot-fixing scandal last summer.

Majeed, 35, of Oaks Road, Croydon was the players’ agent and is accused of accepting £150,000 to fix their actions.

He, along with three Pakistani cricketers, Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, will now face trial on March 17 following a police inquiry into claims that they accepted money to deliberately bowl ‘no balls’ during the fourth test against England at Lord’s Cricket Ground last August.

They have denied manipulating parts of the game through spot-fixing.

Simon Clements, of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “These charges relate to allegations that Mr Majeed accepted money from a third party to arrange for the players to bowl ‘no balls’ on August 26 and 27, 2010, during Pakistan’s Fourth Test at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. Mr Majeed has been summoned to appear for a first hearing at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 17 March.”

He added: “The Crown Prosecution Service has been working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service since the allegations of match-fixing became public on August 29 2010. We received a full file of evidence on December 7 2010, and we are satisfied there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute.”

Meanwhile, the International Cricket Council tribunal is due to announce its decision tomorrow on any further sanctions to the players.

The investigation follows a News of the World story in August which alleged that a middleman had been paid £150,000 to fix the timing of ‘no balls’ during the final test of the four-match series.

Accepting corrupt payments is an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and carries a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

Cheating is an offence contrary to Section 42 of the Gambling Act 2005. It carries a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

See previous article here.