Matchfixing rort: Ex-girlfriend says Asif confessed

Veena Malik. Photo / Wikipedia

The ex-girlfriend of one of the Pakistani cricketers implicated in a match-fixing scandal says he confessed to her during Pakistan's tour of Australia last summer.

Veena Malik, a popular Pakistani actress, comedian and model, said in an interview on Pakistani TV that her boyfriend, fast bowler Mohammad Asif, confessed to her that the team planned to throw the three-test series in Australia.

"When Pakistan started losing in Australia, I jokingly said: 'For God's sake, win a match.' To this, he replied 'we won't win anything until 2010',"' she told the Frontline programme on Pakistan's Express News network.

Malik said she was unaware exactly what Asif's involvement was in the fix, but also claimed that before the team flew out to Australia last December, he made a sudden visit to meet bookmakers in Bangkok.

"One day, he got business-class tickets and went to Bangkok," she said. "He told me that he was offered $40,000. I advised him not to be part of such activities but he did not listen. Instead, he went ahead and demanded $200,000."

She added: "Since he came back, he has been totally involved in this. Once he told me that the entire Pakistan team is involved. From head to toe, the Pakistan players and officials are involved."

Britain's News of the World newspaper published the results of a 'sting operation' last Sunday which appeared to show how an alleged fixer had been able to ensure the deliberate bowling of no-balls by Pakistan's Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif during the fourth test against England at Lord's.

Seven members of the Pakistan team are now facing a police investigation over claims they colluded with a middleman in the scam during their England tour.

The scandal has cast a pall over the national sport, which has been dogged by "fixing" allegations since the 1990s as well as charges of ball-tampering.

It has also hit morale hard in Pakistan, which is reeling from devastating floods that have affected 17 million Pakistanis over the past month.

Malik said she had provided details of Asif's travels to the Pakistan Cricket Board as well as information relating to a loan of several hundred thousand dollars she made to him, which she claimed was in part used to pay Asif's lawyers, who were working to reduce a two-year doping ban. Asif's failure to repay the loan caused a public row between the couple.

The pair's messy break-up was played out in a very public way in Pakistan earlier this year, and some media are speculating whether she is just trying to get revenge on Asif, who went on to marry another woman soon after their split.

"Whistle blower or woman scorned?" is how Indian website Daily News & Analysis posed the question. "Only time will tell, but Veena Malik could well go down as the most controversial cricket WAG."

- NZ Herald staff, AFP