LAHORE (Pakistan): Former Supreme Court judge Justice (retd) Faqir Muhammad Khokhar has been appointed as an independent adjudicator to hear Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal’s appeal against the three-year ban for breaching the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Anti-Corruption Code in two separate incidents.
The independent adjudicator will now decide on the date of the appeal hearing. As soon as this is confirmed, the PCB will make the announcement.
Akmal was banned last April from all cricket for three years after a disciplinary panel after he was found to be guilty of breaking his country’s anti-corruption codes.
Umar was charged with two breaches of Article 2.4.4 of the PCB Anti-Corruption Code in two unrelated incidents on 17 March.
The 29-year-old right-hander who has played 200 internationals across three formats of the game since 2009, was charged last month with two unrelated breaches of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Anti-Corruption Code.
The clause under which Umar was found guilty relates to a failure to inform authorities about approaches to engage in corrupt practices, including match-fixing or spot-fixing.
“He cannot play cricket at any level now. The detailed verdict will be issued by the panel later,” a PCB spokesman had said.