KARACHI, (Reuters) – Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt will arrive in London today to consult his legal advisers about replying to English demands that he apologise over allegations about match-fixing.
Butt would also meet Scotland Yard officials to discuss the spot-fixing accusations against three Pakistan players which overshadowed the team’s recent tour, official sources in the PCB said yesterday.
Butt and PCB legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi would attend meetings in London this week, the sources said.
“They will meet with the legal firm they have hired in London to finalise the reply to be sent to the English players and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB),” one source said.
England’s players, through the ECB, have demanded an apology from Butt after he told a television station he had heard from bookmakers that English players were involved in fixing matches.
The ECB threatened legal action unless Butt apologised.
Butt’s comments came after the International Cricket Council (ICC) said it was launching an inquiry into Pakistan’s scoring pattern in the third one-day international against England at the Oval.
Pakistan’s test captain Salman Butt and his team mates Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif had already been suspended after an investigation into a newspaper report that they had arranged for no-balls to be deliberately delivered during the fourth test at Lord’s in late August.
