The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) formed the much awaited disciplinary panel during a meeting on Saturday. The panel will be headed by former Supreme Court judge and former chairman of the Bangladesh Law Commission Md Abdur Rashid.
The other members of the panel are Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury (Former Judge of Bangladesh Supreme Court), Justice Shiek Rezowan Ali (Former Judge of Bangladesh Supreme Court), SKM Anisur Rahman Khan (Former District and Session Judge), Ajmamul Hossain, QC, Nihad Kabir (Barrister-at-Law), Nirmalendu Goon and former cricketers Shakil Kasem, Fakrul Ahsan, Mahmudul Hasan Saju and Mahboob Hussain Nantoo.
The chairman of the panel is expected to form more than one anti-corruption tribunal which will conduct the trials of the nine individuals, including suspended national cricketer Mohammad Ashraful, accused for the their involvement in match fixing in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). It has taken more than two and a half months for the panel to start the process since the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) charged seven individuals with involvement in match and spot-fixing in the second edition of the BPL and two others for not reporting corruption approaches.
The charging of the nine individuals on August 13 this year unleashed a scandal storm in the country, leading BCB to promise a quick trial and say that there would be stern consequences if anyone was found guilty.
There was also a clause in the board’s anti-corruption code to start the hearing within 40 days of the receipt by the participant of the Notice of Charge, but this deadline expired on September 23.
“The tribunal is now all set and will start their proceedings hopefully by next week,” informed BCB’s acting CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury without giving any explanation when asked about the delay.
It was further learnt that Mosharraf Hossain Rubel, one of the accused who received the provisional suspension along with the other accused, and Robin filed a case with the lower court last month against the suspension.