Cricket: Hong Kong trio charged under ICC Anti-Corruption Code

Image Credits: Twitter/@ICC

Hong Kong`s Irfan Ahmed, Nadeem Ahmed and Haseeb Amjad were provisionally suspended on Monday after being charged under the International Cricket Council`s Anti-Corruption code.

The ICC said in a media release that the three players had been charged with 19 counts of breaching the code, including "fixing or contriving" aspects of Hong Kong`s World Cup qualifiers against Scotland and Canada in January 2014.

BREAKING: Irfan Ahmed, Nadeem Ahmed and Haseeb Amjad of Hong Kong have been charged with breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.

All three players have been provisionally suspended with immediate effect.https://t.co/EFNtZdZFKf pic.twitter.com/gr9wE1oYBt

— ICC (@ICC) October 8, 2018

Irfan and Nadeem were also charged with "influencing results or progress" of matches during the 2016 World Twenty20 campaign. Ahmed faces nine charges, while Nadeem and Haseeb are each charged with five breaches of the code.

Irfan was suspended for 2-1/2 years by the ICC in April 2016 for failing to report "approaches to engage in corrupt conduct".

The decision to suspend the cricketer had been hailed by Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Chairman of the ACU who said: “This penalty should act as a reminder to all Participants of the need to comply with their obligations under the Code at all times and in particular the requirement to report corrupt approaches to the ACU without any delay".

However, Irfan has been accused of engaging in malpractices yet again. The three players have two weeks to respond to the charges.