Mazhar Majeed pleads guilty, admits handing over money to trio

Bookmaker Mazhar Majeed has pleaded guilty to his involvement in the betting scam and admitted the handing over of 77,000 pounds sterling to the trio.

London: Bookmaker Mazhar Majeed, the agent of three Pakistan cricketers convicted for spot-fixing, has pleaded guilty to his involvement in the betting scam and admitted the handing over of 77,000 pounds sterling to the trio.

Majeed, 36, admitted conspiracy to cheat and to obtain and accept corrupt payments during a pre-trial hearing in September but that fact could not be reported till today due to court restrictions. Judge Jeremy Cooke, who is set to pronounce the quantum of sentences on the three players at Southwark Crown Court, lifted reporting restrictions on publication of Majeed`s guilty pleas. Majeed, who also appeared at the court today after pacer Mohammad Amir did the same, now faces sentencing along with the three players. With the sentencing hearing having begun on the 21st day of the trial today, Majeed`s lawyer also revealed his client handed 77,000 pound sterlings to the three players. The figures he was asked to distribute were: 2,500 pound sterling to Amir, 10,000 to Butt and 65,000 to Asif. Asif was paid the larger amount to guarantee that he remained loyal to the fixing racket within the team and was not persuaded to go elsewhere, Majeed`s lawyer said. He also said that Majeed was first introduced to talk about fixing by by Butt over dinner during the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup in England. Butt and strike bowler Mohammad Asif were found guilty by a jury yesterday. Like Majeed, teenage swing bowler Mohammad Amir admitted the charges in September, but his guilty plea could not be reported during the trial of Butt and Asif. PTI