LONDON: British police questioned Mohammd Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt on Friday in connection with spot-fixing claims.
Bowlers Amir and Asif and Test captain Butt were all released without charge after voluntarily appearing at a police station near the “home of cricket”, Lord’s in north London, their lawyer said.
“At no time were they placed under arrest, they were free to leave at any time and they have answered all of the questions that were put to them and have been released without charge or conditions,” lawyer Elizabeth Robertson said.
Aamer – at 18 one of the game’s hottest talents – Asif, 27, and Butt, 25, did not speak to the media when they appeared at Kilburn police station separately throughout the day.
Meanwhile, Pakistani High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan said Friday the International Cricket Council was wrong to suspend the players while the police investigation was ongoing. He has previously suggested the trio might have been set up.
“I met the cricketers for two hours, cross-questioned them, got to the bottom of it and concluded that they were innocent,” Hasan told BBC radio.
“The ICC had no business to take this action. The ICC is just playing to the public gallery.”
Hasan suggested that Indian bookmakers had a part to play in the affair.
The News of the World newspaper alleged that it paid Mazhar Majeed, an agent for several Pakistan players, 150,000 pounds (185,000 euros, 230,000 dollars) in return for advance knowledge of pre-arranged no-balls – normally accidental – which could then be bet upon.
The 35-year-old has since been arrested and bailed by British police.
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