The Rediff interview/ Asif Iqbal

STATEMENT BY ASIF IQBAL

I was extremely disappointed to see Scyld Berry's article in the Sunday telegraph's issue of 28th May. Berry, it seems has purposely tried to suppress information about some tapes of the News of the World's sting action that gives a picture which is the opposite of the one he is so desperately trying to paint.

The New of the World has tapes of a meeting between myself and Ghazan Iqbal, their mole who they hired to conduct their sting operation. Ghazan Iqbal (no relative of mine whatsoever) wanted to see me and seek my advice about setting up of some business involving cricket and other sports, when I met him, I had no idea that he was wired. The transcript of that conversation speaks for itself. I can be heared there saying distinctly and repeatedly that I did not know of any illegal schemes. As the tape will further prove, I did my utmost to dissuade Mr. Ghazan Iqbal from any such schemes as well. The tape is now in everyone's knowledge and I refuse to believe that Scyld Berry does not know about it or has not seen a transcript of it. One can only conclude that Berry has dishonestly tried to suppress it to further his own bias and the bias of his paper.

I also met Salim Malik during his stay in London and he asked me to put in a word to the Pakistan Cricket Board regarding assistance in setting up some cricket academy in Pakistan. I told him I would see what I could do and accordingly mentioned this to Mr. Yaqar Saeed of the PCB who was in London at the time, and Mr Ehsan Mani, the London rep of the PCB and an ICC official. Later when the News of the World story broke and I realized the true nature of Salim Malik's and Ghazan Iqbal's visit to the UK, I wrote to the ICC telling the Chief Executive about my meeting with both Malik and Ghazan Iqbal and offering my assistance should it be needed in any ICC investigation into the matter. I also requested the Chief Executive to forward the copy of my letter to Lord Griffith, head of the code of conduct committee.

The Sunday Telegraph article has also mentioned the Qayyum Commission's comment that morally I should have attended the enquiry to clear the air. The facts on record in this regard are that I received the summons in Sharjah from the commission giving me only three days to appear before it. I wrote back telling the Registrar of Lahore High Court that I was committed to attend the finals of the Asian Test Championship and would thereafter be busy for a few days with the tournament in Sharjah. I however added that after these commitments, would be happy to attend the inquiry and give whatever assistance I could. I also spoke to the Registrar on phone explaining the situation to him. The commission, however never got back to me. The day after the Qayyum report made public, I wrote to the Pakistan Cricket Board explaining the above situation to them and send them a copy of my correspondence with the inquiry Commission in this regard. I would have told Berry as much if he had taken the trouble to speak to me.

There seems to be a trend in British media to take advantage of the fact that legal redress in such situation is beyond the reach of most people. How far that reflects a posture even remotely moral is not an issue I would like to comment on.

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