The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has banned national team player wicketkeeper-batsman Shafiqullah Shafaq from all forms of cricket for a period of six years after he accepted four charges related to the breaching of the ACB Anti-Corruption Code. The charges relate to the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League T20 (APL T20) in 2018 and the 2019 edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
Under the provisions, Shafaq chose to admit the charges levied against him and agreed to the sanctions by ACB in lieu of an Anti-Corruption Tribunal hearing.
Addressing the matter, ACB’s Senior Anti-Corruption manager, Mr. Sayed Anwar Shah Quraishi said, “This is a very serious offence where a senior national player is involved in the corruption of a high-profile domestic game in APL T20 2018. The player had also attempted but failed to get one of his teammates to engage in corruption in another high-profile game during the BPL 2019.”
Quraishi further added, “It is an alert for all those players who think their illegal activities concerning the game of cricket will not be disclosed to the ACB’s ACU. Our coverage is vaster than what is perceived.”
“During our educational program, we always instruct players to report each suspicious activity in order to keep the game cricket and their own careers clean of any corrupt practices.”
Quraishi also pointed out that without Mr Shafaq’s admission of guilt and full cooperation with ACU throughout the investigation, the ban could have been significantly longer. He concluded that Shafaq is willing to contribute to ACB ACU’s future integrity education programs to help younger players learn from his mistakes.
(Courtesy: ACB Media)