SAMSUL AREFIN KHAN

A Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official yesterday said that the board has decided to form an independent inquiry body to support the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) investigations regarding the alleged match and spot-fixing issues in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

“The committee will work based on the ACU reports… We are taking it very seriously. As the issues have escalated to such a level, we have no other option but to control the damage honestly,” BCB director and media committee chairman Iftekhar Rahman Mithu told The Daily Star, after a meeting with four other BCB directors, including BCB boss Faruque Ahmed, at the BCB office yesterday.

The decision to form the independent committee came after BCB faced significant backlash following several media reports from The Daily Star and others, which stated that the ACU had identified eight matches as suspicious for spot-fixing and match-fixing, based on anonymous tips and media reports.

Additionally, the ACU is monitoring 10 players and four franchises for suspicious activities in the BPL’s 11th edition.

The inquiry panel will consist of retired judges, barristers, and former cricketers with no connections with the cricket board, Iftekhar informed.

“There’s already been so much controversy and talk regarding the issues. So, what we’ve actually done is make the independent committee neutral, giving it the opportunity to observe the situation and provide a verdict.”

“We are trying to announce it (inquiry body) within the two days... Our point is, whatever has happened, enough is enough. Otherwise, we can’t save bangladesh cricket, let alone BPL,” he added.

In a press release yesterday, BCB stated that it “maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption in any form” and is “in the process of establishing an independent inquiry body to further support the ACU in its investigations.”

Iftekhar claimed that the committee would be similar to the BPL anti-corruption tribunal formed in 2014, which dealt with match-fixing allegations during the 2013 BPL and subsequently provided a verdict on the ACU’s investigations and other players and team officials -- notably handing former Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful an eight-year ban (three years suspended).

Meanwhile, that anti-corruption tribunal also criticised the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit for allowing a tainted game to go ahead to gather evidence and also called the ACU’s investigations “flawed and incomplete,” according to several media reports.