Pakistan fixing players facing axe from tour after crisis summit with PCB

Pakistan's Mohammad Amir is one of three players
 facing the axe after the betting scandal.

The three Pakistan players at the centre of a betting scandal will travel to London for a summit meeting on Thursday that is likely to see them dropped for the rest of the tour. The Pakistan captain, Salman Butt, and the bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif will be brought before the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, Ijaz Butt, the country's high commissioner and lawyers.

It also emerged yesterday that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs made three arrests on Sunday in connection with a long-standing investigation into money laundering, believed to be centred on Croydon Athletic, the Ryman League club owned by the man at the centre of the News of the World sting, Mazhar Majeed.

"Three individuals were arrested on Sunday as part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering. This includes two 35-year-olds (a male and a female) from the Croydon area, and a 49-year-old male from the Wembley area," said HMRC in a statement. "These individuals were arrested, questioned and have been bailed pending further investigation."

Police had already confirmed that Majeed, who is close to members of the Pakistan team and is alleged to have accepted £150,000 to ensure no-balls were bowled at certain points during the opening day of the fourth Test last week, had been arrested on Sunday and released on bail in connection with a separate investigation into the Sunday newspaper's claims.

It is understood that the 35-year-old Majeed was one of the three people referred to in the HMRC statement. The pivotal meeting was called following a conference call between the PCB, the Pakistan government and the high commissioner about how best to deal with claims that have precipitated a crisis in the game.

Along with the wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, the three players were implicated in a betting scam in which they were alleged to have been paid by Majeed to deliberately bowl no-balls during specific overs of the fourth Test against England at Lord's. As a sign of the confusion within the Pakistan camp, the team management appeared conflicted over the exact timing of the meeting, with one official last night insisting it would go ahead on Thursday while others expected it to happen tomorrow. Regardless of the timing, the trio will then return to Taunton where the tourists are due to play a warm-up match against Somerset on Thursday.

Unusually, their nets session – minus the three accused players – was closed to the media as the squad attempted to escape from the circus that has engulfed the touring party since Sunday's allegations. Although the PCB will continue to stress that the players are innocent until proven guilty, with International Cricket Council investigators yet to interview them in order to avoid prejudicing the parallel police inquiry, it is likely that a form of words will be found to omit them from the rest of the tour.

The England and Wales Cricket Board and the ICC had lobbied the PCB to omit the players from tomorrow's warm-up match as well as the Twenty20 and one-day internationals that follow. It is understood that their wish will be granted, guaranteeing the ICC some breathing space before deciding on its next move. With police set to re-interview the three players named by the News of the World as having been involved in the scam at the behest of Majeed before the end of the week, investigators from the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit will move quickly to follow suit.

The trio will be confronted with the allegations as well as separate evidence gathered by the unit, but it is by no means certain investigators will announce a definitive conclusion before Sunday's Twenty20 match.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said he hoped there would be "some sort of a conclusion" to the investigation by the weekend, insisting "prompt and decisive action" would be taken against anyone who sought to harm the game's integrity. He said: "Make no mistake, once the process is complete, if any players are found to be guilty, the ICC will ensure that the appropriate punishment is handed out. We will not tolerate corruption in this great game." Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the former Police Service of Northern Ireland chief who took over as chairman of the unit three months ago, is believed to have remained in Abu Dhabi but is in hourly contact with his investigators, police and cricket authorities. The Pakistan interior minister, Rehman Malik, said yesterday he wanted to wait for the police report before sending an investigation team to England.

Although the ECB stands to lose between £10m and £12m if the rest of the series is cancelled, it acknowledges that the longer-term damage to the sport's integrity and its commercial viability will be much greater if a cloud of suspicion hangs over the remaining matches.

Sponsorship specialists warned yesterday that the scandal would have a direct impact on revenues if not properly dealt with by the ICC. "Will this affect Pepsi in Pakistan? Probably not. But the impact will be felt at their corporate headquarters in the US," said Rupert Pratt, managing director of Generate Sponsorship.

"Likewise with nPower. It doesn't look very good for your chief executive to be making a presentation that is tainted and portrays values that are the absolute opposite of those you are trying to project as a sponsor."

He said cricket sponsors had already cancelled all their national newspaper advertising because of the negative impact of the story and that the implications would snowball if the authorities were not seen to deal effectively with the problem.

"Five years ago, cricket used to be seen as a traditional, safe sponsorship. Now it is a hot potato, it's a potentially risky investment. The main impact will be felt in two or three years' time if this isn't stamped out.".