Mohammed Naveed and Shaiman Anwar corruption case: The charges and what could happen

UAE cricketers face an tribunal this week after being suspended by the ICC 13 months ago

Mohammed Naveed has admitted failing to report an illegal approach to the ICC's Anti-Corrption Unit. Chris Whiteoak / The National

The future of Mohammed Naveed and Shaiman Anwar will be decided this week when their corruption case is heard by an independent tribunal.

The duo are the two senior players among five UAE players currently banned from the sport on charges of corruption.

They were suspended by the ICC on October 16, 2019 and charged with various breaches of the sport's anti-corruption code. Thirteen months later, their hearing is set to take place remotely, on Monday and Tuesday.

Naveed and Shaiman were charged with failing to report corrupt approaches, as well as contriving to improperly influence matches, ahead of the T20 World Qualifier in the UAE, and the T10 league that followed.

Qadeer Ahmed, a seam bowler, was also suspended at the same time, on a variety of charges – although his case is separate to that of the other two.

As part of the investigation into the corruption issue in UAE cricket, two more players were banned subsequently.

In September, Ashfaq Ahmed and Amir Hayat were formally charged by the ICC with five counts of breaching the anti-corruption code.

Key figures: Mohammed Naveed

The 33-year-old fast bowler was the UAE captain before he was suspended pending the corruption investigation.

When the charges were announced, he immediately acknowledged he had failed to report a meeting with someone he says he was told was an owner of a T10 franchise.

However, he denies contriving to improperly influence matches, and says he has always played the game with “pride and dignity”.

“I made a big mistake by not reporting [the approach] to ICC and [the Emirates Cricket Board],” Naveed has said.

“My life was going very well, my performance in cricket, and my business. God gave me everything. I accept my mistake in not reporting.”

Shaiman Anwar

The 41-year-old batsman was the highest-placed UAE player in the ICC’s player rankings for batsmen, before he was thrown out of the side last year.

Shaiman has maintained a public silence throughout the investigation, other than in April when he wrote: “I just played my game with passion honesty and for my country UAE.

“I don’t want to waste my all efforts which I have done in my career while playing in UAE tough conditions.

"Inshallah, I’ll win my case and will make UAE proud again.”

Deepak Agarwal

The Indian businessman is understood to be the person who was purported to be a T10 franchise official, who met with Naveed and Shaiman in Sharjah on October 1, 2019.

In a separate case, he was suspended from the sport in April for two years, with six months suspended, for obstructing an ACU investigation.

The ICC acknowledged at that point that Agarwal was helping them with their enquiries into other cases of suspected corruption.

“He made a prompt admission of his breach of the [code] and continues to provide substantial assistance to the ACU in relation to several investigations involving other participants,” Alex Marshall, the ICC general manager of integrity, said.

Agarwal had also previously been named as “an individual known to the ACU and suspected of involvement in cricket” in the investigation that saw Bangladesh star Shakib Al Hasan banned last October.

Charges and potential sanctions

Naveed and Shaiman face identical charges of breaching cricket’s anti-corruption code. The potential sanctions are as follows:

Offence

Breach of Article 2.1.1 – contriving, or being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of matches.

Potential sanction: Range of permissible period of ineligibility: A minimum of five years, and a maximum of a lifetime.

Offence

Breach of Article 2.4.4 – failing to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in conduct that would amount to corrupt conduct under the ICC’s anti-corruption code.

Potential sanction: Range of permissible period of ineligibility: A minimum of six months, and a maximum of five years.