Mazhar Majeed

Mazhar Majeed (born 1975) is a British sporting agent and bookmaker who came under police investigation in 2010 following reports of cricket 'match fixing' after a News of the World sting operation.^[1] On Saturday 28 August 2010, he was arrested by Scotland Yard for allegedly fixing a Test match between England and Pakistan in Lord's. On 3 November 2011, Majeed was given a prison sentence of 32 months on convictions of "conspiracy to make corrupt payments" and "conspiracy to allow others to cheat at gambling," to run concurrently.^[2]

Background

Born 1975 in Croydon, England, Majeed attended the Coulsdon High School and studied business at Middlesex University in north London before forming a property development company based in London and Surrey, Majeed was a major shareholder and co-owner of Croydon Athletic F.C..^[3] His home in Surrey is valued at £1.8 million.^[4] His family migrated to England from Faisalabad, Pakistan.^[5] Majeed is married to an Indian wife^[6] and is the father of three children.^[7]

He is due to appear in a new TV series titled Road to F.A. Cup a mockumentary about the 'Croydon Terriers' ground-sharing with Croydon Athletic.^[8]

Affiliation with Pakistani cricketers

Majeed, along with his brother Azhar, was known to the Pakistani players as an agent who had worked to secure the Pakistani(money bank) players equipment sponsorships while the players were playing in the United Kingdom^[9] Between 2008 and 2009, Pakpassion also had a regular section called "The Agents Views", in which Azhar would update readers on the activities of a number of players. Despite his close relationship to the players, dating back to Pakistan's previous tour of England, the Pakistani players were warned not to associate with Majeed or his brother, as the Pakistan coaching staff did not want the players to have agents in their room.^[10]

Spot-fixing bribe and arrest

On 28 August 2010, The English tabloid News of the World published a story with additional video of their undercover reporters offering Majeed £150,000 ($232,665) for information on the ongoing 4th Test Match between England and Pakistan. In the video published by News of the World, Majeed told the undercover reporters that two Pakistani bowlers (Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir) would deliberately deliver no balls at specific points during the match. Majeed stated on the video that Amir would be Pakistan's bowler for the third over, and that the first ball of the over would be a no-ball delivery. Amir did bowl the third over, and on his first delivery from the over, bowled a no-ball delivery. Commentary described the delivery as a "massive overstep", a good half-foot beyond the delivery line.^[11] Majeed also predicted that the sixth delivery of the tenth over would be a no-ball, and the ball, delivered by Asif, was also a no-ball delivery.

During the video, Majeed boasted of working with seven of Pakistan's touring squad. Of those seven, on the video he named Amir, Asif, team captain Salman Butt and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal as those working with him. The other three were not named on the video.

As a result of the allegations, Majeed was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers charges. The next day, Pakistan completed their loss against England by an innings and 225 runs, and Pakistan lost the four match series 3–1.

Allegations of match fixing

On the same video posted by the News of the World, Majeed said that earlier in the year the second Test match between Pakistan and Australia in Sydney had also been fixed. He stated that players had deliberately lost the game after being in a commanding position (Australia were only up 10 runs with two second innings wickets left, and Pakistan had yet to bat). Majeed has now stated that the odds against an Australian victory had gone as high as 40–1, and that the fixers had made over a million pounds from the resulting wagers.^[12]

References