ECB panel finds Kaneria guilty of spot-fixing in county match

The ECB disciplinary panel has found Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria guilty of corruption in relation to the spot-fixing case involving Mervyn Westfield.

Westfield was also charged with one offence under the ECB’s regulations to which he pleaded guilty. Both players were charged last month in the wake of Westfield’s imprisonment. Kaneria was implicated in spot-fixing during Westfield’s trial at London’s Central Criminal Court but denied the allegations.

According to ESPNCricinfo.com, the disciplinary panel, which consisted of Gerard Elias QC, David Gabbitass and Jamie Dalrymple, concluded,”Danish Kaneria knowingly induced or encouraged Mervyn Westfield not to perform on his merits in the Durham match.”

Westfield, a former Essex fast bowler, was jailed for four months in January after he admitted underperforming in a Pro40 match against Durham in September 2009. Kaneria, Essex’s overseas player for several seasons, was named by the judge at the Old Bailey as the orchestrator of the plot but he was never charged by the police, on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

It was confirmed that Kaneria had been warned for his links with bookmaker Anu Bhatt by the ICC’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) back in 2008 from which Alan Peacock, the senior investigator, provided evidence.

The panel were highly critical of Kaniera’s evidence.

“We consider that in many respects the evidence of Danish Kaneria simply does not stand up to scrutiny and is plainly lies.”