ICC Bans Mehar Chhayakar On Corruption Charges For 14-Years

Mehar Chhayakar, an Indian cricketer formerly based in the UAE who was linked to corruption cases in the Middle-east country in 2019, has been banned from all cricket for 14 years for seven breaches of the sport's anti-corruption code, said the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday.

The ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal found Chhayakar guilty of attempting to influence aspects of the UAE's ODI series in Zimbabwe in 2019 as well as matches in the Global T20 franchise tournament in Canada the same year.

The ICC issued a statement on Wednesday, saying, "Mehar Chhayakar has been banned from all cricket for 14 years after an ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal found him guilty of seven breaches of the ICC and Cricket Canada Anti-Corruption Codes."

ICC also listed the charges against the cricketer, with the global cricket governing body saying he was involved in "fixing or contriving in any way or otherwise influencing improperly" on two separate occasions.

"Chhayakar, was found to have breached the following provisions of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code and Cricket Canada Anti-Corruption Code in relation to matches in the Zimbabwe v UAE series in April 2019 and matches in the GT20 in Canada in 2019," said ICC.

"Article 2.1.1 (on two separate occasions) -- Fixing or contriving in any way or otherwise influencing improperly or being a party to any agreement or effort to fix or contrive in any way or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any International Match, including (without limitation) by deliberately underperforming therein.

"Article 2.1.4 (on two separate occasions) -- Directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating any Participant to breach any of the foregoing provisions of this Article 2.1.

"Article 2.4.6 (on two separate occasions) -- Failing or refusing, without compelling justification, to cooperation with any investigation carried out by the ACU in relation to possible Corrupt Conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code (by any Participant), including (without limitation) failing to provide accurately and completely any information and/or documentation requested by the ACU (whether as part of a formal Demand pursuant to Article 4.3 or otherwise) as part of such investigation.

"Article 2.4.7 -- Obstructing or delaying any investigation that may be carried out by the ACU in relation to possible Corrupt Conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code (by any Participant), including (without limitation) concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence of or may lead to the discovery of evidence of Corrupt Conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code)."

ICC general manager, Integrity Unit, Alex Marshal, said, "We first encountered Mehar Chhayakar through his involvement in organising a corrupt cricket tournament in Ajman, in 2018. The charges for which he has now received a lengthy ban are further examples of his continuing efforts to corrupt and damage our sport.

"We will be relentless in pursuing and disrupting the people who try to corrupt cricket. With a ban of 14 years, the Tribunal has sent a clear message to anyone intending to corrupt our game."

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Chhayakar's offences are linked to the previous cases of former UAE players Qadeer Khan and Gulam Shabbir. Both Qadeer and Shabbir accepted sanctions for admitted breaches of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code relating to approaches they received from Chhayakar.