PCB turns down `corrupt` umpire Nadeem Ghouri”s appeal

The Pakistan Cricket Board has turned down the appeal of umpire Nadeem Ghouri on the four-year ban he was given for his involvement in corruption charges after he was unable to furnish the appeal fees of Rs 100,000.

The Daily Times had reported that Ghouri was caught in a sting operation, carried out by an Indian television channel, talking to a reporter on Skype as a businessman, about opportunities to fix games and make biased decisions, along with a Bangladeshi umpire who was banned for life.

However, Ghouri insisted that he was in a financially tight position and if he had earned anything from fixing, he would not be short of money, adding that he was in a position where he could not even pay one lakh rupees for his appeal to be heard. The umpire also alleged that an Indian lobby was trying to bring him down and see to it that he was banned, adding that the same lobby had targeted Pakistani umpire Asaf Rauf. He expressed his disappointment at the fact that the PCB had not even bothered to listen to him before banning him. (ANI)