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Richard Sydenham at Southwark Crown Court
November 1, 2011
Another agent claiming to represent Mohammad Asif was present in court on Tuesday, in a bizarre twist after the court had been led to believe the tainted Mazhar Majeed was his sole representative.
Asif, and his former captain Salman Butt, were handed guilty verdicts on what was the 20th and most explosive day of the trial as the jury ruled they had committed both criminal acts with which they were charged - conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments following the Lord's Test in August last year. They conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-determined no-balls.
Throughout the trial the jury heard evidence that Majeed had managed Asif for a few months before the Lord's Test. Asif revealed that although Majeed had pestered him to sign the management agreement offered him on the 2010 England tour, he never did. But he also did not reveal any other agent acted for him.
Asif also revealed that he was managed by Mazhar's older brother Azhar from 2006, but said neither brother made him a penny. Asif never did reveal that Majeed was his exclusive global agent but that was the impression that was given.
But in an interesting twist on the day of the verdicts, Lahore-based sports agent Salman Ahmed addressed the media on Tuesday outside of Court No.4 and revealed that he was in fact the manager of Asif and also had an understanding with Butt that he could bring him commercial opportunities.
"Asif signed a contract with my company (called Portfolio) in December 2008 for three years and that is due to expire in December this year," Ahmed told ESPNcricinfo. "Obviously there is not much room any more to do any business so it looks like it is the end of the contract effectively.
"I had never even heard of Mazhar Majeed or Azhar Majeed until all this fixing stuff came up. I found it really amazing that Majeed was claiming to be his manager yet he never did anything for him. It was my company that assisted Asif getting paid by the Delhi Daredevils and when he had other troubles to deal with."
He added: "Since I realised some time ago that Pakistan players don't have agent values, I don't expect any of them to stay loyal to any one agent."
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