Spot-fixing verdict is a further warning: ICC

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The ICC has hailed the guilty verdicts handed out to tainted Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif by a London court and said it should serve as a 'further warning' to players who might be tempted to engage in corruption within the game.

"The ICC takes no pleasure from the fact that these players (Butt and Asif) stepped outside not only the laws of the game but also the criminal laws of the country in which they were participating," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement.

"We note that the jury has found Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif guilty of the criminal offences with which they were charged and also that Mohammad Amir had pleaded guilty to the criminal offences with which he was charged.

"We hope that this verdict is seen as a further warning to any individual who might, for whatever reason, be tempted to engage in corrupt activity within our sport," Lorgat added.

The Southwark Crown Court in London yesterday found Butt and Asif guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments for fixing part of a Test match at Lord's last year.

The third accused, 19-year-old pacer Mohammad Aamir, who was also involved in the conspiracy, did not face trial as he had pleaded guilty.

The ICC also said that the verdicts will 'have no impact' on the length of the suspensions meted out to them at its own hearing in Doha early this year.

"These outcomes appear to be consistent with the findings of the independent anti-corruption tribunal which was appointed earlier this year to hear charges brought against the three players by the ICC under our own Anti-Corruption Code," Lorgat said.

"Those proceedings ultimately resulted in the three players being found guilty of offences under the Anti-Corruption Code and they were accordingly suspended from all forms of cricket for five, seven and ten years respectively," he said.

To be clear, the developments in the English criminal courts will have no impact upon those periods of suspension, which will remain in full force and effect," he said.

Lorgat took the opportunity to yet again make it clear that ICC has 'zero-tolerance' policy towards any forms of corruption in the game.

"I would reiterate, as I have on every occasion that I have spoken on this matter, that the ICC has a zero-tolerance attitude towards corruption and that we will use everything within our power to ensure that any suggestion of corrupt activity within our game is comprehensively investigated and, where appropriate, robustly prosecuted," he said.

"We have always said that we will continue to explore every possible avenue to ensure that cricket is free from corrupt activity. That is precisely what we have done in this case," the ICC chief added.