London, Sept. 6: Pakistan cricketer Yasir Hameed, whose interview with News of the World tabloid created another controversy for his country, claimed late on Sunday night that he was duped into making match-fixing claims against his teammates.
Hameed, who met Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ejaz Butt and high commissioner Wajed Shamsul Hasan on Sunday, said he was approached by a man who he believed was offering him a sponsorship deal and did not know the conversation was being recorded.
“When I was having dinner with a friend at the Holiday Inn Nottingham on the evening of Monday August 30, 2010, I was approached by a man who introduced himself as Abid Khan and offered that he would arrange a sponsorship deal for me with Etihad Airways,” Hameed said.
Hameed said he had only now discovered the man was the News of the World’s investigating editor Mazher Mahmood.
He claimed that the person, who identified himself as Abid Khan, had recorded their “conversation without me knowing about it.”
“Naturally, I was interested in what he had to say and we began a conversation,” Hameed said in a three-page statement here.
“He offered me at least £50,000 for the deal.”
Hameed said the man, who identified himself as Abid Khan, asked for the names of four more Pakistan players who may be interested in a similar deal and then asked him about the match-fixing allegations.
“As I saw him as a friend and a potential agent I naively started to answer his questions,” Hameed said. “As far as I recall, I only told him whatever I had already read in the newspapers about the matter,” said Hameed, who had initially denied giving any interview to the tabloid.
He said the chat “was largely inaccurately reported in the News of the World.”
The cricketer, who is under immense pressure for claiming that almost every game was fixed, said that the tabloid tried to bribe him to implicate his colleagues, skipper Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, in match-fixing.
“It seems that Abid had a hidden camera which I was totally unaware of. Two days later Abid then called me and offered me £25,000 to give a statement against the three current players under investigation, which I immediately refused and put the phone down,” he said.
He said that the tabloid had also tried to intimidate him over the issue. “Subsequently, I received a text message from Abid Khan from his number 078 6010 9876, which I found to be intimidating,” he said.
The text message that Hameed received revealed: “Pls call me. Incidentally you are in video drinking wine and saying all the quotes attributed to you. Denying it is just stupid as we will be releasing the video to tv. Better that you stand up and speak the truth!!!!”
Hameed said that he did not react to this message at all and contacted the cricket board officials. “However, I decided not to respond or react. I brought the matter to the attention of Pakistan Cricket Board,” his statement added.
Yasir Hameed
I was having dinner with a friend at the Holiday Inn Nottingham on August 30, 2010, when I was approached by a man who introduced himself as Abid Khan and offered that he would arrange a sponsorship deal for me with Etihad Airways.