International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat has slammed the appointment of banned former Pakistan captain Salman Butt as a television pundit during the World Cup.
So incensed are the global governing body, they have asked the lawyer who was chairman of the tribunal that banned Butt to determine whether his employment by Pakistan's Channel 5 contravenes the terms of the opening batsman's 10-year ban, five of which have been suspended.
Lorgat said: "The Board, having a zero tolerance attitude towards corruption, expressed disappointment at the decision by a minor Pakistan television channel, which has no relationship with the ICC, to employ the suspended Mr Salman Butt as a studio pundit during the World Cup.”
"We are not satisfied with this appointment and we have written to Tribunal chairman Michael Beloff QC to enquire whether this could be viewed as a breach against the terms of his suspended sentence."
Butt, together with pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer, was banned this month following a spot-fixing investigation related to the Lord's Test against England last August.