World Cup final "suspicious": ex-Pakistan boss

The former chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board Majid Khan told a World Cup inquiry commission on Saturday that he believed some Pakistani players were involved in match-fixing.

Majid, who appeared before the Justice Karamat Bhandari commission at Lahore High Court, also expressed his suspicions over the legality of the 1999 World Cup final between Pakistan and Australia and called for an investigation into it.

Pakistan lost the final of the tournament held in England by eight wickets.

"The commission today heard and recorded statements of Majid Khan, Javed Miandad, Khalid Mehmood, Dr Zafar Altaf and Riaz Sami, the former high commissioner in the United Kingdom," a court official told Reuters from Lahore.

"The judge has on the basis of what he heard today summoned six members of the national team and former Pakistan coach Mushtaq Muhammed to the next hearing scheduled on October 20th," said the official.

The commission has summoned Wasim Akram, captain in the last World Cup, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar, Moin Khan, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq.

The government appointed the inquiry commission to probe into allegations that Pakistan played fixed matches against Bangladesh and India in the World Cup.

The court official confirmed that Majid had said in a written statement that he believed some players were involved in match-fixing and expressed regret that no action had been taken against them.

"(Majid) also asked the commission to summon some reporters who covered the World Cup and who he said had more information on the suspected matches and the final," said the official.

He said Mehmood, chairman of the Board during the World Cup, had dismissed all match-fixing rumours.

"Khalid Mehmood pointed out that it was all rumours and nothing else and he didn't believe the two matches were fixed.

"He said that several inquiries had been held in Pakistan and abroad and nothing concrete or substantial had come from them to convict any player of match-fixing," the official said.

Altaf, Pakistan's manager in the World Cup, also denied the allegations and claimed that the match against Bangladesh was lost because of a sub-standard wicket.

Altaf said Bangladesh had taken advantage of the wicket and there was no truth in rumours that the match was fixed to support Bangladesh's cause for test status.

Miandad, the former test captain and coach, told Reuters he had nothing new to tell the commission and he had made it clear he knew nothing about the matches being fixed since he was not involved with the team at the time.

"I told the commission I had heard about matches being fixed, but had never practically been witness to this and most of the allegations were based on hearsay," Miandad said.

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