ICC Imposes Five-Year Ban on Shohely Akhter for Violating Anti-Corruption Rules
Author: Joy Sarcar
Updated At:
Bangladesh’s off-spinner Shohely Akhtar was accused of cricket corruption and banned for five years by ICC on grounds of fixing charges. The event is associated with her match hosted in South Africa during the 2023 Women's T20 World Cup.
Akhter admitted all the allegations and agreed to the charges of corruption, thus denying the need for further official investigations. Her act turned down her fans from Bangladesh.
Shohely Akhter Imposed 5-Year Ban on Match Fixing Charges
Bangladesh’s off-spinner women player, who last played in the squad in 2022, becomes the first-ever international female cricketer to be cleared of corruption charges.
Akhter has contested in over 13 T20Is and two ODIs to date and was slammed by the ICC for trying to bribe and commence match-fixing activities.
- She was also accused of unethically sharing sensitive team details with external sources, thus breaching the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code and hindering the investigation process.
- Shohely will be banned from all cricket formats for five years, and she agreed to play within the crucial anti-corruption code provisions.
- Bangladesh off-spinner was caught during the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup held in South Africa. She was terminated from that season itself.
- She last played in October 2022 for the Bangladesh team and is now held guilty of corruption charges.
ACU Retrieved Akhter’s Voice Notes During Investigation
During the ACU scrutiny on suspected fixing done by Shohely Akhter, they were able to retrieve conversations from Facebook Messenger.
- A detailed discussion with other cricketers was evaluated by ACU on February 14th, 2023.
- This incident was recorded during the day of the T20 World Cup Finals between Australia and Bangladesh.
- An exact conversation was Akhter offering a sum of 2 million Bangladeshi Currency, Taka, or USD 16,40,0 to another player for getting out with a hit wicket at the time of the match.
The rise of match-fixing cases has sparked concerns about the integrity of the game, especially with the increasing influence of online cricket betting apps. These platforms, while offering legal and regulated betting options in many countries, have also been misused by corrupt individuals attempting to manipulate match outcomes. Authorities continue to monitor such activities closely to prevent further scandals.
The twist was when the approached player bought the offer to the notice of ACU along with the voice notes proofs shared by Shohely. Akhter had deleted all these files from her devices by then.
Shohely Tried to Escape the Charges at First
During an interrogation held by ACU, Akhter tried to defend herself by stating that she forwarded the voice messages to other team players without the intent of a corrupt approach. She claimed to do this only to prove that the Bangladesh team was not a part of fixing.
- Off-spinner Akhter also presented the screenshots to ACU displaying the ‘challenge’ between her and a friend.
- She seconded the intent by stating that these messages were sent before February 14th, when she contacted another Bangladesh player.
- ACU was soon able to detect that shown files were prepared after February 14th with an option of ‘Reviewing underlying metadata for messages.’
ICC considered Akhter's 5-year ban appropriate and reasonable, considering her agreement with ACU after her interview. Shohley Akhter finally agreed to the sanction.
