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Salman admits taking 2,500 from Mazhar Majeed

Dunya News

Salman Butt, accused of match fixing, on Tuesday admitted he took 2,500 from Mazhar Majeed.

Former Pakistani cricket captain Salman Butt said he got the payment for inaugurating an ice cream parlour.He claimed he had no idea that the News of the World had paid £150,000 to his agent, Mazhar Majeed, to arrange three no balls to be bowled at the Lords Test last year. After the first day of the game - when two of the deliberate fixed balls had been delivered - Majeed met with Butt and gave him a bundle of £50 notes, which had been secretly marked.Giving evidence at the cricket corruption trial, Butt said it was an innocent payment promised previously for agreeing to cut the ribbon at the Afters ice cream parlour, in Tooting, which was part-owned by Majeed. Butt was due to open the shop after the match, he told the court.Asked if he knew anything about the fixing deal done to bowl deliberate no balls, Butt said not at all.However Butt admitted yesterday that the agent repeatedly asked him to fix Test matches and limited over games across the world.Butt said that Majeed approached him about spot-fixing a game in the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies, and continued to pursue him throughout Pakistans tour of England last year.
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