MUMBAI: Delhi-based businessman Deepak Agarwal, co-owner of the now defunct T10 Cricket League franchise Sindhis, has been banned by the ICC for two years.
Six months of those two years will be a suspended sentence as he offered co-operation while admitting his violation of the anti-corruption code.
Agarwal’s name had earlier popped up during the case of suspended Bangladesh and SRH all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. The former skipper is serving a ban from all forms of cricket for two years, with one year of that being suspended. Shakib Al Hasan was handed the ban after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code. The ICC report also mentioned that Shakib had mentioned one individual also named Deepak Agarwal, with whom he was in touch for more than a year.
Shakib Al Hasan was approached by Agarwal during the Bangladesh Premier League in November 2017. Before that, he had approached the cricketer during the ODI tri-series at home involving Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in January 2018 and the Indian Premier League later the same year during the SRH vs KXIP match.
The ICC order charged him of destroying or tampering with evidence. He apparently asked ‘Mr.X’, who is also a participant, to delete all the messages that had transpired between the two of them.
Agarwal had bought the Sindhis franchise in 2018 and had been under the radar of the ACU since then.
ICC statement in full
Deepak Agarwal, one of the team owners of the Sindhi’s franchise in the 2018 T10 league, accepted one charge of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has banned Deepak Agarwal from all cricket for two years, with six months of that suspended, after he accepted one charge of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
Agarwal was charged as a participant under the Code due to the fact he was one of the team owners of the Sindhi’s franchise in the 2018 T10 Cricket League. The charge is as follows:
1. Article 2.4.7 – obstructing or delaying an investigation, including concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and / or that may be evidence of or may lead to the discovery of evidence of corrupt conduct under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
Under the provisions of the Code, Mr Agarwal chose to admit the charges and agreed the sanction with the ICC in lieu of an Anti-Corruption Tribunal hearing. Subject to him satisfying conditions in respect of the suspended part of the sanction, he will be free to resume his involvement in the game on 27 October 2021.
Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager – Integrity said: “There were a number of examples of Mr Agarwal obstructing and delaying our investigations and it was not just a one off occurrence. However, he made a prompt admission of his breach of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code and continues to provide substantial assistance to the ACU in relation to several investigations involving other participants. This cooperation is reflected in his sanction.”
