Javed Akhtar seeks damages from Bacher

Former Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar Tuesday said he has filed a 1.8-million-dollar defamation suit against South African cricket official Ali Bacher over match-fixing allegations.

"I have filed a defamtion case against Bacher who tried to damage my credibilty and honesty through baseless allegations of match-fixing," Akhtar said.

The case has been filed at Rawalpindi's civil court, seeking damages of 100 million rupees (1.8 million dollars). Bacher has been summoned to appear in court on November 27.

Bacher, the former chief of South Africa's cricket board and now head of its 2003 World Cup committee, made a number of allegations against Pakistani cricketers at the King Commission of inquiry in June. Among others, he alleged he had been informed that Akhtar took money from a bookie to influence a Test between England and South Africa at Leeds in 1998. He said Akhtar took money to give eight leg before decisions. South Africa lost the Test and with it the series.

"When the Pakistan Cricket Board protested over his statement in May he retracted it but again levelled the same allegations before the King Commission in June," Akhtar said.

Akhtar officiated 18 Tests and 40 one-day internationals before retiring last year.

"I am contesting the case that Bacher's allegations wilfully intended to and have lowered my prestige and honesty," he said.

"I was given matches as neutral umpire after the Leeds Test and had their been any such thing I would not have been appointed."

Mail Cricket Editor