Match-fix mastermind pockets his money after pay-off

FIXER Mazhar Majeed twice tried to rig the recent Third Test between England and Pakistan at the Oval to prove to our undercover reporters that he could do it.


He demanded a £10,000 down payment before guaranteeing two no-balls on the second day of the match during a secret meeting outside a restaurant where he was dining with the team.

Then he stuffed the money into his jacket pocket before later opening up the coat in front of players to show them what he'd got.


But Majeed's plan was scuppered when the no-balls fix - already arranged for another gambling client and planned for the third day on August 20 - had to be scrapped because the Pakistani bowling coach had warned his stars to tighten up their bowling.

Undaunted, the brazen crook then offered our man the guarantee that Pakistan skipper Salman Butt would score no runs from the first six balls he faced on the fourth day - a maiden over. Majeed even phoned a number known to be linked to Butt to confirm it.


The player's secret signal to let gambling clients know that the cheating was on was to be Butt tapping midwicket with his bat during the over, as if flattening a bump.


However, again the fix was foiled. It was then that the focus shifted to fixing the current Test at Lord's.


Our fake betting syndicate frontman had already met Majeed on August 16 and 18. But the first handover of cash in the match-rigging scandal came on the evening of Thursday the 19th.


Majeed had invited our man to join him and the players for dinner at the Al Shishawi restaurant in London's Edgware Road.

He introduced him to Pakistan captain Salman Butt and to players Wahab Riaz and Umar Amin.

The property tycoon - whose company Bluesky Developments has sponsored several high profile sporting events and charities - then borrowed Wahab's cream jacket to pop out to our man's Merc for a secret chat.


Majeed said: "Just to show you it's really OK, I'm going to show you two no-balls tomorrow.


"Then you just pay as I said minimum for that, OK. Just £10,000. I'm telling you big money can be made."


He even offered to call the players in front of our man to prove he could control them: "You sit with me, OK, and I'll ring each player who I've got and even talk to them about it. Isn't that enough proof for you?"

Our man handed Majeed ten £1,000 bundles of notes in crisp £50 notes and he quickly shoved them in his jacket pocket. Then he said: "I'm just going to give you two no-balls quite simple. And I'll tell you which bowler's going to do it, and which ball he's going to do it in. This is just a taster. I'll let you know that tonight or tomorrow morning."


Showing his experience at match-fixing, he bragged: "Boss, I'm telling you, OK. I've been doing this constantly and for the next month you're going to see how constant it is.


"So I'm going to say to them (the seven players he controls in the team) I've got a new party. I think he's good, yeah, we'll deal with him. OK?" He pulled the £10,000 bundle out of his pocket and waved it about. "This is to show how serious they are, OK. That will be the deposit. After that... then payment has to be made within 24 hours either in England or Dubai. In cash."


Then Majeed announced that our man would have to pay a huge deposit if he wanted to know the planned RESULTS of fixed matches so he could coin it in by placing bets.


He added: "In terms of deposit, it's gonna be a minimum of £150,000. That's just for your trust.


"That's for me to pay my boys, yeah, right, a certain amount each, OK? Then they give me the authority to work with you. Once the authority is there to work with you, I'll give you everything we do. After that. I don't want any money up front, I just want the money paid after the thing's done."

But he said there would be no fixing the actual results of the Oval and Lord's Tests - "because we're trying to win this game and the Lord's game. Because we want Salman Butt as captain."


The man asked him: "Is he onside as well? Is he in the fixing?" Majeed claimed: "Of course, of course."


He went on to boast of his past successes - saying, "Every single result we've done has come off, every single one" - before revealing he and his bent players had arranged for Pakistan to lose some of the forthcoming One Day International matches against England.


"We've got one result already planned and that is coming in the next three-and-a-half weeks," he said. "Pakistan will lose." Majeed also spelled out that he was already running match-rigging with other gambling syndicates, including "one party in India".


With the dirty deal done, Majeed took our man into the restaurant and ordered captain Salman Butt and other teammates to join us. The players who were eating lamb and chicken kebabs, were relaxed in Majeed's company, joking with our reporters and sharing anecdotes about fellow cricketers.


After Majeed showed our team out of the restaurant he walked back to a group of his players standing outside and opened the jacket into which he'd stuffed the money to show them what was inside. Later bowler Wahab Riaz put on the jacket and posed in it.


But on the Friday morning, Majeed rang our man saying that his bowlers would not be able to bowl the two no-balls. He then invited our reporter to his luxurious home in Croydon on Saturday at 8am to discuss another possible fix before play at the Oval began.


The imposing house in Croydon is hidden behind electronic gates. A Range Rover, flash black Jaguar and Golf were parked in the drive.


Inside, Majeed claimed captain Butt would bat a maiden over just to prove that fixing was taking place. On one of his white BlackBerrys he uses as a "safe line" to call players - which he says he disposes of every fortnight - he rang a number known to belong to Butt.

He said: "Boss, just stick to what we said last night OK? The first full over you play, you just make sure you play a maiden, OK? After the second ball, just go and tap the middle of the pitch as a signal."


Majeed said if Butt gave the signal then people around the world would know that it was time to put massive bets on as the fixing was about to take place.


He then boasted about the players he claimed were working for him in the betting scam - claiming to have seven on his books, including Butt, Asif, Amir and Kamran Akmal, the wicket-keeper already accused of match-fixing by the coach of the Pakistan team, Intikhab Alam.

Majeed also revealed how he launders match-fixing money through the football club he owns, Croydon Athletic in south London. "The only reason I bought a football club is to do that," he said.

And he spilled the beans on how he helps his players hide their money.


"I've opened them all Swiss bank accounts as well, all numbered accounts," he said. "I've got them even English bank accounts too."


To prove it he showed off bank details stored on his BlackBerry including a Clydesdale Bank account number he claimed was Butt's.


And to hammer home the amounts of money our man could win, Majeed called an Indian bookie he regularly deals with and asked him how much he would pay for a definite Oval Test result.

Majeed demanded $1.2million but the bookie replied, "I'll give you one (million)."


Majeed - who has a wife Sheliza and two daughters aged 4 and 6 - flicked through recordings on a TV to show off previous matches he claimed to have fixed.


Later, explaining why Butt did not bat the promised maiden over, Majeed told our man the pitch was too lively for the skipper to guarantee not accidentally edging the ball for a run.


"There was no signal," he said. "He obviously felt the ball was doing too much off the pitch and he couldn't do a maiden. I've not given you any wrong information."