Cash found by UK police was my legitimate allowance:: Salman Butt

LONDON - Former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt has said that thousands of pounds of cash discovered by British police in his hotel room during spot-fixing inquiries earlier this year, were part of his legitimate tour allowances.

Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammed Aamer were all provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) following allegations of match fixing revealed by Britain’s News of the World newspaper.

Butt is reported to have instructed his bowlers to bowl deliberate no balls as part of a betting scam during the fourth Test against England at Lord’s in August.

British police claimed that they had discovered 15,000 pounds in marked notes in Butt’s hotel room.

In an interview reported by The News, Butt said on Monday: “Well I think everybody knows the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) pays us daily allowances on tours and it was a long tour.”

“About 11,000 pounds of that money was from our daily allowances, and being the captain, I had an extra entertainment allowance which amounts to about 4,500 pounds from the tour, which I had with me,” he added.

Michael Beloff, who heads the ICC’s code of conduct commission, will hear the spot fixing case in Doha, Qatar, next month. (ANI)