Butt's defence seeks to discredit Majeed 2011

The lawyer of former Pakistan captain Salman Butt made his first robust defence of his client by listing a series of amazing claims from Butt's former agent Mazhar Majeed, which included helping Pakistan to ball tamper by supplying them Vaseline on the field.


Ali Bajwa QC attacked the credibility of Majeed as Butt sat in the dock next to former team-mate Mohammed Asif. Bajwa addressed Southwark Crown Court, on the fifth afternoon of the trial relating to one of cricket's biggest controversies, while the prosecution's key witness - journalist Mazhar Mahmood - was in the witness box. Mahmood's multiple secret recordings of conversations with Majeed during a covert operation form much of the prosecution. 

Majeed had apparently also told Mahmood that "all Pakistan and India cricketers lie about their age by at least three years" and that he knows "everyone" within the PCB and head of marketing Tariq Hakim "stays at my home - I know all the guys very well".

A claim that also raised eyebrows in the court was the one relating to how he helped the Pakistan team to tamper with the ball. Yasin Patel, on Bajwa's legal team, stood with his left arm in a sling and corroborated with Mahmood the claim made by Majeed. 

Patel told of how Majeed claimed to enter the field of play "sometimes" and when the team could not take wicket he used to hand someone a heap of Vaseline so that the ball would swing. There was no suggestion as to whether Majeed was talking about an international match or not. 

A prosecution witness appearing in the afternoon, Alan Peacock, who has been a senior investigator for the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit with the ICC for 11 years, said player agents are not allowed to enter the field of play or be allowed access to their dressing, viewing or dining areas during games.