ICC slaps five-year ban on Shohely Akhter for breaching anti-corruption guidelines

Bangladesh spinner Shohely Akhter has been handed a five-year ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after admitting to breaching five provisions of the ICC anti-corruption code. The charges relate to corrupt approaches made during the 2023 Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa.

Akhter admitted to breaching Articles 2.1.1, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.4.4 and 2.4.7 of the Code and accepted a five-year period of ineligibility, starting from February 10, 2025.

According to the ICC document, on February 14, 2023, prior to the Bangladesh v Australia match, Akhter contacted her teammate via Facebook Messenger, attempting to persuade her to fix future Bangladesh matches.

Akhter told her teammate that her 'cousin', who bets on his phone, had asked her to speak to her and inquire if she would get out hit wicket after a pace delivery during the Australia match. Akhter also stated that she would be paid 2 million Bangladesh takas if the fix was successful, with the money coming from winnings her 'cousin' made from his bets.

Akhter further told her teammate that her 'cousin' could pay more if 2 million takas was not enough. She emphasized that their conversation would be secret and it was up to her teammate to decide whether to agree. Akhter also stated that she would delete the messages so they no longer existed, and she did delete them.

The teammate rejected the approach, reported the matter to the ACU, and provided evidence in the form of copies of the voice notes. During an ACU interview, Akhter admitted to sending the voice messages but claimed she only did so to show her friend that members of the Bangladesh team were not involved in fixing.

Akhter initially stated that the messages were part of a challenge between her and her friend, producing screenshots as evidence. However, upon review of the underlying metadata for the messages, the ACU identified that these screenshots had been created after the approach on February 14.

Akhter subsequently admitted to fabricating the messages using two different phones, although she claimed the contents were accurate representations of messages sent by her friend which she had deleted after details of her approach became public.

Akhter also admitted to having contact with her friend for at least a year and that in 2022 she started to think he might be involved in cricket corruption.

Based on the evidence and Akhter's admissions, the ICC charged her with the following Code Articles:

• 2.1.1 (contriving or being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of International Matches).
• 2.1.3 (offering a Reward to a player to engage in corrupt conduct).
• 2.1.4 (attempting to solicit, induce, entice, persuade, encourage or intentionally facilitate a player to breach Article 2.1).
• 2.4.4 (failing to report to the ACU the approaches and invitations received from a person suspected of being involved in cricket corruption).
• 2.4.7 (obstructing the ACU's investigation by fabricating messages and deleting messages with the teammate and the suspected corrupt individual).