WICB statement on Marlon Samuels verdict
Mon, May 12, '08
The following is the full text of a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) statement on the guilty verdict against batsman Marlon Samuels:The Disciplinary Committee of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), having heard and deliberated on the charges laid against Mr. Marlon Samuels, found by majority opinion that Mr. Samuels was guilty of violating the ICC Rules of Conduct 4 ix in that he "received money, benefit or other reward which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute."
The Committee dismissed a second charge that "Mr. Samuels engaged in conduct which, in the opinion of the Executive Board, relates directly or indirectly to the Rules of Conduct i.e. (i) to (xiii) and is prejudicial to the interests of the game of cricket."
The panel for the hearing, Mr. Justice Adrian Saunders (Chair), Dr. Lloyd Barnett, Professor Aubrey Bishop and Mr. Richie Richardson, has written to the President of the WICB, the Honourable Dr. Julian R. Hunte, expressing concern about the propriety of prescribing mandatory minimum punishments generally and particularly for the specific offence with which Mr. Samuels was charged.
The Committee stated that "given the circumstances that attended Mr. Samuels' commission of the offence and in light of the unchallenged evidence we received as to Mr. Samuels' character, if we had the power so to recommend we would have recommended that Mr. Samuels be bound over to be of good behaviour for a period not exceeding two years."
The Panel has promised that reasoned written decisions will follow shortly. In the meantime, the decision and recommendations of the Panel have been sent to the ICC.