Pakistan to send investigators to UK

A team made up from Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and possibly an official from the sports ministry will be heading to England as part of Pakistan's probe into the spot-fixing allegations swirling around some of Pakistan's top cricketers.

No date of their departure is, however, set yet. A request has been made to the UK government to let the team know when an appropriate time might be for the them to travel.

The composition was discussed at a meeting between Interior Minister Rehman Malik and the Sports Minister Ijaz Jakhrani on Tuesday. Inam Ghani, the FIA director, and Azad Khan, the agency's additional director, have been nominated to travel to London. The feeling in the interior ministry is that a point of view from the sports ministry is relevant and significant to the team's work. An official from the sports ministry is expected to be announced by Wednesday.

Four players were alleged by the News of the World to be involved in spot-fixing. Mazhar Majeed was caught on camera by the newspaper claiming to have bribed fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir to bowl deliberate no-balls during the Lord's Test against England. Majeed, who also claimed Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal were involved, was arrested before being let out on bail without charge. Scotland Yard spoke to Butt as well as Amir and Asif, searched their rooms and confiscated their mobile phones.

"The team will interact with Scotland Yard over there and our involvement will be largely dependent on the investigations of Scotland Yard," Malik told Cricinfo. "This will be fact-finding team, to ascertain what has happened and why it might have done. There will be interaction with Scotland Yard not interference because it has happened in the UK not in Pakistan."

The involvement of the ministries indicates the seriousness with which the government is viewing the allegations. Already the President Asif Ali Zardari (also the chief patron of the PCB) has asked for - and been sent - a preliminary report by the PCB into the matter. The Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani has also spoken sternly of the "shame" the incident has caused Pakistan.

A request has also been made to Interpol London by the interior ministry to send background information into the case to Interpol Pakistan.