BCB Integrity chief meets CID to finalize anti-corruption strategy for BPL 2025-26

Alex Marshall, the independent chair of the BCB's newly formed Integrity Unit, met with the chief of the Criminal Investigation Department, Sibgat Ullah, on Sunday to discuss their course of action for the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League. The tournament is scheduled to begin on December 24.

Match-fixing is not a new issue in the BPL. The league has been entangled in controversies, with instances of spot-fixing and match-fixing emerging since its inception in 2012.

Former Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful was banned for eight years (with three years suspended) by a BPL anti-corruption tribunal for match and spot-fixing in the 2013 edition. The BCB also had to postpone the 2014 edition of the BPL.

Recently, the BCB appointed former ICC head of global cricket's Anti-Corruption Unit, Alex Marshall, as a consultant for one year to oversee the board's ACU operations. He was later made chairman of the BCB Integrity Unit.

Marshall gained attention after keeping nine cricketers out of the BPL auction. This decision was based on a 900-page report submitted by a three-member investigation committee, which was formed following large-scale match-fixing allegations in the last edition of the BPL.

Marshall insisted he would leave no stone unturned to make this BPL corruption-free. Sibgat Ullah stated that Marshall visited along with several other BCB officials as part of this pledge.

"Yes, we met with the entire BCB team. Their legal people were there as well—all of us together. This is a continuous process. We are working with them. Our CID officials who are with the CPC (Cyber Police Centre), we are working on these issues," Sibgat Ullah told Cricbuzz on Sunday.

"I won't go into the details, but there are some international norms and protocols. We are trying to follow those. He is from the ICC side. By exchanging views with our CPC cyber policing officers, we are looking at what level we are at, where we want to go, what grey areas exist, and what the gaps and lapses are—we are trying to frame this," he said.

"And our intention is to bridge those things so that our cricket, which is a place of emotion and love, remains pure and without any black stain. With this objective, the CID is working with Alex and with the BCB," he added.