The chairman of the PCB’s independent disciplinary panel pointed to Umar Akmal’s lack of remorse and a refusal to cooperate with investigating authorities as he detailed the reasoning behind the three-year ban on the Pakistan cricketer, which will keep him out of the game – as a player and otherwise – till February 19, 2023.

Akmal was charged by the PCB on two counts of breaching its anti-corruption code ahead of this year’s PSL, and while each charge carries a three-year ban, they will run concurrently. Unlike a number of punishments in corruption investigations, there is no suspended sentence. Akmal has 14 days to appeal before the tribunal.

“It appears that he [Akmal] is not prepared to show remorse and seek apology, make admission that he failed to fulfill his responsibility under Anti-Corruption Code, Article 2.4.4, rather he tried to take refuge under the pretext that in the past whenever any such approaches were made, the matter was reported by him,” Justice (retd) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan, the panel chairman, wrote in his full judgment of the case, released today. “As far as Charge No.1 is concerned, I do not see any circumstances to mitigate the nature of offence, particularly, when the participant (Umar Akmal) has not cooperated with the PCB Vigilance and Security Department and the investigating team.”

Akmal was initially suspended by the PCB on February 20 and subsequently charged, and then chose to forego the right to a hearing before the anti-corruption tribunal, where he could have pleaded innocence or contested the charges, saying he would wait for a sanction to be confirmed. As a result, his case went directly to the disciplinary panel.

As reported by ESPNcricinfo, in his reply to the charges to the PCB, Akmal did admit the violation, saying that he was approached by two men on separate occasions, but chose not to inform the authorities, which was a breach of the code and led to his suspension. In front of the panel too, Akmal admitted the charges, but claimed there had been no “objectionable material” to report.

Akmal explained that a first approach was at a dinner party in Lahore, when he was introduced to a stranger and after sensing the intentions of the individual, he distanced himself and left the venue. But Chauhan observed that Akmal was duty-bound to inform the anti-corruption officials immediately: “The reason given by the player is not acceptable and the explanation given in the reply are not sufficient.

“Even today when offer was made to him to accept his offence and pray for lesser punishment, the player did not avail the chance and stuck to his explanations.”

Speaking about the second approach, Akmal said that a person in Lahore had requested a favour in exchange for help in resolving an undisclosed dispute. Becoming uncomfortable, Akmal said he left the meeting but the judge, again, pointed out that he should have reported the approach. Akmal said in his reply that in the past, confidential information involving him had been “leaked to the media” without his consent.

The judge observed that Akmal “had failed to give any plausible explanation for not reporting the matter to PCB vigilance and anti-corruption department and is in breach of the rule article 2.4.4 and he would be deemed to be engaged in corrupt conduct under the anti-corruption code of PCB”.

The judgment concluded with: “The participant/player/Umar Akmal shall not play, coach or otherwise, participate or be involved in any capacity in any match or any kind of functions, event or activity (other than authorised anti-corruption education or rehablitaion program that is authorised sanctioned, recognised or supported in any way by the PCB, the ICC or other national cricket federations, or receive accreditation previously issued shall be deemed to be withdrawn.”

His landmark nationwide panel to root out illegal voting abandoned by the White House, Kansas Secretary of Kris Kobach spent Thursday rooting out alleged voter fraud in his home state.

Armed with powers not usually assigned to a secretary of state, Kobach filed a pair of criminal complaints against two people he said voted when, and more, than they had the right to.

In 2016, Kobach contends, Que J. Fulmer voted in both Hamilton County, Kansas, and in Colorado. He charged Bailey Ann McCaughey of voting twice in the same election, in Finney County, Kansas, and Colorado. Both Hamilton and Finney counties sit in western Kansas.

“These prosecutions will help deter voter fraud in the future,” Kobach said.

Kobach, a likely frontrunner among Republicans running for governor, has marked much of his career battling voter fraud. He insists it’s far more common than most experts believe. Legislators gave Kobach’s office the power to file criminal charges in election fraud cases in 2015. He’s the country’s only top election official with that authority.

While he warns of illegal voting by non-citizens — immigration control is another signature issue for him — all of the dozen-plus people he’s charged with election fraud in Kansas are U.S. citizens.

Twelve of the 14 voter fraud cases that he’s filed have been for double voting, which Kobach contends is a serious crime.

“The consequences of double voting are the same as the consequences of voting by a non-citizen,” he said. “You still have an illegal vote cast and that illegal vote might tip the election.”

The day before the charges, Kobach saw a federal judge rule on a pending case on his efforts to demand more reliable proof of citizenship for voter registration. That lawsuit goes to trial in March.

The court ruling excluded some testimony for Kobach’s cause because the judge said it lacked the necessary expertise to back it up.

Republicans typically argue it’s too easy to register to vote, that officials should insist on birth certificates and other documents to screen out non-citizens and that states need to compare their lists with each other to stop people from voting in two places.

Democrats commonly respond that voter fraud is rare and tougher I.D. demands make it unreasonably hard for the poor or the elderly to cast ballots. They also think that programs such as Crosscheck designed to identify people registered in multiple states could exclude citizens who simply have the same name as another voter.

Kobach has an ally for his cause in President Donald Trump, who installed the Kansas Republican as the key player on a national commission created to document how much voter cheating takes place.

That panel quickly ran into trouble when many of Kobach’s fellow secretaries of state across the country refused to turn over voter records, often state citing laws that barred them from sharing the information.

So when Trump scrapped the voting commission, Kobach’s rivals in Kansas leapt to declare it a failure of the man they need to beat in the governor’s race.

“We see that the only thing Kris Kobach accomplished was wasting taxpayer money,” said Ed O’Malley, a former state representative and another candidate in the GOP field. “If voter fraud is a major problem and Kris Kobach spearheaded this effort, he failed to bring the commission together to produce meaningful and measurable outcomes, which means the problem will continue.”

Kobach said the work scuttled by opposition from left-leaning organizations will now be done by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he will continue to play a role.

“Absolutely I’ll be involved,” he said. “Now that we are doing the investigation through the Department of Homeland Security things will happen a lot faster.”

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.