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But over five years after the report was finally released, and more than seven years after the inquiry began, Justice Qayyum told Cricinfo that he hadn't wanted a "great player" like Wasim to be banned, especially towards the end of his career. "For Wasim I had some soft corner for him. He was a very great player, a very great bowler and I was his fan, and therefore that thing did weigh with me. Two things - one, I didn't want that the cricket should be deprived of his participation, and the other was that I didn't want that towards the end of his career... he should be banned or something like that. My idea was not to find people guilty and then punish them. It was more of a case where I had to do something to put an end to the practice in future. What had happened had happened. You couldn't turn the clock back but you had to make sure they wouldn't repeat what they were doing."
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In his report submitted in 2000, Justice Qayyum - now retired - had fined Akram and recommended he never be allowed to captain Pakistan again. To quote his verdict: "This commission feels that all is not well here and that Wasim Akram is not above board. He has not co-operated with this Commission. It is only by giving Wasim Akram the benefit of the doubt after Ata-ur-Rehman changed his testimony in suspicious circumstances that he has not been found guilty of match-fixing. He cannot be said to be above suspicion."