Former Test umpire Asad Rauf has been banned for five years by the BCCI ©Getty Images

Pakistan's former Test cricket umpire Asad Rauf has been handed a five-year ban from the sport on corruption and misconduct charges, it has been announced.

Rauf, who officiated in 49 Test matches and was a member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Elite Umpire Panel from 2006 to 2013, was punished by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for his part in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match-fixing scandal.

He had been accused of involvement in spot-fixing in the 2013 IPL and will now be unable to officiate, play or represent any form of cricket sanctioned by the BCCI.

He did not attend the BCCI Disciplinary Committee meeting but had already submitted his statement responding to the allegations.

Following the emergence of the claims against him in 2013, Rauf was dropped from the ICC Elite Umpire Panel.

The IPL spot-fixing crisis, where players allegedly attempted to fix minor parts of matches including no balls and wides in exchange for money from illicit bookmakers, came to the fore in 2013 when three cricketers - former Indian international Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan - were arrested by police in New Delhi.

They had been playing for the Rajasthan Royals and were found to have been guilty of corrupting the tournament.

Asad Rauf was in charge of 49 Test matches before being dropped from the ICC Elite Umpire Panel in 2013 ©Getty Images
Asad Rauf was in charge of 49 Test matches before being dropped from the ICC Elite Umpire Panel in 2013 ©Getty Images

The scandals prompted the Lodha Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court of India, to launch an investigation after IPL chief operating officer Sundar Raman was implicated in the spot-fixing and betting scandal three years ago, where inside information was allegedly given to bookies in order to fix matches.

The Lodha Committee has subsequently cleared Raman of all charges due to a lack of evidence.

Gurunath Meiyappan, former team prinicipal of IPL franchise the Chennai Super Kings and son-in-law of former ICC chairman N Srinivasan, was earlier handed a lifetime ban for illegal betting.

The Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals were both suspended from the IPL, the world’s premier domestic Twenty20 competition, for two years in July.

Rauf’s suspension follows former South Africa international Gulam Bodi being given a 20-year ban from the sport for attempting to fix matches in the Ram Slam Twenty20 Challenge.