Azeem Rafiq at centre of allegations of exposure in new twist to Yorkshire CCC scandal

Mr Rafiq, the central figure in English cricket’s racism scandal, allegedly exposed himself to a chambermaid at the Yorkshire team hotel in Northampton in August 2012, and then to a female member of the Yorkshire backroom staff during the Champions League competition in South Africa some three months later.

The claims appear in a High Court document filed on Monday in the case of Wayne Morton, the former England physiotherapist and head of sports science and medicine at Yorkshire, who is suing the club for breach of contract after he was one of 14 staff members sacked last December for signing a letter that questioned Mr Rafiq’s character and so-called “one-man mission to bring down the club”.

A spokesperson for Mr Rafiq claimed that the allegations were part of a “twisted campaign of lies”.

The document also alleges that Lord Kamlesh Patel, the Yorkshire chairman who carried out the sackings and abruptly settled Mr Rafiq’s employment tribunal claim to the reported tune of £200,000, was told about the alleged incidents just days after taking office last November.

Mr Morton is seeking damages of over £500,000 on behalf of himself and seven sub-contracted staff also dismissed, including Kunwar Bansil, the British Asian physiotherapist.

In Yorkshire’s defence to Mr Morton’s lawsuit, the former medical chief is actually accused - among other allegations he also denies - of failing to report the alleged incident in South Africa at the time and that, by his own admission, he “covered up” the “alleged abuse” by a then unnamed former Yorkshire player.

But in Mr Morton’s response to that defence, filed by his legal representatives on Monday, that player is named as Mr Rafiq in a document which counters in relation to the charge against Mr Morton: “Mr Morton on 15 November 2021 had a discussion with Lord Patel at which he disclosed to Lord Patel that a female massage therapist had reported to Mr Morton that Azeem Rafiq had exposed himself to her whilst on tour in South Africa in 2012, a tour at which Mr Morton was not present.

“Mr Morton explained to Lord Patel that on the massage therapist disclosing the incident to Mr Morton, Mr Morton reported the matter to Colin Graves, who was then the defendant’s interim chief executive.

“Colin Graves asked Mr Morton to investigate and produce a written report of the incident, which Colin Graves stated he would consider in conjunction with the board. Mr Morton did as requested and spoke to both the female massage therapist and Azeem Rafiq, and produced a written report which he provided to Colin Graves.

“Mr Morton, who was not aware of what action if any the defendant took towards Azeem Rafiq after the written report was submitted, expressed to Lord Patel that he believed it would have been preferable if some action had been taken towards Azeem Rafiq after the report had been submitted, as to Mr Morton’s knowledge, derived from what he heard from playing and coaching staff contracted to the defendant, Azeem Rafiq exposed himself on a previous occasion, approximately three months earlier than the incident in South Africa, to a hotel chambermaid in Northampton.

“These incidents were amongst the incidents alluded to in the 14 October letter when it referred, inter alia, to ‘endless episodes of Azeem’s bad behaviour, well-known to the club.’”

According to Mr Graves, Yorkshire dealt with both allegations of indecent exposure in-house at the time.

“As I recall, he received a verbal warning and the matter was dealt with by the management structure in the cricket department,” Mr Graves told The Yorkshire Post.

In response to the allegations, a spokesperson for Mr Rafiq said: “People who have been desperate for the sport to retain its toxic culture have spread numerous variations of these false allegations since Azeem spoke at the select committee last year. Every time they have been shown to be incorrect and falsified, details always changing.

“This twisted campaign of lies has been never ending and it has seriously compromised Azeem’s and his family’s safety, which is why he has left the country. This level of lies and vengeance only proves the sport is not ready to change and why whistleblowers need proper protection.”

When contacted by The Yorkshire Post, Mr Morton stated only: “My case is not against Azeem Rafiq. My case is against Kamlesh Patel and Yorkshire CCC. I was asked to answer some questions and have given a truthful, evidenced and contemporaneous statement.”

The allegations are the latest against Mr Rafiq, whom The Yorkshire Post reported last November sent “creepy messages” to a teenage girl in 2015.

Gayathri Ajith, then aged 16, said she was “shocked by the crudity” of the messages and claimed that Mr Rafiq was “contributing to the problem of the vulgar attitudes towards women”.

That story followed the emergence of anti-Semitic messages in 2011, for which Mr Rafiq was forced to apologise, although the 31-year-old denied a recent report in the Daily Mail which accused him of further anti-Semitism, along with homophobic language and “fat-shaming” children.

Mr Rafiq is the key witness in the ongoing England and Wales Cricket Board case against Yorkshire and several individuals, including the former England captain Michael Vaughan, with hearings set for later this month.

The process is in disarray after Mr Rafiq threatened to pull out unless the hearings take place in public, a request which the Cricket Discipline Commission granted, and which makes it likely that most of the accused will instead pull out pending Wednesday’s deadline to appeal the decision.