Criminal Charges Against Former Cricket Canada CEO Salman Khan Dismissed
Criminal charges against former Cricket Canada chief executive Salman Khan Shahzad collapsed in a Calgary courtroom on Monday, ending a long-running fraud case that had already cost him his job and left the sport’s national body under a harsh spotlight.
Khan, 47, also known as Salman Khan, had been accused of misappropriating $200,000 from the Calgary and District Cricket League between 2014 and 2016. He faced one count each of fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000, charges laid in March 2025 after a police investigation that grew out of concerns raised in a financial audit.
The trial never began.
On what was scheduled to be Day 1, prosecutor Petter Hurich rose in a Calgary courtroom and withdrew the charges, abruptly ending the criminal case.
The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, in a statement to CBC News, underlined its obligation to continually test its own case.
Prosecutors, it said, must always review “all available admissible evidence to ensure the matter continues to meet the standard for prosecution.” In this file, that standard was no longer met. The Crown concluded there was “insufficient evidence to proceed to trial.”
For Khan, who has lived under the shadow of the allegations for years, it was a decisive moment.
Defence lawyer Jim Lutz said his client was “greatly relieved” by Monday’s development and called it “the right result in law for Khan.” He described almost a year of combing through the evidence, challenging it, and pressing the Crown to reassess.
“We came to this conclusion after almost a year’s worth of work on this file, critically evaluating the evidence. My client is extremely grateful the Crown took the time to thoroughly review this file,” Lutz said.
Khan was not the only official charged. Former Calgary and District Cricket League treasurer Syed Wajahat Ali had faced the same counts. He says his charges were withdrawn earlier this year, leaving both men now free of criminal prosecution.
Yet the legal retreat by the Crown comes long after the professional damage was done.
Fallout at Cricket Canada
Cricket Canada fired Khan in December 2025, nine months after Calgary police publicly announced the charges. The dismissal followed a board-led investigation and was framed not around the alleged fraud itself, but around what the board said was a fundamental breach of trust.
“The dismissal stems from Mr. Khan’s failure to disclose prior criminal charges — an act that constituted a serious breach of trust — along with violations of organizational bylaws related to his contract,” the board said at the time in a statement on its website.
The contract itself now sits at the heart of a new battle.
According to reporting by CBC’s the fifth estate, Khan’s deal with Cricket Canada included a clause that entitled him to his full term pay if he was fired for any reason other than a criminal conviction related to his role as CEO. No conviction, no automatic escape clause for the employer.
With the charges now withdrawn and no trial ahead, Khan is reportedly fighting for that contract to be honoured. The outstanding amount is significant: $475,000. CBC News has asked Cricket Canada to comment on his claim.
The organization, already wrestling with questions about governance and transparency, must now decide how to respond to a former CEO who left under a cloud but no longer faces criminal proceedings.
How the case began
The fraud investigation started not in a courtroom, but in an accounting review.
In 2017, a newly appointed president of the Calgary and District Cricket League ordered an audit of the league’s financial records. Concerns raised in that audit led to a Calgary police probe.
When officers announced charges in 2024, they alleged that Khan and Ali had misappropriated league funds through cheque payments to construction businesses and contractors linked to the then-president and treasurer.
Police said payments were supposedly made for repairs and upgrades to the league’s clubhouse and grounds. The work, investigators alleged at the time, was either never done or done poorly, with inferior materials.
Those allegations will now never be tested in court. The narrative that once seemed destined to be dissected under oath has been cut short by the Crown’s decision to pull the plug.
Match-fixing allegations linger
Even with the fraud case gone, Khan’s name remains tied to another, very different controversy.
He was prominently featured in a fifth estate investigation into allegations that the Bishnoi gang — run from an Indian prison by its leader Lawrence Bishnoi — has influence over Cricket Canada. The probe explored claims of threats, corruption, and intimidation, and whether an organized crime group was trying to exert control over elements of Canadian cricket.
The fifth estate obtained audio from a former Cricket Canada head coach who claimed he was asked to fix parts of matches by then-CEO Khan and two other former senior figures at the organization.
Khan, in a lengthy email to CBC News, denied those allegations in absolute terms. He said he categorically rejects “any involvement in spot fixing, session fixing, betting or influencing team selection for improper purposes.”
Those match-fixing claims have not led to criminal charges against Khan. They do, however, add another layer of complexity to his public image and to the questions hanging over Cricket Canada’s recent past.
On Monday, one legal fight ended with the Crown walking away from a case it no longer believed it could prove. The next battle, over money, reputation, and the governance of the sport, is only just beginning.
