Imran Khan gave betting tips to his brother-in-law in a Test match involving England and South Africa to help clear the debts accumulated by his political party Tehreek-e-Insaf after the 2002 parliamentary elections in Pakistan.
The ex-Pakistan cricket captain has revealed this in a new book written by him.
"It took me a year to clear the debts the party had incurred during the elections. I cleared our last remaining debts in an unusual way; I was with my family in England, and my brother-in-law, Ben Goldsmith, kept asking me about what would happen in an England versus South Africa Test match. I discovered his interest came from his 'spread-betting' on the game. I decided to watch the match, and that every pound he made after recovering the £10,000 lost would go towards clearing my party's debt," writes the former fast bowler in the just-published book, Pakistan: A Personal History.
British millionaire Ben is the brother of Jemima Goldsmith, who married the Pakistani cricketer-politician in 1995. The two got divorced in 2004. In spread betting, the pay-off is based on the accuracy of the bet, rather than a simple "win" or "loss" result.
Imran goes on to say, "I have never gambled in my life and have never understood its attraction, but now for the sake of clearing my party's debts I watched the Test match with Ben for the next two days, telling him what to do and when.
Not only did he clear his debt, we also made enough money to clear my party's debt as well. At one point the bookie asked, "Mr Goldsmith, you don't happen to be sitting with your brother-in-law, do you?"
During his youth, Imran was among the most eligible bachelors in the world. For years stories of his possible marriage flooded the gossip columns of newspapers both in India and Pakistan. In the book, he also talks how his father tried to arrange a marriage for him.
He writes, "At one point my father got fed up (like the rest of my family) and decided to take matters into his own hands. He arranged tea at a friend's house so that I could meet his friend's daughter. When the girl came into the room I was so embarrassed I could not even look at her. Meanwhile her mother treated me as if I was a 25-year-old, rather than someone who was approaching middle age. I was even asked about my university days - again a question more apt for someone in their early to mid-twenties. The agony finally ended when my father and I begged to leave. On the way back he did not even bother to ask me what I thought of the girl.
"He realized how ridiculous the whole situation was. We both laughed and I politely requested him not to make any more attempts to find me a bride." Source Source2
