ST JOHN'S, Antigua – Outspoken West Indies Cricket Board disciplinary committee member Richie Richardson has slammed the International Cricket Council's laws dealing with the Marlon Samuels bookie scandal and says warning, rather than banning the player, would have been sufficient.

"I think [the ruling] is unfair. There is nothing we could have done. If the commission (disciplinary committee) had the authority what we would have done was to give him a warning rather than a ban," Richardson said.

"But ICC are the one who set out the rules and we are guided by the rules. We aren't the one who banned Marlon for two years. We wouldn't have done that and we will be issuing a statement to indicate that law needs to be revised because it is unfair."

Richardson, along with chairman Justice Adrian Saunders, Dr. Lloyd Barnett, Professor Aubrey Bishop, said Monday they had found by "majority opinion" that Samuels had indeed violated the ICC Rules of Conduct 4 (ix) stating that he "received money, benefit or other reward which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute."

However, the committee said they had also written to WICB president Julian Hunte "expressing concern about the propriety of prescribing mandatory minimum punishments" for the nature of Samuels' offence.

They also said they would have preferred to issue a two-year suspended sentence, if they had been empowered to do so.

Richardson said be believed the ICC laws were not working to bring harmony to cricket.

"I'm personally disappointed and I don't wish to be part of anything that is really going to destroy anyone's career unfairly. I honestly feel that law that has been created by the ICC ... that law can bring the game into disrepute," the former West Indies captain contended.

"I'm very disappointed I'm involved. I wish I wasn't because it is unfair. This law seems to be made by somebody in an office somewhere who wants
to be in control.

"I can understand the problem we are having in the game with match-fixing and all of that. I can understand that they want to be severe. If somebody willingly and deliberately based on information, gives out [information] to a bookie or anything like that I can understand that ban.

"But Marlon naively befriended this guy or this guy befriended him and I haven't seen anything to prove that Marlon either deliberately gave out information or deliberately received funds from anyone."

He added: "It is just that he was in a jam in a foreign country and the easiest thing was to call a friend and ask a friend to help him."

Samuels denied any wrongdoing but an internal WICB investigation found there was enough evidence to charge him with misconduct.

The 27-year-old Samuels has played 29 Tests and 107 One-Day Internationals. (CMC)