Criminal Charges Against Salman Khan Shahzad Dropped in Calgary Court

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 shadowed one of the sport’s most powerful figures in the country.

Khan, also known as Salman Khan, had faced allegations he misappropriated $200,000 from the Calgary and District Cricket League between 2014 and 2016. He was charged in March 2025 with fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000.

The trial was supposed to start Monday morning. It never did.

Instead, prosecutor Petter Hurich rose in court and withdrew the charges, abruptly halting a prosecution that had been nearly a decade in the making.

A short time later, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service explained why. In a statement, it said prosecutors carry “an ongoing obligation to review all available admissible evidence to ensure the matter continues to meet the standard for prosecution,” and that in this case the assigned prosecutor had concluded there was “insufficient evidence to proceed to trial.”

For Khan, 47, it was a decisive turn.

Defence lawyer Jim Lutz said his client was “greatly relieved” and called the move “the right result in law for Khan.”

“We came to this conclusion after almost a year’s worth of work on this file, critically evaluating the evidence,” Lutz said. “My client is extremely grateful the Crown took the time to thoroughly review this file.”

Khan was not the only official originally in the crosshairs. Former league treasurer Syed Wajahat Ali faced the same counts and says his charges were withdrawn earlier this year, clearing both men of the criminal case that began with a forensic look at the league’s books.

From boardroom to courtroom — and back again

The legal victory does not erase the damage to Khan’s career.

Cricket Canada fired him in December 2025, nine months after Calgary police publicly announced the charges following a board-led investigation. At the time, the national governing body framed the dismissal not around the alleged fraud itself, but around what it described as 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 in a statement posted on Cricket Canada’s website.

That sacking now sits at the heart of a brewing financial dispute. According to reporting by CBC’s the fifth estate, Khan’s contract as CEO included a powerful protection: if he were fired for any reason other than a criminal conviction related to his role, he would be entitled to his full term pay.

With the charges now gone and no conviction on his record from this case, that clause looms large.

Khan is reportedly pressing Cricket Canada to honour the deal and pay out the remaining $475,000 he says he is owed. CBC News has asked the organization for comment on his claim and on Monday’s development in court.

How the case began

The criminal investigation started not with police, but with an audit.

In 2017, the newly appointed president of the Calgary and District Cricket League ordered a review of the league’s financial records. Concerns raised in that audit were passed to Calgary police, who opened a fraud probe.

When officers announced charges in 2025, they alleged Khan and Ali had misdirected league funds through cheque payments to construction businesses and contractors tied to the then-president and treasurer.

According to police at the time, those payments were supposedly for repairs and upgrades to the league’s clubhouse and grounds. Investigators alleged some of that work was never done, and other parts were carried out poorly, using inferior materials.

Those allegations will now never be tested in court.

Match-fixing claims still circling

Even with the fraud and theft charges withdrawn, controversy continues to cling to Khan’s name.

He was previously drawn into a separate storm by CBC’s the fifth estate, which examined allegations that the Bishnoi gang — an organization run from an Indian prison by Lawrence Bishnoi — has influence over Cricket Canada.

The investigative program reported on threats, corruption and intimidation claims linked to the gang, including a letter to police in Canada that declared, “We will rule in CANADA.”

Within that wider probe, the fifth estate obtained audio from a former Cricket Canada head coach. In that recording, the coach claimed he had been asked to fix parts of matches by then-CEO Khan and two other former senior figures in the organization.

Khan has rejected those claims in forceful terms. In a lengthy email to CBC News, he said he “categorically” denies “any involvement in spot fixing, session fixing, betting or influencing team selection for improper purposes.”

Those match-fixing allegations have not resulted in criminal charges in Canada. They do, however, continue to frame the debate around governance, integrity and outside influence in Canadian cricket.

For now, the criminal fraud case that once threatened to define Khan’s legacy is over. The questions that remain — about his contract, his future in the sport, and the wider state of Cricket Canada — may prove far harder to resolve.