Spot-fixing' agent had been working on Pakistan matches for years

Mazhar Majeed, the player agent at the centre of the cricket "spot-fixing" trial, claimed in undercover recordings played to the court on Monday that he had been arranging fixed events at Pakistan's cricket matches for years.

"These guys wouldn't deal with anyone," said Majeed. "The only reason they deal with me is because they know my background. I've been dealing with them, the Pakistan team, for about two and a half years and we've made massive amounts of money. I deal with an Indian party and they pay me."

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Majeed, who has been charged with cheating at gambling and accepting corrupt payments, is not currently in the dock, but his conversations with an undercover journalist are being used in evidence in the trial of Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif.

The pair have been charged with the same offences, and deny any wrongdoing. The journalist Mazhar Mahmood, then of the News of the World, was posing as an Indian businessman working for a private equity firm that intended to set up a cricket tournament in the Middle East involving Pakistan players. The journalist explained that one of his fellow consortium members was a "guy from Singapore" who had "no interest" in cricket but wanted "two or three [players] up for the other side, the betting side".

"There's more than two or three," said Majeed. "It's already set, it's already there." Majeed claimed that fixing was a "centuries" old practice and raised the names of Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram as two who had previously been involved. Majeed explained the "brackets" system, whereby for betting purposes a match is divided into sections in which events can be analysed and bet upon. He said that Asif would signal the opening of a prearranged segment by bowling a dead ball.

"Asif will indicate by bowling a dead ball in that over and then we know the market opens at 10 overs," Majeed said. "Let's say it's 33 runs [that the market anticipates will be scored during the 10-over 'bracket']. At the sixth over, when he does a dead ball, they know that the eighth, ninth and 10th overs are going to go for more runs. Because they've kept the score down at the start but in the last three overs they let it all go and you make a killing. That's brackets."

However, Majeed said that this manipulation of events did not at that time extend to fixing results. "For brackets we charge anything from £50,000 to £80,000," said Majeed. "For results, Twenty20 is about £400,000. A Test match, depending on the duration, is £1m. We won't be doing any results for a few games because we want Butt to be captain long term. No‑balls are not a problem because you can't make much money from that."

The alleged conversation took place at a meeting at Bombay Brasserie in London on 18 August last year where Majeed had been pleading his players' poverty. "How much Pakistan players are being paid is a joke," he said, stressing that their attendance at the proposed tournament could be bought "very cheaply; as long as they have the opportunity to make money – match-winnings as well".

"You'll get them," he said. "£50,000 they get paid the whole season, £60,000, £100,000 sometimes. They're broke. All the players, they are very, very loyal with us."

Majeed also claimed he had previously worked for Arsenal. "My background is football," Majeed claimed. "I have set up academies all around the world. I've worked for Arsenal Football Club. I've done this sort of thing all the time. I've done it for Arsenal."

The case continues.