By: AswathyNair
The report submitted by Sports Ministry’s Special Investigation Unit on Prevention of Offences relating to Sports Act of 2019 id now under the carpet.,
The reason, even after shamefully grilling stalwarts of Sri Lankan cricket Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Sangakkara and Upul Tharanga for many hours, police could not get any clue and due to insufficient evidence probe has been shut.
In the aftermath of Mahindananda Aluthgamage’s match-fixing allegations which opened a can of worms, legal expert’s emphasized that sports persons should maintain records of their assets and accounts to produce to investigators in the event of any inquiry.
This was a requirement in the recently enacted law on Prevention of Offences Relating to Sports.
The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) set up under the new Act is empowered to examine assets and accounts of any person, their spouse and children, said Additional Solicitor General Sumathi Dharmawardena at a seminar to educate the sports fraternity on the new law.
It imposes stringent punishment for anyone found guilty of sports-related corruption including match-fixing.
Dharmawardena and former Sports Ministry Legal Adviser Panduka Keerthinanda were behind the drafting the law, a first in the region, to counter the global fixing menace.
This is the second statute that has made it a mandatory requirement in Sri Lanka to declare assets of any person, spouse and child of such person subjected to an investigation under the Act [s.24 (g)], but limited to immovable and movable properties (assets) excluding liabilities.
Sri Lanka Cricket is in the process of introducing a tougher code of conduct for players which until now did not cover their off-field behavior after another high-speed car crash and the death of a 64-year-old man brought into question indiscipline among cricketers to whom life on the fast lane has put them on par with notoriety
The latest case involving batsman Kusal Mendis has turned him from a soft-spoken lad to a villain on the highway as Social media was awash with criticism over his conduct amid allegations that he got away in a police cover-up.
