Laws will be introduced soon to curb match fixing, Telecommunication, Foreign Employment and Sports Minister Harin Fernando said.
Addressing the opening of new SLADA building in Colombo yesterday the Minister said that at the moment there is no law in Sri Lanka to punish for match fixing.
“Now the Legal Draftsman has completed all laws. The law will be presented to Parliament soon. Sri Lanka will be the first country in the region to introduce the law,” he said.
According to Minister Fernando, once the laws are enacted, a minimum of five years imprisonment and a maximum of five million rupees fine can be imposed against the offence of match fixing.
“We need to educate the children on these issues and not to punish them,” the Minister said. He pointed out that still children in villages do not know what doping is. “Sometimes the coaches may put something into the mouths of children in order to get popularity for them. There are very talented school children in villages. The ICC banned a cricketer we love. Now school children who do sports have become professionals. Nowadays sportsmen do sports for money,” the Minister said.
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