Minister Aluthgamage expresses dissatisfaction with match-fixing investigation | Daily News

Minister Aluthgamage expresses dissatisfaction with match-fixing investigation

Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that he was totally dissatisfied with the investigation into the match-fixing issue reported by him during his tenure as the Sports Minister.

Aluthgamage said that the Crime Investigation Department (CID) had failed to obtain statements from the former Cricket Board Chairman, Secretary and Manager regarding this issue. He added that instead, they had obtained statements from some of the former players such as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena. He said that he had not levelled any allegations against former players and had specifically requested in his statement to the CID to question the Chairman, Secretary and the Manager of the Cricket Board.

Minister Aluthgamage said that he is not satisfied with the investigation that was conducted because of his complaint. “They have failed to get a statement from the President and the Secretary in question of the Cricket Board at the time of that World Cup. They had not even obtained a statement from the Manager of the World Cup. I specifically said that players were not connected to this matter, but they involved the players deliberately to mislead the investigation. In my statement to the CID, I requested them to obtain statements from the Cricket Board Secretary during that World Cup Nishantha Ranatunga, Chairman D.S. de Silva and Manager Suraj Dandeniya. But they did not question any of them and instead, they questioned the players and sent their statements to the Attorney General and claimed there was nothing in it. Therefore, I am totally unsatisfied with this investigation,” Minister Aluthgamage said. He added that match-fixing is taking place even in domestic cricket and said that unless this issue is addressed, Sri Lanka would never be able to win a World Cup in the future.

He was responding to Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Mujibur Rahuman. who asked Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa if action would be taken against the former Minister (Aluthgamage) for making such serious allegations that tarnished the reputation of prominent cricketers in the country.

Minister Namal Rajapaksa said that anyone has the right to complain to the ICC if they have such concerns. “If this is stopped, then no one would complain. When a complaint is made to the ICC or Anti-Corruption body, they will initiate an investigation.


Add new comment