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‘Sports mafia’ slandering me for my stand against corruption: Aluthgamage
Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage admitted in Parliament yesterday that he has some personal problems but said he was being slandered by members of the ‘sports mafia’ who were unhappy with him over certain decisions he had taken to stop corruption in the sports sector.
“I have some personal problems but so do 95 per cent of the people in this country. But it is the ‘mafia’ in the football and cricket sector and in the Olympic Committee who rake up muck and then plot to sully my image,” the minister said while speaking during the Committee Stage debate of the Ministry of Sports.
In apparent references to media reports that he owned many properties the minister said he did not live on the salary he got as an MP and minister alone. “None of us live on that salary alone. We all have other businesses and so do I,” the minister said.
He said that since becoming sports minister he has taken on the powerful mafia in football, cricket and the NOC and they were, therefore, engaged in destroying his image.
The minister also announced that a new anti-match fixing law is being drafted and would be presented to Parliament within the next three to four months.
The draft is being prepared with the assistance of MP Arjuna Ranatunga.
“There are people who fix matches played at a provincial level for even Rs. 15,000-20,000,” he said.