ICC looking to charge sheet more Lankan cricket corruptors
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Alex Marshell
Since the International Cricket Council sent shockwaves with the charge sheeting of champion former national cricketer and selection committee chairman Sanath Jayasuriya, speculation is rife on further action by the ICC.
While stating his innocence, Jayasuriya in a public statement said that he would file his answers before the ICC stipulated 14 days expired. If Jayasuriya fails to respond, the ICC will take a unilateral decision to suspend him for a period not less than six months and not greater than five years.
When the Sunday Times inquired as to what sort of action that Sri Lanka Cricket is contemplating, a very senior spokesman of the organisation said, “Initially if anyone is found guilty and has contravened the ICC charter he would be punished by cricket’s system. However, to keep the game of cricket above board, certainly we, too, would have to be prompt. We do not need tainted persons involved with the game. So, while abiding with the ICC observations, we too will have to ascertain as to which direction that we would move”.
Meanwhile in an interview published in ESPNcricinfo, Alex Marshall, ACU general manager, explains why he and his team have been spending a lot of time in Sri Lanka. Marshall says his goal is to “break the cycle of abuse and corruption” that has seeped into Sri Lankan cricket and is threatening young players. Sri Lanka is one where we are very concerned, the high number of reports that we are getting and the high number of investigations would indicate that the corruption is in the system. Sri Lanka is the country where we have conducted the most investigations in the last 12 months with Zimbabwe a close second.”
In the interview it is stated that that the ICC is monitoring the movements of 12-20 very active corruptors and among them there could be some women, too.
We are doing several investigations into various types of corrupt activities. The focus is really on the people. We are investigating several people in
Sri Lanka connected to cricket – from inside and outside of cricket. These people could be current players, ex-players, administrators, senior officials, people outside the game.