Kandy Samp Army owner granted bail
Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis has ordered to release the owner of the Kandy Samp Army team, Yogi Patel on surety bail of Rs.10 million after he was produced before courts over charges of pressuring a cricketer to engage in corrupt practices during the recently concluded Legend Cricket League -a seven-team cricket tournament in Kandy featuring retired international cricketers.
The tournament ended at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on March 18 with the participation of a large number of retired international stars.
This was following the claims by Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka’s current chairman of selectors representing Kandy Samp Army, and Neil Broom from New Zealand playing for Punjab Royals, that they were approached by two individuals identified as the Kandy Samp team owner and the Punjab Royals manager. However, the Magistrate refused to revoke the travel ban imposed on Kandy Samp Army team owner.
The Magistrate also extended the travel ban imposed on the manager of the Punjab Royals team by another three months on the request of the Special Investigation Unit of the Ministry of Sports set up to prevention of sports related corruptions. Preliminary investigations reveal that Tharanga reported the approach to the SIU, while Broom reported the matter to New Zealand Cricket, who then informed ICC investigators.
According to SIU findings, the team manager summoned Broom to his room and instructed him to score less than 10 runs after facing more than 10 balls. Sri Lanka became the first South Asian country to enact laws criminalising sports-related offences, preventing individuals in the betting and gaming industry from accessing or using insider information.