Patel’s legal team files motion to lift travel ban
The legal team representing the owner of Kandy Samp Army, Yogi Patel, who has been refrained from leaving Sri Lanka, pending investigations over charges of corrupt practices during the Legends Cricket League, has presented a motion at the Colombo Chief Magistrate.
The motion is filed to revoke the travel ban imposed on Patel, who was handed an extended 90-day travel ban out of Sri Lanka, after the initial ban of 30 days, and will be taken up at the Colombo Chief Magistrate tomorrow.
Patel, who was granted bail, is represented by two Indian lawyers and solicitor Y.M. Tennakoon, and had earlier filed a motion seeking the revoke of his travel ban. But the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Ministry of Sports set up to prevention of sports related corruptions had sought time to provide more details pertaining to the case.
Earlier this month Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis further extended the travel ban imposed on the two individuals up to June 13 with investigations pending over the charges of pressuring a cricketer to engage in corrupt practices during the recently concluded Legends Cricket League, played at Pallekele. The Magistrate also ordered to inform the Controller of Immigration and Emigration of the extension of the travel ban, as the proceedings were pending investigation. Besides the owner of Kandy Samp Army, Yogi Patel, the other individual involved is the manager of Punjab Royals, P. Akash. The extension was imposed by the Magistrate following a motion filed by Senior Inspector Supul Withanage, the Officer In-Charge of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Ministry of Sports set up to prevention of sports related corruptions.
Earlier, the Magistrate ordered to release the owner of the Kandy Samp Army team, Yogi Patel on a 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 seven-team cricket tournament held 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 made by Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka’s present 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.
Preliminary investigations revealed 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.