Dambulla Thunder’s blunder: Owner pleads for bail, but rejected
Initial inquiries have disclosed that Tamim Rahman, the detained owner of the Dambulla Thunders team, allegedly endeavoured to manipulate the player auction with the intention of procuring players susceptible to involvement in match fixing during the forthcoming tournament. This revelation emerged during proceedings at the Colombo Magistrate Courts on Wednesday.
Rahman, a co-owner of the Dambulla Thunders, was apprehended at the Bandaranaike International Airport while attempting to depart the country subsequent to his participation in Tuesday’s player auction at a prominent Colombo hotel.
Following the complaint, police obtained a travel ban on Monday for the suspect, a day before the auction.
Colombo Additional Magistrate Harshana Kakulawela remanded him until May 31, following opposition from the State Counsel against his release on bail, citing the necessity for further investigations, including a voice analysis.
Senior State Counsel Udara Karunaratne, representing the Police Special Investigation Unit of the Ministry of Sports, urged the court to safeguard the identity of the complainant under the Witness Protection Act and requested that the case file remain under court custody. It was revealed in court that Rahman allegedly engaged in a conversation with the complainant for over an hour in April, constituting a violation of Sections 5-6 and 8 of the Prevention of Sports Related Offence Act enacted in 2019.
The State Counsel also asserted that Rahman attempted to manipulate his team’s composition to facilitate betting, a violation of Section 8 of the aforementioned Act. According to court records, Rahman arrived in Colombo on April 22, where he met a group of individuals at the Shangri-La Hotel, and later convened with the complainant at the Dutch Burger Union in Colombo. The State Counsel emphasised that all these conversations were recorded. Since then the anti-corruption sleuths of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has been following the case.
The player auction, conducted on Tuesday, took place under the observation of anti-corruption officials from both Sri Lanka Cricket and the International Cricket Council. The fifth edition of the Lanka Premier League is slated to transpire from July 2 to 21 in Kandy, Dambulla, and Colombo, featuring five teams vying for the championship title.
Godfrey Cooray, Attorney-at-Law representing Rahman, pleaded for his client’s release on bail, contending that Rahman had no involvement in the alleged incident. Cooray disclosed that Rahman had invested US$ 1.5 million in the tournament and had engaged ‘Shashika’ to execute his plans, having paid him a sum of US$ 6000. Cooray further asserted that the voice heard in the recorded conversation belonged to Shashika, not Rahman. The case is scheduled to resume on May 31.