‘Secretary General misled the public’ alleges NOCSL chief
The President of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) Suresh Subramanium says his Secretary General Maxwell de Silva has misled the public by criticising the decision of it Ethics Committee (EC) who called for de Silva’s immediate suspension.
The Ethics Committee’s recommendation follows an inquiry conducted by a three-member committee appointed by former Sports Minister, Harin Fernando, earlier this year. The report focused on alleged financial misconduct involving de Silva and former NOCSL President Hemasiri Fernando related to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Following the Sunday Times report two weeks ago, de Silva–who has been holding the position for 15-long years, took a scathing attack on the Ethics Committee saying that EC decision’s lack of clarity and evidence regarding the purported letter. He has requested further clarifications from the Ethics Committee to better understand their decision-making process and their authority, as it presently stands the actions of the Ethics Committee seems to be tainted with illegality, bias, and malice.
However, in their report Ethics Committee says “The said observations of the Committee are self-explanatory and the implications adverted in the said Report against the aforesaid two officers have been established to our satisfaction. Accordingly in response to paragraph 8 of your aforesaid Affidavit, we see no reason to re-invest the wheel and re-inquire into this matter afresh”.
However, Subramanium says the Ethics Committees recommendations are based on the investigations on the statement made in parliament by an MP against NOCSL officials and not the ongoing investigation on the allegations made by the Federations at the 2023 AGM.
“The allegations made in parliament in 2023, accusing both President and Secretary General of fraudulently obtaining funds for overseas travel and being involved in human smuggling, following which I requested the Ministry of Sports to conduct an enquiry into the said allegations,” Subramanium said.
“The investigations conducted by a three-member committee appointed by the Ministry of Sports had revealed that the NOCSL violated regulations by sending six individuals to the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, without approval of the Ministry of Sports (MoS). Out of 176 attendees, only 170 had been approved by the MoS. Twelve absconded during the event, thus tarnishing the image of the country. The Ethics Committee had based their recommendations on the already concluded investigation as there is no reasons to investigate again”.
According to Subramanium only de Silva has the authority to make entries to the secured data base of participants and the six included the individuals who did not have the approval of the MoS. The monies had been paid through the NOCSL and the air tickets for the said unauthorised six individuals too had been collected by the accountant of the NOCSL.
The investigation report also highlighted a confirmed government audit that both the then President Hemasiri Fernando and the incumbent Secretary General Maxwell de Silva claimed USD 10,000 each for travel and accommodation during the Rio Olympics in 2016, despite already receiving compensation from the International Olympics Committee on 14 March 2016.
The unlawfully withdrawn excess duplicate funds that were kept with them were only returned by the former on April 6 of 2017 after over one year had elapsed and by the latter on December 4 of 2017, after well over one year and nine months had elapsed. These are clear cases of misappropriation of funds.
These matters have now been referred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of the Ministry of Sports, as advised by the Attorney General.
It is based on the above confirmed reports and its own enquiry that the Ethics Committee of the NOCSL has recommended the immediate suspension of Secretary General Maxwell de Silva, pending further actions by the law enforcement authorities.