The Minister’s orders do not appear consistent with the recent reiterations by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) that there should be no political interference in local sports governing bodies, but the Minister claimed that the new government was keen to investigate all the allegations about corruption.
“As there is a new government in place and allegations of corruption in many institutions abound the Minister directed the Secretary of the Ministry Mr. Rafeek to employ the services of a Sri Lankan Audit firm to do a complete financial audit and give the report to him in one months’ time,” stated a media release by the Minister.
Minister proved he was ready to be tough with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials.
“There cannot be any conflict of interest by Board members and Sri Lanka Cricket. This means that Board members cannot employ those related to them or promote them nor can they have any contracts that supply any services or goods to the Board,” added the release.
The minister also made a ruling on the long running controversy of SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga representing SLC at the ICC’s CEO conferences. “He (Ashley de Silva) will also represent SLC at the CEO Conferences of the ICC,” read the Minister’s media release.
Ranatunga, asked about the controversy, told “Daily Mirror” yesterday that it was the SLC Exco which assigned him for the ICC Chief Executive meetings. He said that the members like India and Sri Lanka sent the Secretary to the ICC CEO meeting as the structure of these cricket boards was different to the other cricket boards of the world.
He said that the exco felt that a member at the decision making level should represent the board at these meetings. He said that it was a decision SLC exco had taken way back in 2009 and insisted he had nothing personal to gain by attending the meetings. Minister has also put an end to SLC officials attempting to claim the credit for various issues by ordering that all communication with foreign cricket boards should be carried out only in consultation with all top officails.
“No member of the Board should have direct communications with overseas Cricket Board individuals. All such contact and communications should be done by the President’s Office or on an officially accepted basis. All such communications should be shared by the President, Secretary and the CEO,” stated the Minister’s directive.
Minister announced that he has appointed a three member committee headed by Dharmasena Dissanayake, a retired secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs to investigate the alleged irregularities that had occurred at the Sports and Tourism ministries. The other members of the committee would be Namasivayam Pathmanathan, a retired Deputy Secretary of the Treasury and Ruzly Hussain, a director of the public sector.
Media questioned the Minister about the media reports about cricket star Kumar Sangakkara making allegations against the former Sports Minister and SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga and the Minister announced that he hopes to appoint a one-member committee to investigate the allegations.
Minister also said that he would consult the President and Prime Minister if the SLC election due to be held before March 31, should be postponed in view of the World Cup.
