With the tainted Sri Lankan cricket administration allowed to carry on despite a change at the top in the government, the sport’s global keeper has got down to serious business and appointed legal heavyweight Sumathi Dharmawardena as the new head of its Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) to root out match fixing in the international arena.
Dharmawardena may be a stranger to most Sri Lankans but the International Cricket Council (ICC) is well aware that their new hunter of corrupt elements played a key role as Additional Solicitor General in formulating an Act against illegal betting and the manipulation of outcomes and results in sports in the island in 2019.
His enlisting also comes at a time Sri Lanka has become the focus of attention in match-fixing with promising Test spin bowler Praveen Jayawickrema becoming the latest victim and banned by the ICC over an episode in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) that Roshan Ranasinghe, the former Sports Minister, refused to sanction.
“Mr Dharmawardena brings a wealth of experience including serving as an Additional Solicitor General at the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka, in which he represents the Government of Sri Lanka, including the Ministry of Sport, in a variety of legal matters,” the ICC said.
In making the appointment the ICC had also taken into account Dharmawardena’s role with Interpol and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, investigating corruption in sport, as well as overseeing several investigations and prosecutions concerning sport.
But Dharmawardena could also find himself in a situation where he will have to ensure corruption in cricket in the country has to be first and foremost eradicated before he could report to his bosses at the ICC.
The administration running Sri Lanka Cricket was at the threshold of change in 2022 with Parliament unanimously voting for an end to alleged malpractices that eventually resulted in the then Head of State and President Ranil Wickremasinghe giving the green for a continuation while sacking Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe who led the battled against corruption in sport.
At least four high profile Investigative Reports, two compiled by retired Supreme Court judges over the past four years, have ended up in the where-are-they-now files.
