DILHARA LOKUHETTIGE SUSPENDED FOR EIGHT YEARS
Former Sri Lanka cricketer Dilhara Lokuhettige will challenge his eight-year ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for three breaches of the ICC’S anti-corruption code. The ICC said yesterday that Lokuhettige was banned from all cricket for eight years, backdated to 3 April 2019, the date of his first provisional suspension.
Unlike Heath Streak, who too was banned for eight years last week, Lokuhettige has not admitted guilt and will await his fate at the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), where he filed his appeal (on March 19 this year) after the tribunal’s initial verdict on January 19.
Lokuhettige has been charged with breaching Article 2.1.1, being party to an effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct, or other aspect(s) of an International Match; Article 2.1.4, directly solicited, induced, enticed or encouraged one Sri Lankan player to breach Code Article 2.1.1; and Article 2.4.4, failed to disclose to the ACU (without unnecessary delay, or at all) full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in Corrupt Conduct under the Code.
The ICC suspension comes in the wake of two of the three members in the tribunal Michael Belhoff QC (Chairman) and the Honourablemr Justice Winston Anderson finding that the ICC has established jurisdiction over Lokuhettige. The other member, Simon Copleston, dissented from that finding.
Lokuhettige, who played nine ODIS and two T20IS for Sri Lanka, appeared in an Al Jazeera documentary into match-fixing in cricket in 2018, where he claimed that he was prepared to fix matches.
In further investigations it was found that Lokuhettige had also approached at least one player to engaged in fixing.
Lokuhettige was previously charged by the ICC on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Board for breaching three counts of the ECB Anti-corruption Code for Participants for the T10 League, and the ICC in a statement about the former all-rounder’s suspension clarified that those proceeding are also ongoing.
“Having represented Sri Lanka in international cricket, Dilhara had attended a number of anticorruption education sessions and would have known his actions were a breach of the Code. The severity of the sanction reflects the seriousness of his offences and his continued refusal to cooperate and should serve as a deterrent for anyone considering getting involved in corruption of any kind,” Alex Marshall, the ICC’S General Manager – Integrity Unit, was also quoted as saying, in the statement.