Sri Lanka Cricket Board official arrested, Arjuna Ranatunga wants Indian help to tackle corruption

Agencies
October 23, 2018

New Delhi, Oct 23: Sri Lanka Cricket, which is currently fighting the menace of deep-rooted corruption, was dealt a blow after its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) was arrested for alleged financial fraud, police said on Monday.

The police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said that Piyal Nandana was arrested following a complaint lodged by the SLC to the Inspector General of Police.

Earlier on Monday, former Sri Lankan captain and country’s Petroleum Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said that India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could provide technical expertise in probing widespread allegations of corruption in cricket.

“India has specialized knowledge on the issue having taken action against many corrupt activities in match fixing. The Prime Minister (Sri Lankan) and I made a special request to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He pledged assistance,” Ranatunga told reporters.

“We don’t have the expertise or the laws to deal with this problem in a proper manner. India promised to help us in drafting legislation too,” Ranatunga said after returning from New Delhi.

Former Lanka skipper Ranatunga said that the corrupt local administration was responsible for the current lowly standing of Sri Lanka in international cricket. “It is no point blaming the players for the poor showings,” Ranatunga said.

The arrest of the Sri Lanka Cricket CFO is related to an alleged financial fraud, which was unearthed last September.

An alleged attempt to transfer to an offshore account USD 5.5 million connected to the broadcasting rights of the current England tour of Sri Lanka was reported to the police’s crime investigation department.

The SLC had cited the CFO Nandana as the prime suspect, who had claimed that his e-mail account had been hacked and sent the request to transfer the money to an off shore account. He was sent on compulsory leave.

The money was one of the three tranches coming from Sony Picture Networks for broadcast rights of the England tour. The corruption and fixing allegations have hit the country’s cricket hard after a documentary aired in May alleged massive global corruption in cricket.

After it was aired, Galle groundsman Tharanga Indika and former first-class cricketer Tharindu Mendis were found allegedly speculating about fixing the pitch to ensure a result in under four days in a Test match against England.

Both men have been suspended by Sri Lanka Cricket pending an ICC investigation. A third man, provincial coach Jeevantha Kulatunga, was also suspended. Sanath Jayasuriya, a member of the 1996 World Cup winning squad, is under investigation by the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit, along with several others. Jayasuriya has been charged for not co-operating with a match-fixing probe and concealing information.

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Agencies
June 6,2020

Malappuram, Jun 6: One more COVID-19 death was reported in Kerala on Saturday taking the toll in the State to 15.

The 61-year-old deceased, Hamsa Koya, a former footballer who represented Maharashtra in Santosh Trophy, had returned from Mumbai with his family on May 21.

Koya was undergoing treatment at Manjeri Medical College in Malappuram. The medical bulletin issued said that he was suffering from pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

On June 5, as his health deteriorated, he was administered plasma therapy on the advice of the state medical board. However, he did not respond to medicines and breathed his last at 6:30 am on Saturday.

The medical bulletin said that his family members including his wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren of 3 years and a 3 month-old child also had tested COVID-19 positive and were earlier shifted to hospital for treatment.

With this, the total death toll in Kerala has reached 15. 

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News Network
July 21,2020

Jul 21: The tickets sold for the now-postponed ICC T20 World Cup will remain valid if Australia hosts the edition in 2021 instead of India.

In case the event is shifted to 2022, all ticket-holders will be entitled to a full refund, the ICC stated on its website on Monday night after postponing the mega-event this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tournament was to be held in October-November but will now be conducted later because of the pandemic.

The ICC has not yet announced which country will host which edition as there are operational issues that both the Indian and Australian cricket Boards need to sort out.

The world body had opened ticket booking through its ticketing partners and a significant number was already sold.

"Ticket holders are welcome to retain their tickets, noting, if Australia hosts in 2021, tickets will remain valid for fans who have already bought and will be automatically updated to reflect the new dates.

"If Australia hosts in 2022, for tickets already bought a full refund will be processed automatically," ICC stated in a series of FAQs.

Fans can retain their tickets until a date is confirmed for the event.

Refund requests can be made until December 15 and they will be processed within 30 days after an online submission.

The hospitality package will also remain valid for the 2021 fixtures.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: India captain Virat Kohli has refrained from making any comments on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), without gaining full knowledge on the sensitive subject.

The CAA will grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12, even if they don't possess any proper document.

In 2016, Kohli had termed demonetisation as the "greatest move in history of Indian politics", which met with sharp criticism from a lot of quarters, with people questioning his knowledge on the subject.

With Guwahati witnessing massive protests against the CAA till some days back, Kohli was asked about it and the Indian skipper weighed his words carefully.

"On the issue, I do not want to be irresponsible and speak on something that has, you know, radical opinions both sides. I need to have total information, total knowledge of what it means and what is going on and then be responsible to give my opinion on it," Kohli said ahead of India's first T20 International against Sri Lanka.

The skipper made it clear that he will not like to get embroiled in a controversy by commenting on a subject that he is not well aware of.

"Because you can say one thing and then someone can say another thing. So, I would not like to get involved in something that I don't have total knowledge of and it's not going to be responsible on my part to comment on it." However Kohli on his part was happy with the security arrangements and felt that the city is "absolutely safe".

"The city is absolutely safe. We didn't see any problems on the roads," Kohli said, giving his thumbs-up for the match at the Barsapara Stadium.

The Assam Cricket Association is using this match as a "curtain-raiser" ahead of their maiden IPL match this season as Rajasthan Royals have adopted this venue.

There has been deployment of Rapid Action Force for the teams and ACA secretary Devajit Saikia has said the spectators will not even be allowed to bring along handkerchiefs and towels on the match-day as the traditional Assamese scarf was used for protests against CAA.

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