Rooting crooks out of the game
by Rex Clementine
The arrest of former Sri Lanka cricketer Sachithra Senanayake for attempting to corrupt the game is a landmark moment in the annals of the game in our country. The player was remanded after court impounded his passport imposing a travel ban and the police unit to investigate corruption in sports will present before the learned judge why the player needs to be punished. Senanayake faces a fine or a jail term or both after being charged with attempting to corrupt the 2020 Lanka Premier League.
When former Scotland Yard cop Alex Marshall took charge as the head of the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit, he launched an aggressive campaign to root out corruption from the sport. Accordingly, several players and officials have been banned from the game.
Marshall also encouraged countries to make corruption in sports a crime. It is already a crime in England and Australia but rest of the world weren’t quickly buying into Marshall’s arguments.
Sri Lanka was faced with a major problem at that time. The ICC had a record number of investigations on Sri Lankan players and officials and SLC felt the need to address the issue.
The Sports Minister at that time Harin Fernando took some initiatives and urged the Cabinet to act swiftly. Accordingly, a bill was presented to the Parliament making corruption in sports a crime. The bill was passed and a new police unit was established at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
Thus Sri Lanka became the first Asian nation to make corruption in sports a crime. This will enable us to keep the game clean and root out corruption from the game.
This police unit was slow to act. Not due to any fault of theirs but they did not possess the technical expertise on how to combat corruption in sports. With the help of ICC the unit was provided with technical assistance on what needs to be done to prevent crimes in sports and to interrogate wrongdoers.
Senanayake is alleged to have approached two players during the first edition of Lanka Premier League to corrupt games. The players reported the approach. Not reporting an approach is also punishable. The former off-spinner is believed to have not cooperated with investigations and that didn’t help his case either.
This is a landmark moment because it has sent a strong message to those involved in the sport that there’s no room in the game for corruption. If they attempt to do so, they run the risk of serving jail terms.
