Sports Minister says Prez asked him do away with Interim Committee, but he refuses to do so

Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe yesterday told Parliament that President Ranil Wickremesinghe had asked him to abolish the Interim Committee appointed for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), soon after the conclusion of the Cabinet meeting on Monday (Nov. 06).

Speaking on the matter during the parliamentary session yesterday, the SLPP MP said the President had cautioned him that the Sports would be brought under his purview unless the appointed Interim Committee was abolished.

The Minister said that he had asked the President to remove him from his ministerial post and to take any decision at his discretion. The Minister said that he would not under any circumstances do away with the Interim Committee.

Ranasinghe also called the board members of SLC a ‘band of thieves’ involved in multiple acts of misconduct.

The sports minister alleged that the Attorney General and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) had failed to take action although two months had elapsed since the Auditor General’s Department released a special report exposing financial irregularities at SLC.

Ranasinghe addressed parliament soon after the Court of Appeal issued stay orders on the Interim Committee and the special gazette notification issued by him.