Cricket’s match-fixing drama in Sri Lanka took another turn as former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage slammed the termination of the Police Commission probing his allegation and the International Cricket Council (ICC) saying there was no evidence to suggest followers of the sport were cheated at the 2011 World Cup final.
The inquiry came to a sudden end after three days in session as Mahela Jayawardena presented himself in front of the probe committee on Friday.
Police said the probe had to be halted as they could not gather any evidence to suggest match fixing.
But former Minister Aluthgamage said the demise of the inquiry could not be accepted while claiming that lawyers for Kumar Sangakkara, who captained the team at the time, had triggered its end citing that the probe had no legal justification.”
There was no proper inquiry in the first place and the police have failed to act according to a procedure. Questioning only 2011 team Selection Committee Chairman Aravinda de Silva and not taking any statement from the Secretary and the President, who headed Sri Lanka Cricket at the time, tells us that the termination of the inquiry cannot be justified,” Aluthgamage said.
Nishantha Ranatunga was the Secretary while D S de Silva was the President of Sri Lanka Cricket which was under a Government Interim Committee when the 2011 final between Sri Lanka and India took place in Mumbai, India.
Aluthgamage said he had provided evidence to the ICC, but the global keeper of cricket said in a Statement on Friday that there was no evidence the match in question was fixed to initiate an inquiry.”
At this time we have not been presented any evidence that supports the claims made or which would merit an investigation under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
“There is no record of any letter sent by the then Sri Lanka Sports Minister to the ICC. We have no reason to doubt the integrity of the World Cup final of 2011,” head of the ICC’s Anti Corruption Unit Alex Marshall said in the Statement. Aluthgamage dropped a bombshell last week telling a local television channel that Sri Lanka could not beat India in the World Cup final of 2011 because the team in his words “sold the match”, a charge both Sangakkara and Jayawardena dismissed as nonsense.