Cricket officials who made the greatest escape in the country’s biggest game of hide and seek will face their final match-up as former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe broke his silence nearly two years after he was shown the door in his fight against corruption and abuse in sports administration.
Holding back nothing, the deposed Ranasinghe had the last laugh at the man that blocked the campaign against corruption, Ranil Wickremasinghe who was dethroned from the Presidency by a popular people’s vote.
Ranasinghe now sees the end in sight of his relentless battle for a clean-up and went to the extent of nudging the ousted Wickremasinghe’s successor and the country’s number one anti corruption activist Anura Kumara Dissanayake to revisit his Complaint made to the Criminal Investigation Department.
“The administration of cricket is corrupt and that is documented in the Auditor General’s Report. It was I who made the official complaint to the Criminal Investigation Department and if my complaint has been swept under the carpet for political reasons, the current President (Anura Kumara Dissanayake) can bring it out”, said Ranasinghe.
Making what became an iconic speech in Parliament where he told Wickremasinghe to choose between him and a tainted Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) administration, Ranasinghe is positive that at least four Investigative Reports, two by retired Supreme Court judges, will be fished out and read by new Sports Minister Sunil Gamage.
“If the Reports have gone missing the new Minister (Sunil Gamage) can ask me and I will give him all the Reports pertaining to corruption, the Auditor General’s one, the Kusala Sarojani Report and so on.
“I was sacked and the rogues are still at large. It was the Auditor General that informed me that the cricket board is corrupt and that I should take action”, said Ranasinghe.
Claiming SLC has no moral right to continue, Ranasinghe declared it was against the ruling of the Sports Ministry to allow it to function under the circumstances.
“Today there is a new President and ridding the country of corruption is foremost to him. The first thing they should do is implement the Auditor General’s Report, give it top priority and install a new cricket administration”, said Ranasinghe.
At his maiden meeting with the media, Minister Gamage kept anti corruption crusaders and cricket followers alike on suspense saying that there was a difference between the ousted President Wickremasinghe and the newly elected Head of State Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
“Our government is collectively against corruption and I will not face any sticking points. The people have given us a mandate to eradicate corruption.
“We know there is fraud and corruption taking place. What we see today is that sport has become a business and we have to change this set-up”, said Minister Gamage.
He promised to rid sports bodies of leeching and scrounging behind political cover to ensure fair-play for sportsmen and women through a cleansed non-toxic environment.
