DUBAI – Dashing former Sri Lankan batsman and ex-chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya has been charged for not cooperating with a match-fixing probe and concealing information, the International Cricket Council said Monday.
“The International Cricket Council (ICC) has charged Jayasuriya on two counts of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) and have given him 14 days to respond,” the ICC said in a statement.
Jayasuriya, 49, was reportedly asked to cooperate with an inquiry from ACU chief Alex Marshall who visited Sri Lanka last week.
“The charges include failure or refusal, without compelling justification, to cooperate with any investigation carried out by the ACU, including failure to provide accurate and completely any information and/or documentation requested by the ACU as part of such investigation,” the ICC said.
The other count included “obstructing or delaying any investigation that may be carried out by the ACU, including concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence or may lead to the discovery of evidence of corrupt conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code”.
The ICC’s ACU is acting on the lead given in a sting operation in a documentary by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television earlier this year.
The documentary revealed how fixers rigged two Test matches between Sri Lanka and India in July last year and Sri Lanka versus Australia in August 2016.
Jayasuriya played 110 Tests, 445 one-day internationals and 31 Twenty20s for Sri Lanka and was also a former captain during his illustrious career between 1989-2011. He is also a former member of Sri Lanka’s parliament.
