Thilanga Sumathipala, the controversial President of Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) has mysteriously been escaping from the International Cricket Council (ICC) for years even though the cricket’s governing body had several ‘doubts’ against him in 2005 itself, Cricket Age reliably learns.
Sumathipala, who ran the SLC for last two years, was knocked out from the board on May 31st due to several wrongdoings in the appointment of the election committee. Since then, Sports Minister Faizer Mustapha has taken over the board and his secretary Kamal Padmasiri is running the show.
Cricket Age understand that in 2013, Mr Alan Isaacs from the ICC wrote to Sumathipala stating that during the period 2003-2005, various investigations were carried out by the ICC’s ACSU. In these investigations, ICC’s Ethics Officer, being subsequently supported by a review carried out by the Chair of the ICC’s Code of Conduct Commission Mr Michael Beloff QC, the governing body found that there was evidence that Sumathipala was in breach of various clauses of the ICC’s Code of Ethics, primarily through his relationship with the ‘Sporting Star’ bookmaking business in Sri Lanka.
In the letter, it was mentioned that in June 2005, the ICC had resolved “that if Sumathipala was ever nominated by SLC as its representative on the Board again, he would not be entitled to take up that position until the hearing process took place and a decision was finally made as to whether or not he had committed a breach of the Code of Ethics.”
The ICC Code of Ethics effective 10th May 2017 states thus:-
2.6.1 An Official may not have a business association (whether direct or indirect) or enter into any business arrangement (whether formal or informal) with any Betting Organisation that involves the payment of any monies to or by, or the conferring of any benefit(s) or advantage(s) upon or by, the Official, either directly or indirectly, as a result of such association or arrangement unless such association or arrangement is disclosed to, and recorded and approved by, the Ethics Officer.
It is noteworthy that during his two years tenure at SLC, Sumathipala never attended any of the ICC meeting by giving various excuses.
