Former Sri Lankan Test Cricketer Nuwan Zoysa has broken his silence over harassment by officials of the International Cricket Council.
Making a statement before the media the former paceman noted that members of the ICC anti-corruption unit forcibly took him away from his place of work and questioned him.
In October last year, The International Cricket Council (ICC) had charged Zoysa with three counts of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
The charges were as follows:
Article 2.1.1 – being party to an effort to fix or contrive or to otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspect of an International match.
Article 2.1.4 – directly soliciting, inducing, enticing or encouraging a player to breach Code Article 2.1.1.
Article 2.4.4 – failing to disclose to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in corrupt conduct under the Code.
Yesterday, Zoysa vehemently denied all allegations against him and explained that his only fault was that he did not inform the authorities that an Indian national attempted to approach him through the then coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team.
He noted that he has made a lengthy statement about this incident to the ICC. While noting that he had never betrayed the game or engaged in any corrupt activity, he explained that he has been suspended despite this.
The pacemen then took aim at the actions of the ICC, he revealed to the media that on the 2nd of October 2018, while working at the high-performance centre at the R. Premadasa stadium, two foreign nationals approached him and claimed that they were members of the ICC.
Zoysa stated that he was forcibly taken from his place of work to the Cinnamon Grand hotel and was questioned for an extended period of time. He added that the foreign nationals had forcibly, without his consent, taken away his personal mobile phones and had forced him to speak in English when speaking to his wife.
Zoysa noted that he was denied the assistance of a translator or a lawyer and explained that he was put in a desperate situation as he could barely understand the language and the accents of the ICC officials who had strong-armed him into an interrogation.
The former test cricketer explained that the only reason he went along with them was that they had threatened that he would lose his job if he did not comply. According to Zoysa the ICC officials had claimed that the questioning was confidential, but noted that he had been suspended because of these actions.
There are already reports that the manner in which anti-corruption officials of the International Cricket Council conduct investigations against Sri Lankan Cricketers and officials is questionable. The revelation made by Nuwan Zoysa today lends further credence to the reports.
”There should be a proper mechanism to conduct investigations against any international player or official at Sri Lanka Cricket. In a backdrop where there has been no solid evidence to confirm any form of corruption committed by players or officials attached to Sri Lanka Cricket, these sudden raids conducted at stadiums only damages the good name and integrity of Sri Lankan Cricket players as well as the sport of Cricket in Sri Lanka” a former player told Cricket Age.
