DailyMirror
New Sports Minister C. B. Ratnayake yesterday came down hard, the hardest and harshest imaginable way possible, to accuse Sri Lanka’s cricket administrators of shameful acts and declared the government-installed Interim Committee running the affairs of the sport was the most corrupt in the country only behind the Education and Police departments.
Making his maiden appearance in front of journalists at the sport’s headquarters, Minister Ratnayake held back nothing on the occasion and even warned cricket officials that they could face lawsuits as Interim Committee chairman D. S. de Silva sat and held his chin almost motionless in the absence of his secretary Nishantha Ranatunga.
“In this country there are three most corrupt institutions. The Education Department, the Police Department and Sri Lanka Cricket. Give me one week and I will clean this up, I am not a tool in anybody’s hands. If those responsible have to be taken to court they will be in court”, Ratnayake declared.
He did not say who will form the next set of Sri Lanka Cricket officials or who will be sacked but claimed the seeds for a new beginning had already been sewn.
“I am new, the selectors are new and so we have to start everything new”, he said.
The Minister’s reaction on corruption in the sport overshadowed new Selection Committee chairman and former cricket captain Aravinda de Silva’s theory for success at the 2011 World Cup that Minister Ratnayake endorsed and assured that he will not spoil by interference.
A set of nervousness immediately set in after the media conference as incumbent cricket officials began biting their finger nails and raising furtive questions on whether they will be in a prison cell while the glamorous World Cup takes place in nine months time.
No cricket administrator in Sri Lanka has been convicted of corruption and analysts doubt whether any official will ever be held accountable apart from a simple sacking.