Aluthgamage says match-fixing probe unsatisfactory

Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said he is not satisfied with the investigation into the alleged match-fixing at the ICC World Cup 2011, which was reported by him during his tenure as the Sports Minister.

The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Sports Ministry has concluded the probe into the match-fixing allegations during the 2011 Cricket World Cup final between Sri Lanka and India, after the Attorney General stated that the allegations raised in this regard were baseless and there was no evidence whatsoever to pursue a case.

In response to a statement by SJB MP Mujibur Rahman, who queried why no action was taken against Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage for making false allegations, Aluthgamage said the CID had failed to obtain statements from the former Cricket Board Chairman, Secretary and Manager regarding this issue. “Instead, they only obtained statements from some of the former players such as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena.

I did not level any allegations against the players in the World Cup squad. I specifically requested the CID to question the Chairman, Secretary and the Manager of the Cricket Board,” Aluthgamage said. However, the CID only obtained statements from players and sent those statements to the Attorney General and claimed there was nothing in it.

Therefore, I am totally unsatisfied with this investigation. Match fixing is a grave problem which is happening even today. Unless we take steps to address that, we will never be able to win a World Cup in the future, he stressed.

(Source: Ceylon Today – By Methmalie Dissanayake)