Dilhara Lokuhettige, the former Sri Lanka player, has been found guilty of corruption after an investigation that included evidence of him trying to fix aspects of T10 League matches in Sharjah.
The 40-year old former allrounder has been found guilty of three offences under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code following a hearing by an independent tribunal.
The charges included failing to report corrupt approaches, “being party to an agreement or effort to fix”, and “soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating” other players to spot fix.
As part of the case, the tribunal considered evidence that Lokuhettige had attempted to induce a player to fix aspects of the first season of the T10 League, in Sharjah in 2017.
Lokuhettige had no tangible involvement in that competition, as either a player, coach, or official.
However, he was recorded by an unnamed player – described as a Sri Lankan international by the tribunal’s report – after a repeated attempt to induce him into fixing.
“He first received a corrupt approach from Mr Lokuhettige on November 19, 2017, in which Mr Lokuhettige asked him to fix in the T10 Cricket League that took place in Sharjah, UAE, in December 2017,” the report stated.
“Perturbed by this approach, he reported it to (among others) his coach, Coach A, who suggested that if it happened again Player B should record the call.
“Mr Lokuhettige did call him again, and he did record that call, which clearly evidences a corrupt approach being made by Mr Lokuhettige.”
The report also lists the conversation, in which Lokuhettige says to the player “everybody there has done it,” and “it can be done the following day and money will flow to Sri Lanka the next day”.
Sanctions are yet to be confirmed. As in the case of UAE players Mohammed Naveed and Shaiman Anwar, the most serious charge – of conspiring to fix aspects of matches – carries with it a maximum penalty of a lifetime ban.
Lokuhettige has also been charged by the ICC on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Board with breaching three counts of the ECB anti-corruption code for participants for the T10 League and these proceedings are ongoing.
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