Rohan Fernando promises to root out Olympic corruption

From left: National Shooting Federation Secretary Pradeep Edirisinghe, Volleyball Federation Gen. Secretary A. S. Nalaka, Fencing Association President Ajith Siyabalapitiya, Archery Federation President Commander H. U. Silva, Boxing Federation President Dian Gomes, Athletics Association President Gen. Palitha Fernando, Kayaking Federation President Preethi Perera, Rowing Federation President Rohan Fernando, Shooting Federation President Shirantha Peiris, Equestrian Federation President Suranjith Premadasa, Winter Sports President Deva Henry, Football Federation President Anura Silva, Modern Pentathlon Association President Nishantha Piyasena and Golf Union Secretary Ken De Alwis-Pix by Ruwan Walpola

By Madushka Balasuriya

The President of the Amateur Rowing Association of Sri Lanka Rohan Fernando on Thursday officially announced his candidacy for the post of President of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka, revealing that he would be running on a platform of anti-corruption under the banner “Save Sports from Corruption.”

Surrounded by the heads of 13 other sports federations, Fernando proceeded to detail several improprieties found to have taken place at the NOCSL. 

“The pathetic turn of events at the NOC includes the complete lack of accountability for the vast amounts of funds received for the development of sports and sports related activities,” noted Fernando in a media release.

“During the last several years the sporting community has silently suffered the consequences of animosity between the Ministry of Sports and the National Olympic Committee. Based on misrepresented facts and short of a supervisory mechanism, the International Olympic Committee was made to believe that the NOC was affected by external pressure from the Minister of Sports. On this premise, the current regime managed to continue in their act of plundering NOC resources.”

Fernando brought to attention the fact that the audited accounts for the five years from 2012 to 2016 are still to be submitted to the Executive Committee or NOCSL general members for adoption.

“This is no doubt a blatant violation of the NOC SL constitution, the Olympic Charter on the submission of annual accounts and above all, the laws of Sri Lanka pertaining to financial regulations in sport or any institution, corporation, company or federation with stakeholders.”

The Sports Ministry too has called for explanations from the NOCSL for the unprecedented delay in submitting their accounts for auditing, which for all intents and purposes should have been audited by Government auditors at the end of each financial year.

Fernando also distributed a document purporting to show the findings of the Auditor General in the audited accounts for the years 2010, 2011, and 2012. The findings made available to the media, show several instances of accounting deficiencies, financial improprieties, operational and management deficiencies and an overall lack of accountability and governance on several counts.

Action Plan

The 15-point action plan for improving sport in the country revealed by Fernando, meanwhile, included the tackling of drug abuse in sports, improved media coordination, a renewed focus on volunteerism, as well as the importance of having a professional administrative unit “capable of meeting strict compliances especially in financial reporting”.

“Regular submission of reports on sports activities and finances will be handled by this team. This will be a priority for a new administration,” assured Fernando.

Another of the key points centred around increased cooperation between the IOC, MOS, Ministry of Education, Private and Public sectors, and the National sports federations. “A cordial atmosphere would accrue multi-beneficial programs and sponsorships for the sporting public of Sri Lanka,” he explained.

The plan was also keen to emphasise the importance of the equitable distribution of resources, “with particular attention to new Sports Federations and those who are less enable.” “We will devise a system based on KPI’s to recognise the deserving National Sports Federations and the medal winning potential to assist them fairly and deviate from the present system of assistance being given as favours.

“We will empower the NSFs to develop their infrastructure and administration to govern their organisations with compliances on statutory requirements, IT capabilities, KPI’s and assessments, and sponsorships, among other things.” On top of this, Fernando and his team assured that there would be regular interactions with National Federations, with initiatives also being put in place to draw on Sri Lankan sports talent based abroad.

“A large number of Sri Lankans resident outside the country can be drawn in for enhancing our chances of winning medals, if properly coordinated. Winter Olympic sports is one such stream.”