Warnaweera suspended for two years

Tuesday, 17 November 2015 01:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ESPNCricinfo: Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has suspended Galle chief curator Jayananda Warnaweera from all cricket activities for two years following his failure to attend two interviews with the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). Warnaweera himself is understood to be the subject of the ACU investigation.

SLC had issued Warnaweera a show-cause notice after he missed meetings with ACU officials in Colombo last month. His failure to respond to that notice prompted the suspension, though SLC had already unofficially asked him to step back from his role at Galle in BUP_DFT_DFT-24-7 October.

“Following disciplinary proceedings taken by Sri Lanka Cricket arising from charges that Mr. Jayananda Warnaweera failed to attend two interviews scheduled to be held by the Anti-Corruption Unit of the ICC, and failed to cooperate with and assist the investigation being carried out by the Anti-Corruption Unit and related charges of misconduct, the Interim Committee of SLC has suspended Mr. Warnaweera from cricket, cricket management and representation for a period of two years,” a board statement said.

The ACU had met SLC officials following Warnaweera’s failure to show up at meetings and is believed to have told the board that Warnaweera was under investigation. Specific details of that investigation were withheld, but the ICC revealed it had already built a substantial case against Warnaweera based on financial records and alleged contact with bookmakers.

Warnaweera stepped down from his position in the interim committee days before he missed the meetings with the ACU staff. SLC officials have since described him as having “gone missing” and “very difficult to contact”.

Warnaweera’s original appointment to the interim committee in March had raised minor criticism, because he had also been an executive committee member in controversial previous administrations. At the time, then-sports minister Navin Dissanayake had postured the new board as a clean break from the past.