Tharindu Munasinghe
Former President and current Executive Committee Member (immediate Past President) Thilanga Sumathipala has been officially banned from ever holding office at the country’s hallowed establishment of Sri Lanka Cricket by Minister of Sports,Telecommunications and Foreign Employment Harin Fernando.
Minister Harin Fernando prior to making this decision which was widely regarded as unattainable in the past due to Thilanga Sumathipala’s strong political connections, made a personal visit to India to meet the ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar. During this visit he sought advice on proceeding with this matter.
Officials close to Minister Harin Fernando said “The ICC Chairman has been very supportive of the progress Minister Harin Fernando is making with the sport of cricket in Sri Lanka and is delighted that he is trying to clean up the alleged embroiled financial and match fixing mess Sri Lanka Cricket has found it self in.”
Seeking expert legal advice on Sports Law matters, Minister Fernando sought the advice and retained the services of Lawyer Panduka Keerthinanda. It was Lawyer Keerthinanda who had earlier been instrumental along with President’s Counsel Lawyer Romesh De Silva who sought relief from the Court Appeal to prevent Thilanga Sumathipala from contesting the last held SLC EX – CO Elections.
Speaking to Lanka News Web Lawyer Keerthinanda said “The amendment of the Sports Law regulation has been endorsed by the ICC too. This amendment is not only for the sport of cricket but also covers a total of 66 sports that comes under the Ministry of Sports. It is indeed commendable that Minister Harin Fernando took this stance and made this decision”.
Thilanga Sumathipala’s family has been in the betting and gaming business for decades, where he himself openly confessed in Parliament that the business is currently being run by his brother.
Good work Mr. Honorable man! Don’t give it away now like Thirimane, go big and make it count like Sanga would!
Isn’t it sad we need to go to this length to keep out a sitting member of parliament out of the game! Shameless scum hanging around like vultures to self profit despite having so much!