Former Sri Lanka pacer charged under ECB anti-corruption code

Former Sri Lanka cricketer, Dilhara Lokuhettige, has been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC), on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), with three counts of breaching the ECB’s Anti-Corruption Code.

Lokuhettige has featured in nine ODIs and a couple of T20s for Sri Lanka.

Former Sri Lanka cricketer, Dilhara Lokuhettige, has been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC), on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), with three counts of breaching the ECB’s Anti-Corruption Code.

The charges relate to the first edition of the T10 Cricket League, which was played in the UAE last year. In a release, the ICC has stated that “Lokuhettige has been provisionally suspended with immediate effect.”

The ICC was appointed by the ECB as the designated anti-Corruption official for the purposes of the ECB’s Code and as such is issuing this charge on the ECB’s behalf.

Lokuhettige, who featured in nine ODIs and a couple of T20s for Sri Lanka, has been charged under Article 2.1.1 for ‘being party to an effort to fix or contrive or to otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct, or other aspect(s) of a Domestic Match’.

There are also charges under Article 2.1.4 for ‘directly soliciting, inducing, enticing or encouraging a player to breach Code Article 2.1.1’

And also under Article 2.4.4 for ‘failure to disclose to the designated anti-Corruption officer (without unnecessary delay) full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in Corrupt Conduct under the Code.’

Lokuhettige has 14 days from November 13 to respond to the charges. A couple of weeks ago, the ICC had charged former Sri Lanka batsman, Sanath Jayasuriya, for “ failure or refusal to co-operate ” with an ongoing ICC investigation into alleged match-fixing in the country, as well as “concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant”.

Bowling coach, Nuwan Zoysa, was also accused of “directly soliciting, inducing, enticing or encouraging a player" to fix or influence the progress of a match and failing to disclose approaches to "engage in corrupt conduct.”