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Lanka to probe bribery scandal

Cricket authorities in Sri Lanka on Wednesday began a probe into allegations that a top official had demanded money for granting broadcast rights to a foreign television company.

"We don't know the true picture yet, our sports minister has asked the Board president to submit a report within two weeks," said Dammika Ranatunga, chief executive officer of the Sri Lankan Board. Sports minister Samanaweera Dissanayake has also asked the country's Bribery and Corruption Commission to investigate whether the unnamed official had in fact taken the money.

The scandal broke when Board president Upali Dhamadasa received a call from a top official of TV company WorldTel, alleging that his company had paid $50,000 to a senior board moember and that pressure was being applied for a further $50,000 bribe to clinch the deal.

The conversation, tape-recorded by Dharmadasa, had the WorldTel official saying that the concerned official wanted the second instalment of the bribe to be paid immediately, and further indicating that the official had hinted he was acting at the instance of sports minister Dissanayake himself.

Dharmadasa at once reported the incident to the minister, together with the tape of the conversation. The furious minister immediately ordered the probe.

WorldTel is currently negotiating a $5.5 million deal with the Lankan board for full rights to cover all cricket matches in the island nation for the next five years.

"This is the last thing we needed just now. It's bringing the game into disrepute, especially when our players have put us on top of the world," Ranatunga said.

Meanwhile, it is now the turn of the English cricket board to review whether to send their team to Lanka, following a bomb blast in Colombo.

Raja Singam, a spokesman for the Lankan board, however said there was no cause for concern. "We are indeed fighting terrorism, but we can guarantee that it is absolutely safe to play cricket in Lanka," Singam said. "I don't think any of the countries due here in 1998 to play us have any reason for concern owing to bomb blasts."

It will be recalled that Australia and the West Indies had refused to play their scheduled World Cup games in the island nation's capital last year, for a similar reason.

The English board's concern followed a renewal of the violence in Colombo, with bombings and shootouts last week acounting for the deaths of 18 people. This was the first direct attack by LTTE guerillas on the capital in 18 months. England is scheduled for a two month tour of Sri Lanka in January.

The English Cricket Board's international teams director Simon Pack was quoted in the media as saying that board officials were consulting with the British Foreign and Commonwealth offices on the local security situation.

A total of 65 days of cricket have been planned for 1998 in Sri Lanka, when the country celebrates the 50th year of its Independence from British rule. And the arrival of the British cricket team to play a full tour, for the first time in Lanka's history, is seen as the highlight of the itinerary.