Sanath Jayasuriya has been banned for two years by the ICC
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Former Sri Lanka captain and chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya has been banned from all cricket-related activities by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for two years.
This comes after Jayasuriya admitted that he refused to cooperate with the ICC in their investigation pertaining to corruption in the country and obstructed the global cricket body’s probe.
He also refused to hand over the phones he had been using while the ICC was conducting its investigation.
As a result, the ICC found Jayasuriya guilty of breaching Article 2.4.6 of its Anti-Corruption Code, which relates to the “failure or refusal, without compelling justification, to cooperate with any investigation carried out by the ACU, including failure to provide accurately and completely any information and/or documentation requested by the ACU as part of such investigation.”
He was also found to have violated Article 2.4.7, which relates to “obstructing or delaying any investigation that may be carried out by the ACU, including concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence or may lead to the discovery of evidence of corrupt conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code.”
Jayasuriya has accepted the two-year ban and, in a statement on Twitter, said it started on October 15, 2018.
“This conviction under the Code demonstrates the importance of participants in cricket cooperating with investigations,” Alex Marshall, the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit general manager, was quoted as saying by the ICC’s website. “Compelling participants to cooperate under the Code is a vital weapon in our efforts to rid our sport of corruptors. These rules are essential to maintain the integrity of our sport.”
In January, the ICC provided a two-week amnesty, where players who had previously engaged in illegal or corrupt activities and failed to report it could do so without being punished.
As a result of the amnesty, 11 players and other participants gave new information to the ICC.
“The amnesty has worked very well and has delivered significant new and important intelligence,” Marshall said. “This new information has assisted a number of our ongoing investigations and has resulted in some new investigations getting underway.
“I am very grateful to those who participated in the amnesty and as a result of the information shared we now have a much clearer picture of the situation in Sri Lanka and our investigations are continuing.”