No criminal proceedings against Lanka officials in sex bribe

Three male officials have been identified in the sex bribe scandal that rocked Sri Lankan women's cricket but there are no grounds or evidence to justify criminal proceedings against them, the country's cricket board said on Thursday.

Sri Lanka cricketers celebrates taking the wicket of India's Anagha Deshpande during their match in the ICC Womens World Cup cricket in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, March 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

Sri Lanka cricketers during the ICC Womens World Cup cricket in Sydney, 2009. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith) Source: AP

Sri Lanka's sports ministry last week revealed an investigation had found that members of the national women's team had been forced to perform sexual favours for officials in order to earn or keep their places in the squad.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said its has received the report which mentions cases of sexual harassments in 2013 and 2014 and much of it was corroborated in another report the board had separately commissioned.

"...both reports have concluded that, there have been a few incidents of sexual harassment which were committed by two male officials but that there was no evidence of any physical intimacy and that, there were no grounds to justify criminal proceedings," the SLC said in a statement.
Both the reports also identified a third male official for "improper conduct" which did not amount to sexual harassment, the statement read.

"Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to state that, all three officials who were identified in the reports no longer function in their previous positions since their contracts were not renewed when they ended in April this year," it added.

SLC said there were no allegations against any of the coaches or the selectors but admitted to flaws in its system and promised to rectify them.

"Sri Lanka Cricket is very concerned by the fact that, both reports have highlighted the unsatisfactory situation that prevailed in the selection and other aspects relating to women's cricket and widely prevalent perceptions of favouritism and bias."

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Pritha Sarkar)


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world