Minister Ranatunga questions how Sumathipala who is directly or indirectly involved in betting holds key positions in SLC

Colombo (News 1st): Minister Arjuna Ranatunga expressing his views regarding cricket during the budget debate today (April 5) noted that in the past only horse racing was open for betting, but now in Sumathipala's paper even cricket is open for betting. He noted that as a country if we want to preserve the standards of cricket we should not allow this. He added the elder brother adds betting for cricket in the paper, while the younger brother is the Chairman of the SLC. In 2016 and 2017 there were cricket matches with Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. The Minster noted that Sri Lanka had a 70% chance of winning, leaving a 30% chance of losing, but most of the time Sri Lanka lost these matches. He added he won't blame the players, but certain things have caused this situation. He requested for a proper investigation to be conducted into the matter and the ICC should pay more attention to these issues. He said Sumathipala admitted that his brother is involved in the betting business and noted that his father was involved in them. Minister Ranatunga noted according to the Sports act, directly or indirectly such people cannot be involved in the sport. He went onto note that at present Mohan De Silva is the secretary of two committees in the newly appointed Cricket Board and Sumathipala is the Chairman of two committees. He noted that the Minister of Sports is responsible to check on how such people who are directly or indirectly involved in such businesses are appointed to high positions of this nature. He stressed that these are the main problems of Sri Lanka.