Sri Lankan cricket franchise owner held for alleged attempts at match-fixing

Colombo: Tamim Rahman, a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin who owns the Lanka Premier League (LPL) franchise Dambulla Thunders, was on Wednesday arrested on suspicion of indulging in match-fixing.

An official from the Special Investigation Unit for the Prevention of Offenses Relating to Sports at the Sports Ministry confirmed the arrest of the individual, who holds British citizenship. The Colombo Magistrate's Court remanded Rahman to custody until May 31.

The Dambulla franchise was bought by Imperial Sports Group, led by Bangladeshi entrepreneurs, in April.

Rahman was arrested by the immigration officials at the city's Bandaranaike International Airport following a court order. However, the exact charges against him are not yet clear.

He was being investigated under two provisions of the country's sports act related to match-fixing and attempting to place bets. The LPL is scheduled to take place between July 1 and 21.

Recently, a court in Sri Lanka ordered Indian nationals Yoni Patel and P Akash to surrender their passports as both are set to be indicted for match-fixing in the unsanctioned Legends Cricket League in Colombo.

Patel owns a team in the unsanctioned legends league.

The two, who are currently out on bail, have been accused of trying to fix matches in the league, which was played between March 8 and 19 at Kandy's Pallekele Stadium.

Sri Lanka became the first South Asian country to criminalise match-fixing and corruption in sports when it passed a law against the menace in 2019. Anyone found guilty can be jailed for up to 10 years and also be required to pay fines.

The law also seeks to punish acts of omission such as failure to report corrupt approaches.

The auction for the fifth edition of LPL, with participation of 500 local and international players, was held on Tuesday.

Four years after it started amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Matheesha Pathirana on Tuesday became the most expensive Lanka Premier League player ever, commanding a USD 120,000 price tag as he ended up with his old team, Colombo Strikers, for the 2024 edition of the tournament.

Pathirana recently played for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.

The league was initially supposed to begin in 2018 but was postponed multiple times owing to administrative issues within Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

The current title holder of LPL is B-Love Kandy, who won the 2023 edition by defeating Dambulla Aura in the final. The tournament is competed among five franchises.