The Special Investigation Unit for the prevention of wrongdoing in sports has turned its attention to the player auction process in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) tournament. The focus is on how players were auctioned and the prices at which they were acquired by team owners.
Sources indicate that the Unit suspects a conspiracy involving the purchase of certain players at unusually high prices. This suspicion stems from the acquisition of Isuru Udana, a retired player, by Galle Marvels for a substantial sum of one hundred thousand dollars. The Galle Marvels team is owned by Prem Tucker.
The investigation extends to monitoring whether foreign exchange brought into Sri Lanka during such international tournaments is being fraudulently re-credited to foreign accounts. There is also scrutiny on whether a racket exists to obtain commission money from the auction purchases of specific players.
The Unit plans to interrogate additional individuals as part of their ongoing investigation. They recently arrested Tamim Rahman, a Bangladeshi national with British citizenship, who participated in the player auction as the owner of the Dambulla Thunders team. Rahman purchased 24 local and foreign players for four and a half hundred thousand US dollars. However, the official list of LPL owners names a British company, Imperial Sports Group, as the owner of the Dambulla Thunders.
According to the Endole website, Imperial Sports Group was registered in February, and Tamim Rahman’s name does not appear among the company’s owners. The only two active directors listed are British nationals Daniel Joseph Williams and Drew Cameron Sherman.
The Special Investigation Unit has expressed strong suspicion regarding Rahman’s apparent ownership of Imperial Sports Group. Located at the Sugathadasa Indoor Sports Complex, the Unit has independently uncovered crucial information leading to Rahman’s arrest, without external support.
The investigation is ongoing, with the Special Investigation Unit determined to uncover any potential wrongdoing related to the LPL player auction.
(From a story provided to Fawz Mehmed to Dinamina newspaper)
