- SLC provided letters to Sports Minister and his daughters to obtain Aussie visas
Whilst addressing the journalists at a specially held media briefing, Sri Lanka Cricket President Shammi Silva said that he nor his Executive Committee have stolen or robbed even five cents from the coffers of SLC, as claimed by the Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe.
The SLC President Silva said “More than our current World Cup losses, I am more distraught that he is labelling us as thieves. He should go and look at himself in the mirror and then he will know who the real thief is. There is much corruption and fraud taking place in several other sports bodies that come under the Ministry of Sports.”
“When I took over as President SLC, we hardly had funds. Sri Lanka is the only country who ended up being bankrupt after conducting a World Cup. The Secretary of SLC then was Arjuna Ranatunga’s brother Nishantha Ranatunga.” claimed the SLC President.
SLC provided letters for Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe and his two daughters to obtain Australian Visit Visas for the T20 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2022
President Silva then went on to state that he is also disappointed that no Member of Parliament had properly read the Auditor General’s forensic report conducted after the T20 World Cup that was held in Australia.
The SLC President went on to add “The Minister states that we provided hundreds of letters to assist family and friends to obtain visas to go to Australia. However, what the Minister fails to say is that SLC even provided letters for himself and also for his two daughters to obtain visas to travel to Australia for the T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup. Even as the sitting Member of Parliament he was finding it difficult to obtain a visit visa to go to Australia. I am not sure if he went to school because anyone who went to school could easily read the contents of this report.”
“He is the only Sports Minister we know who got three of the country’s most popular sports bodies suspended. FIFA banned Sri Lanka Football, World Rugby suspended Sri Lanka Rugby and now the ICC has suspended Sri Lanka Cricket. No sooner he assumed office as the Minister of Sports he tried to make changes to our SLC constitution. We had to obtain relief from the Court of Appeal to put a stop to that.”
“We were in jeopardy of being suspended by the ICC as earlier in July 2023. It is I who gave them the assurance at that meeting that our issues will be dealt with and that there will be no further political interference.”
“I have now been informed by the Police that my life is in danger and that I should vacate my residence for my own safety as the general public has been stirred up because of these false allegations made by the Minister.” concluded President Shammi Silva.
Click link to watch video: https://youtu.be/VKAk0ca2u38?si=2SJrg7FVo3BjoltF
