ICC: Sri Lanka bowler Lokuhettige guilty of fixing

Cricket’s governing body has found former Sri Lanka fast bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige guilty of three charges relating to corruption during the inaugural T10 tournament in Sharjah, AFP reported.

Lokuhettige was found guilty on all three counts after being formally charged in November 2019 before a three-member tribunal, the International Cricket Council said in the AFP report.

It said sanctions will follow against the player, who has already been suspended.

“The three-member tribunal concluded, by a majority, that the ICC had jurisdiction to bring the charges against Lokuhettige and was unanimous in deciding the merits of the case,” the ICC said.

He was accused of being a “party to an effort to fix” or “influence improperly” an international game, and of “directly soliciting and inducing a player.”

He has also been accused of failing to disclose approaches to take part in corruption.

Lokuhettige, who played nine one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals for Sri Lanka between 2005 and 2013, featured in an Al Jazeera documentary, “Cricket’s Match Fixers,” in 2018.

In the documentary, he spoke to an undercover reporter about fixing a match, AFP reported.

In November, another Sri Lankan player, Nuwan Soysa, was also found guilty of three counts of corruption relating to the same T10 tournament.