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Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) finds itself in the eye of a storm after the Auditor General of the island government submitted a scathing report on poor governance, corruption and misuse of funds by the cricket body’s officials. The voluminous report, specifically on the T20 WC in Australia, has cited many instances of overuse and excess payment of the SLC funds. Based on the report submitted in September, country’s Sports Minister summarily dismissed the SLC board on Monday (November 6),While the SLC committee led by president Shammi Silva might constitutionally remain for the time being, the report on the governance is damning in its contents. It states that an application was sent to the Australian High Commission for procurement of visas for 56 people-including 11 members of the Executive Committee, 9 members considered as connected to SLC and 36 others outside SLC- to travel to Australia to watch the tournament. It also notes that one of those people who got the visa to watch the world cup left the country and hadn’t returned (as on the date of the report submission). It also points out 23 persons had brought tickets to Australia outside the procurement procedure and got them through Exclusive procurement when there was no need to purchase it that way.

As per the report, during the world cup, an official function was held in Melbourne on October 11,2022 with the participation of the Sri Lankan cricket team. The budget relating to the function had been sent to Sri Lanka Cricket and an income of LKR 5,328,100 (AUD 21,454) had been received by the board as foreign remittance on February 14, 2023, which as per the report was understated by AUD 3,140-since the tickets were sold at AUD 125 to 308 participants.

The report also noted that an effort was made to make purchases of five Super Soppers, involving an overpayment of USD 185,000 through a ‘fake manufacturer’. In 2019, the highest among four bidders for the Super Soppers was considered even as it breached the technical specifications. It also added that SLC spent LKR 3,502,870 in ‘idly sending two officers’ to make purchases of Super Soppers twice.

Among the more critical pointers noted were the issuance of complimentary hospitality tickets and its mismanaged distribution. The report stated that 100 complimentary hospitality tickets were to be received free of charge from the ICC on behalf of the ‘ relatives and friends of the players, for watching the tournament. However, even of the 69 tickets that were claimed to be received, and were meant to be issued to ‘ the players in respect of their relatives and friends, only 3 out of 69 tickets had been provided to the players’.

The report further added, “According, the team manager had been informed the fact that out of the 66 remaining tickets, 38 tickets were distributed among the executive committee members and 07 tickets were distributed among officers of the Sri Lanka Cricket. Further 12 tickets were provided to other individuals and the remaining 9 tickets were destroyed.”

Furthermore 155 ordinary tickets were also destroyed while 150 tickets were purchased spending LKR 8,747,960 ( of which, 76 tickets valued at LKR 3,582,646 were unused).

In the 12th Executive Committee meeting of the SLC, approval was given to the president two vice president, secretary and the CEO to travel to Australia to attend the ICC board and committee meetings. However, only President Shammi Silva and CEO Ashley de Silva attended the board meeting and the chief executive meeting respectively. The report noted that even though all expenses were borne by the ICC for the two meetings, SLC also paid for 10 days foreign travel allowances. Among other financial mismanagement, CEO Ashley de Silva’s travel to Australia on two instances during the course of the World Cup also came under the scanner.

As mentioned in the report, it was also observed that “Sri Lanka Cricket had not taken any action to carry out a detailed inquiry of the value of LKR 41,734,465 (USD 113,816) recharged from the Sri Lanka Cricket mentioning as incurred for Sri Lanka cricket players and officers by the International Cricket Council and to ascertain the accuracy of the said expenses.

The report concluded with a 26 -point recommendation which included expanding regulatory affairs by the minister in charge of the subject or the Director General of Sports, strengthening internal control to accounting, maintaining adequate records in relation to income and expenses of SLC,

mechanical strengthening, inviting open bids for purchase of air tickets, ensuring transparency while awarding sponsorship to media personal, ect.