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New problem for Sri Lanka's board
Updated: Monday June 18, 2001 12:06 PM
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- The crisis-ridden cricket board of Sri Lanka faced another problem on Monday when several members of Parliament sought an investigation into its sale of TV rights. A group of lawmakers from the governing Peoples Alliance asked the Parliamentary Speaker to form a committee to investigate the board's functioning and specified an examination of the awarding of television rights to foreign companies. The cricket board is already facing legal battles, allegations of mismanagement and the wrath of the powerful Buddhist clergy. "It has become a matter of public concern as to whether the finances of the board have been mismanaged by anyone," lawmakers said in a memorandum submitted to Parliament. The cricket board awarded the telecast rights to one company in March despite allegations of irregular procedures for short-listing firms seeking the rights. It is the latest problem confronting the board ahead of the tour by India and New Zealand starting July 15. Last week, the board said India and New Zealand will not be allowed to play at the country's newest cricket ground following a dispute between the board and the powerful ministry of Buddhist affairs. Consequently, all matches that the two touring teams were to play in Dambulla are being shifted to Kandy, 90 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo. The dispute about the state-of-the-art Rangiri International Stadium in Dambulla in Sri Lanka's heartland involves a group of Buddhist monks whose temple originally owned the land on which the stadium was built. Dambulla is 140 kilometers (86 miles) northeast of Colombo. But the ministry of Buddhist affairs, which is very powerful in a country where 74 percent of the population is Buddhist, says the local temple had no legal right to lease the land to the cricket board. The ministry claims the land was given to the temple on condition that it not be traded in any way. Monks in Dambulla say they will take to the streets if the matches are shifted from their area. They deny they have done anything wrong by leasing the land. This is the third time that the upcoming tour of India and New Zealand has run into problems. In May, the cricket board was barred from operating its account. On June 1, a Sri Lankan court lifted the order and allowed a four-member interim committee to resume financial transactions with funds from the cricket board's accounts. On May 21, the court barred the committee from operating accounts after Thilanga Sumathipala -- whom the Sports Ministry fired in March as the cricket board president -- went to court. Sumathipala said only elected members had the right to spend the board's money and that the interim committee should be stopped from doing so. Sports Minister Lakshman Kiriella dissolved the entire board and set up an interim committee to run its affairs. Sri Lanka's cricket board is one of the richest organizations in this island nation, where cricket is phenomenally popular.
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