da luck： Sri Lanka’s special anti corruption investigator Desmond Fernando confirmedtoday that he has completed his match fixing investigations and willhandover his report to the Sri Lankan cricket board tomorrow
Rex Clemenetine09-Jul-2001Sri Lanka’s special anti corruption investigator Desmond Fernando confirmedtoday that he has completed his match fixing investigations and willhandover his report to the Sri Lankan cricket board tomorrow.Fernando, appointed on November 6th 2000 by the Board of Control for Cricketin Sri Lanka (BCCSL), was asked to investigate allegations made by Indianbookmaker Mukesh Guptha that Arjuna Ranatnga and Aravinda de Silva acceptedmoney to under perform in the 1994 tour of India.He was initially given one month to complete his report, but this was thenextended to allow Fernando to travel to India and UK in search of newevidence and an elusive interview with Mukesh Gupta. Further delays thenoccurred because of the postponement of meetings with Ranatunga and DeSilva.Finally, eight months later, he has confirmed that the report is finishedand that it will be handed to the Interim Committee Chairman, VijayaMalalsekera, on Tuesday evening.The report, however, is likely to prove inconclusive. Fernando’s failure tomeet with Gupta means that the bookmaker’s allegations cannot besubstantiated, unless Fernando unearthed new evidence during the course ofhis enquiry.Ranatunga has firmly denied having ever knowingly meet Gupta and having everunder performed in return for money. De Silva admits to having beenapproached by bookmakers, but denies having ever been involved in matchfixing.Ranatunga has since retired from international cricket and is expected toenter into politics. De Silva continues to play Test cricket, but was notawarded a player contract this year by the Sri Lankan board.