SLC provides ICC with cricket corruption tapes

Colombo, Aug 13 (IANS) The Sri Lankan cricket board Monday handed over a taped conversation to the International Cricket Council (ICC) which surrounds allegations of an alleged corruption attempt.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) media manager Rajith Fernando said in an emailed statement that the tape was initially given to a local newspaper and a copy of it has now been made available to officials of the Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) of the ICC who are currently in Sri Lanka. Fernando did not reveal the contents of the tape or who was involved in the alleged corruption deal but said that the cricket board was made aware of the tape late last week. Investigations are underway in coordination with the ICC, Fernando said in the statement without providing further details. ICC anti-corruption officials are in Sri Lanka to cover the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) cricket tournament which involves cricketers from Sri Lanka and overseas. Cricket has had a number of controversies relating to players being involved with the betting aspects of the game. In particular, numerous players have been approached by bookmakers and bribed to, throw matches, aspects of matches or provide other information. The biggest cricket scandal involved Pakistan cricketers who had allegedly taken bribes to throw away matches against England in 2010. The Pakistani players involved in the scam were found guilty of the charges. Sri Lankan cricketers have managed to stay clear of any serious corruption allegations. IANS