The International Cricket Council has announced an unprecedented 15-day amnesty for anyone who has failed to report a corrupt approach in Sri Lanka.
While failure to disclose contact from would-be match-fixers is punishable by up to five years’ suspension, between 16 and 31 January any player, coach or administrator can pass on details of any such incident without facing a sanction themselves.
Alex Marshall, the former British police chief constable who now heads the ICC’s anti-corruption unit, said: “This is the first time the ICC has held an amnesty and it is in response to the very specific challenges we face in Sri Lanka. Allowing retrospective reporting of alleged approaches to engage in corrupt conduct will assist in our ongoing and wide-ranging investigations, as well as enabling us to continue to develop a comprehensive picture of the situation there.
“If any player or participant has any information concerning corrupt conduct they should come forward and share it with us now without fear of any repercussions.
“We would urge any participant with any information that may demonstrate corrupt conduct affecting cricket in Sri Lanka to come forward in the strictest of confidence.”
The move comes after the Sri Lanka sports minister, Harin Fernando, recently disclosed that during a meeting with the ICC in Dubai he was informed that the country is considered the most corrupt in world cricket, with links to the criminal underworld throughout.
Three former Sri Lanka internationals – Sanath Jayasuriya, Nuwan Zoysa and Dilhara Lokuhettige – have been charged with different offences in the past few months in what are understood to be separate ICC investigations.
Jayasuriya, who was previously the chairman of selectors, has been charged with failure to cooperate with the ICC – chiefly a refusal to pass on electronic devices – while Zoysa and Lokuhetti are alleged to have approached players to fix matches.
