Colombo (Sri Lanka): Lanka Premier League (LPL) team owner remanded over match-fixing allegations a day after player’s auction in Colombo. The owner of one of the five franchise teams, Dambulla Thunders a Bangladeshi national holding a British passport Tamim Rahman was arrested.
Police produce Tamim Rahman to the court after arrest. The court given police remand of Tamim Rahman over allegations of match-fixing. He has remanded till May 31.
Police official said that Tamim Rahman was arrested by officials of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) for the Prevention of Offences Relating to Sports at the Sports Ministry.
Match fixing accused was arrested at the Katunayake airport as he was waiting to leave the country on Wednesday. The suspect, a businessman, was produced before a court over the suspicion of fixing matches in the tournament, which is scheduled to get underway on July 1.
A senior officer from Sri Lanka’s Attorney General’s (AG) Department told that We got a travel ban on the suspect on Tuesday night as we have got complaints over alleged plans to fix matches of the upcoming franchise tournament in Sri Lanka.
The SIU was following the preparations for the franchise tournament and also certain suspected individuals. The arrest was made just a day after the player auction for the 5th edition of LPL was held at a star-class hotel in Colombo, where members of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Anti-Corruption team were also present. Imperial Sports Group, led by Bangladeshi entrepreneurs bought the Dambulla franchise last April.