Nuwan Zoysa attends a press briefing where he alleged that the International Cricket Council has prematurely declared him guilty of charges he never committed.

(Pic By Kamal Wanniarachchi)

by Reemus Fernando

At a press briefing on Friday former Sri Lanka cricketer and bowling coach Nuwan Zoysa claimed that the International Cricket Council has prematurely declared him guilty of charges he never committed and his lawyer Chrishmal Warnasuriya vowed to defend his innocence alleging that the ICC anti-corruption unit was hell-bent on tarnishing the reputation of Sri Lankan cricketers.

“It was a shock for me when I was made aware that ICC had gone on to release a press statement yesterday saying that I have been found guilty of charges which were never committed by me. I reiterate that the ICC Tribunal is yet to release the final verdict and its reasons to me or my counsel. Therefore it is a fallacious and a cheap gimmick by ICC to tarnish my reputation and the reputation of my beloved country,” said Zoysa reading a statement.

He alleged that he was harassed and humiliated in the name of investigations when he was at the High Performance Centre at the R. Premadasa Stadium in October 2018. He said that he lost his livelihood in 2018 due to the investigations and he had been left with no income to look after his family.

“The ICC hearing concluded on September 18. It was evident during the hearing that all evidence were in my favour. According to the ICC Anti-Corruption Code, the decision should be announced within 30 days but the tribunal failed to announce the decision within the time frame. Therefore I instructed my counsel to write to ICC. We were then informed that the final decision will be announced with reasons only after looking into further submissions in another cricketer’s matter which is being heard along with my case.”

Warnasuriya said that the ICC anti-corruption unit was finding it difficult to prove their 2018 proclamation that Sri Lanka was the most corrupt cricket playing nation in the world and was now hell-bent on proving that they were correct. “They were trying to use statements which they forcefully obtained from Zoysa without even giving him his choice of language during the initial inquiry conducted in 2018,” said Warnasuriya.

The ICC on Thursday stated in a statement that Zoysa has been found guilty on all charges after he exercised his right to a hearing before a Tribunal. It said that Zoysa has been found guilty of:

Article 2.1.1 – for being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspect(s) of a match.

Article 2.1.4 – Directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating any Participant to breach Code Article 2.1.

Article 2.4.4 – Failing to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in corrupt conduct under the Code.

It also said that Zoysa has also been charged by the ICC on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) with breaching four counts of the ECB Anti-Corruption Code for Participants for the T10 League and these proceedings are ongoing.

Warnasuriya said that ICC had no jurisdiction over the said T10 league.

He said that Zoysa’s case will be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Switzerland.