The charges against Sri Lankan spinner Praveen Jayawickrama, with three breaches of the ICC’s anti-corruption code, are very serious in nature. This means he faces allegations for failure to report, without any delay, a match-fixing approach and obstructing the investigation by tampering with evidence. The charges come off the back of alleged incidents involving approaches made to Jayawickrama to fix both international matches and games during the 2021 Lanka Premier League.
In an announcement on Thursday, the ICC revealed charges against Jayawickrama, citing his failure to report these corrupt approaches to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) in a timely manner. The ICC charged Jayawickrama specifically under Article 2.4.4 of the anti-corruption code, which concerns the requirement to report without unnecessary delay any approach or other information relating to corrupt conduct to the ACU.
The first charge arises out of Jayawickrama’s alleged failure to report an approach where he was solicited to participate in fixing future international matches. The second charge, also under Article 2.4.4, is on count of failure to report an approach where he was allegedly asked to act at the behest of a corrupt individual to influence another player during the 2021 Lanka Premier League.
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Apart from these charges, Jayawickrama is also accused of obstructing the investigation by deleting messages containing details about the corrupt approaches. This act is a clear infringement on Article 2.4.7, which forbids any act that will delay or obstruct the investigation on alleged corrupt activities.
Praveen Jayawickrama charged under ICC Anti-Corruption Code
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has charged Sri Lanka player Praveen Jayawickrama with three counts of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption. – ICC #sportspavilionlk pic.twitter.com/5LvprKGRYp
— DANUSHKA ARAVINDA (@DanuskaAravinda) August 8, 2024
Jayawickrama has been given 14 days—up to August 6—to respond to the charges. The ICC will dealing with the charges in relation to the Lanka Premier League alongside the allegations of international match-fixing, under Articles 1.7.4.1 and 1.8.1 of the anti-corruption code, in collaboration with Sri Lanka Cricket.
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This has placed a blight on Jayawickrama’s career, with the ICC still maintaining strict sanctions against corruption in cricket to safeguard the integrity of the game. Any outcome stemming from this case will be followed with interest, in view of the serious allegations hurled at the young cricketer.
