'SL board confident of facing any charges'

Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga has said the board is ready to take on any charges levelled against them with regards to corruption and misappropriation of funds. He was reacting to a report in the Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror on Monday that the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), a government body to oversee financial discipline in public corporations, was prepared to summon the board on those grounds.

"So far we have not heard from them [COPE] officially. I have also read the news report, and we are quite prepared to answer any questions, with regard to whatever charges they want to bring against us," Ranatunga said. "We have been transparent in all that we have done and are quite prepared to co-operate with whoever is levelling charges against us."

Ranatunga also said that the media report that the Sri Lankan Supreme Court had ordered the board to hold elections within two months was incorrect. "What the Supreme Court has suggested is that both parties come to a settlement on the issue and report back to them within two months, possibly with a view to holding elections."

United Southern Cricket Club president Asoka Mendis had filed a fundamental rights petition against Sri Lanka Cricket last year, on the grounds that an interim committee - first instituted in 2005 - had been appointed by the Sports Minister without the prior approval of the member clubs, bypassing the democratic process of elections. The club wanted the Supreme Court to prevent the interim committee members from holding office and functioning until the hearing is over.