Lokuhettige’s ‘lack of remorse’ aggravated length of ban
A lack of remorse violating the anti-corruption code played a key role in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Anti-Corruption Tribunal’s decision to hand an eight-year ban on ex-Sri Lanka cricketer Dilhara Lokuhettige, the 22-page decision on the sanctions reveals.
The 40-year-old Sri Lankan was slapped with corruption charges by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit in April 2019, five months after the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) also charged him. The accusations relate to the 2017 T10 tournament played in the UAE.
“In the Tribunal’s view, the main aggravating factor was Mr Lokuhettige’s lack of remorse,” the sanction report signed by the three-member Tribunal’s head, Michael J Beloff, QC, states.
“As to the other factors prayed in aid by the ICC the Tribunal makes these observations,” he says. “Mr Lokuhettige’s experience and education in the Code denies him the benefit of the mitigation in Article 6.1.2.3 but is not itself an aggravating factor. His attempted corruption of [Player A] constitutes but does not aggravate the Article 2.1.4 offence. However, it notes that potential, and not merely actual, damage to an international match resulting from the offence can engage Article 6.1.1.4 and does not accept that in Mr Lokuhettige’s case the prospect of such damage was on the particular facts remote. Had [Player A] accepted and implemented Mr Lokuhettige’s corrupt and specific proposal such damage might well have occurred.”
Lokuhettige, who is domiciled in Australia with his family, is now the third Sri Lanka cricketer to have been issued sanctions by the ICC ACU after former Sri Lanka spinner turned curator Jayananda Warnaweera and legendary cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya. They were banned for three and two years respectively for failure to cooperate with investigations.
Lokuhettige’s charges are, however, much more serious in nature than that of Warnaweera and Jayasuriya. He is being charged for being “a party to an effort to fix or contrive or otherwise improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspect(s) of an international match”, “directly soliciting, inducing, enticing or encouraging another player to breach the Code” and failure to disclose the full details of any approaches to the ACU.
During the submission, the ICC has maintained that Lokuhettige has committed the most serious offence by being a party to an effort to fix (Code Article 2.1) and thus should be dealt with the top end of the range of permissible punishment. This offence attracts a period of ineligibility of at least five years up to a lifetime.
However, Lokuhettige has argued that his offences fall at the lower end of the scale of seriousness because it involves spot fixing, an inchoate offence which is significantly less serious than a completed offence; that he did not profit from his conduct; and that his approach of a player did not involve any features such as bribes, threats or repeated harassment.
After deliberating the matter, it was found that Lokuhettige showed no remorse for his pre-meditated conduct by making very serious, highly improper and totally unsubstantiated allegations about the conduct of the ICC/ACU and public comments outside of these proceedings, in breach of the Code’s provisions relating to the confidentiality. He was handed an eight-year suspension.
Local media reports that Lokuhettige, who had played nine one-day internationals and two T20s, has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports hoping to reverse the decision.