Ex-Sri Lankan cricketer Ranatunga to be arrested over oil scam

COLOMBO: Authorities in Sri Lanka plan to arrest World Cup-winning cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga on corruption charges relating to his time as petroleum minister, a court was told Monday.

Ranatunga and his brother are accused of changing the procedure for awarding long-term oil procurement contracts, making spot purchases at a higher cost, a corruption watchdog said. “The total loss to the state from 27 purchases is 800 million rupees,” the equivalent of just over $5 million at the time the deals were made in 2017, according to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

Arjuna was abroad and would be arrested on his return, the commission told Colombo Magistrate Asanga Bodaragama

The former minister’s elder brother Dhammika Ranatunga, then chairman of the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, was arrested on Monday and later released on bail.

The magistrate imposed a travel ban on Dhammika, who is a dual citizen of Sri Lanka and the United States.

The next hearing is scheduled for March 13.

Arjuna, 62, a left-hand batter, lifted the 1996 Cricket World Cup for Sri Lanka after defeating Australia, his island nation’s greatest cricketing triumph.

The case against the Ranatunga brothers is part of a wider crackdown by the government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who came to power last year on a pledge to tackle endemic corruption.

Another Ranatunga brother, Prasanna, a former tourism minister, was arrested last month over an insurance fraud case.

That case is pending, but he had previously been convicted in June 2022 for extorting money from a businessman. He is on a two-year suspended prison term.