Corruption scandals shock world sport

Corruption scandals have not only hit local sports arena but also the international sports world. While Sri Lanka began a fresh investigation into the corruption allegations against some former Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials, the international sport family was shocked by perhaps biggest corruption scandals in world sport.

Days before Friday's crucial election of the world governing body for football - the FIFA, which has been dogged by scandal, faced a fresh crisis when bribery and racketeering charges were laid against several top officials by authorities in the United States.

Dawn raids at a Zurich hotel on Wednesday saw a total of 14 people being indicted, with seven senior football officials being arrested. All seven now face extradition to the US. The latest turbulences involved a dawn raid by plainclothes police officers at one of Zurich's most luxurious hotels, leaving seven of the most powerful figures in world football in custody overnight.

The US authorities have said that nine football officials and five sports media and promotions executives faced corruption charges involving more than USD 150 million in bribes.

Those actions have sparked the gravest crisis in FIFA's 111-year history with member countries seemingly in open warfare with one another, days before Blatter's re-election for another four-year term.

In a separate development in the worldwide operation to nab corrupt sports officials, Swiss officials opened criminal proceedings into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid processes.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has condemned the "action of individuals" for bringing "shame and humiliation" on the world governing body but he said that it was impossible for him to "monitor everyone all of the time".

But a few days before his re-election to the FIFA's top seat, British Prime Minister David Cameron had said that Blatter was not the right person to lead world soccer after "accusations of corruption at this level and on

this scale". "Frankly what we have seen is the ugly side of the beautiful game," Cameron was quoted as saying.

On Friday, FIFA's 209-member national associations decided to give Blatter a record fifth term as president. However, world football's governing body continues to reel from "a storm" of damaging corruption allegations. The 79-year-old Blatter resisted calls to resign and has insisted that he is the man to "fix things".

Blatter, who has been heading the Zurich-based FIFA since 1998, was being challenged for the presidency by Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein. The Jordanian Prince received only 73 votes whereas veteran Blatter commanded 133 votes with three ballots spoilt. However, Blatter eventually fell five votes short of a straight first round win.

With five minutes away from the commencement of the second round of voting in the FIFA Presidential race, the 39-year-old Jordanian Prince withdrefrom the contest, giving Blatter another term in office.

The world soccer chief has admitted these are "these are unprecedented and difficult time for FIFA but has vowed to "uphold responsibility for the well-being of the organization". Adding that last week's corruption drama and arrests "unleashed a storm", Blatter has said that the "important point today is to move ahead - and the important point is transparency". "We have a problem to solve," he was quoted as saying.

The second day of the FIFA Congress which included elections to the top seat was marred with a bomb scare. A bomb threat was made during Friday's sessions of the FIFA Congress and the hall was searched before the proceedings resumed in the afternoon.

Aging Blatter has been under tremendous pressure in his race for the FIFA Presidency for the fifth time. Blatter, a graduate from the University of Lausanne and turns 80 years in March next year, has been widely criticized for greedily hanging on to power. But he faced all those critics and ultimately won the battle in style.

The five-time FIFA President says age is not a barrier to hold office. "The age is no problem. Some people are 50 and look old. I like you and I like my job and I would like to be with you," he said in his victory speech on Friday. But he has admitted his shortcomings as well - "I am not perfect but we will do a good job together".

Blatter's re-election could be a morale-booster for the aging sports officials who are showing an extraordinary keenness to remain in power. His convincing victory has proved that he could face challenges even in the most difficult periods.

Back at home, a three-member panel was been appointed to investigate allegations of corruption and mismanagement in Sri Lanka Cricket. The committee, appointed by Minister of Tourism and Sports Navin Dissanayake, has already begun its operations - to probe, investigate, inquire and report on any corruption, abuse of power and authority by any office bearers and members of the Committee of former Executive Committee of the SLC.

*But the SLC seems to be allowing officials found guilty of sexual harassment to the Sri Lanka women's team members to go scot free. This is not the good governance we expect from the SLC Interim Committee and even if they do not punish the officials, the case should have been forwarded to the Police Child and Women Bureau.

Two male officials have been found guilty of sexual harassment of members of the national women's team, while another official has been found guilty of improper conduct thought not sexual harassment. None of them are any longer with the Sri Lanka women's team.

But the officials have said that there was no evidence of physical intimacy and consequently no grounds for criminal proceedings. All three members are no longer function in their previous positions as their respective contracts were not renewed when those were ended last April.

The report also noted that the "unsatisfactory situation that prevailed in the selection and other aspects relating to women's cricket and widely prevalent perceptions of favouritism and bias".

A statement by the SLC last week said that two separate investigation reports have concluded that there have been "a few incidents of sexual harassment which were committed by two male officials" but that there was no evidence of any physical intimacy and that, there were no grounds to justify criminal proceedings. It is up to the SLC to refer the matter to the Police without making presumptions.

Minister Navin Dissanayake has threatened to "clean" Sri Lanka sport and punish corrupt officials. That is a good move and all sports-loving people, irrespective of their political affiliations, would commend the minister for the bold step taken.

But at the same time, he has stated that he intends to keep the interim administration of the SLC until January next year. This does not sound well for the game and contradicts Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's vision on democracy.

What the Sports Minister ought to do at this stage is to expedite the corruption investigation and hold the SLC election at his earliest to reinstate democracy at the country's richest sport governing body.