There was an international conspiracy to ban cricket in Sri Lanka, Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament on Friday.

“All MPs agreed that high officials of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) must go home. This is a symbolic gesture. We must take concrete steps to send this group of crooks home. What is the process of electing these crooks? Why are there so many sports clubs with voting rights? Most of these clubs are not functional. What can the Minister of Sports do about these fake clubs?” Premadasa asked.

The Opposition leader said that some SLC members have held a gathering on Thursday night, following the Parliament resolution and had declared that they will ban Sri Lankan cricket, using the influence of Jay Shah, the Secretary of BCCI and he was on Saturday elected as the President of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).

“What is our solution to this?” he asked.

Meanwhile, National People’s Power (NPP) leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake said the crisis in SLC is not new. The COPE has done an audit on SLC when NPP’s Sunil Handunnetti was COPE Chairman, he said.

“What we need to do is implement the recommendations of the COPE report.”

Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe said the solution to the crisis in cricket is a forensic audit of the SLC between 2018 and 2023. He also said that unless there is a betrayal by Sri Lankans the ICC will not ban cricket in Sri Lanka.

“If ICC bans cricket for whatever reason, there is a solution. We can get Arjuna Ranatunga to fix the problem in six or eight months. Then we will go for an election under a new Act. On Monday I will go before the court of appeal and I hope justice will prevail. Or I will go to the Supreme Court. The SLC money is powerful. I will dissolve fake clubs,” he said.