Sri Lanka T20 team owner sentenced over match-fixing

COLOMBO - A Sri Lankan court handed the British owner of a Premier League team a four-year suspended sentence on Wednesday over match-fixing in the domestic T20 cricket tournament, a judicial official told AFP.

Bangladesh-born Tamim Rahman, owner of Dambulla Thunders, admitted to allegations that he had attempted to influence a player and organise betting.

Following his guilty plea, Rahman was convicted and handed a four-year jail term which was suspended for five years, the court official said, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.

The Colombo High Court also fined the owner 24 million rupees ($80,000).

The conviction was in line with a strict 2019 act aimed at preventing corruption in sports in Sri Lanka.

Rahman's arrest in 2024, which came after the player involved had alerted the authorities, was the first such detention of a Premier League official since it was established six years ago.

He was apprehended at the airport in Colombo before boarding a flight to Dubai, and spent a few weeks in detention before being granted bail.

The court official said a warrant was out for the arrest of team manager Mujeeb Ur Rehman, a Pakistani national, who was also implicated in the case.