“I Swear Upon My Children, We Never Got Any Pressure From The President”
Excerpts of an interview with Nishantha Ranatunge, Secretary to Sri Lanka Cricket
Nishantha Ranatunge
Q: What is the present financial position of SLC? What are the reasons for this sorry state of affairs?
NR: SLC is not in a sorry state. There is no financial crisis.
Q: How much money was spent by SLC on the recently concluded World Cup?
NR: Apart from infrastructure development for which the Board initially allocated Rs. 3.6 billion towards the building of a new stadium at Sooriyawewa and refurbishing Pallakele and Kettarama we spent nothing more than this on the World Cup.
Q: How much of this is reimbursable by the ICC to SLC?
NR: The ICC pledged USD 5 million.
Q: How much of this amount has been received to-date?
NR: 4 million dollars.
Q: When will the balance be received?
NR: I don’t know that yet – but it will be soon.
Q: How will the financial gap be bridged?
NR: We got the T20 World Cup, which gives us a substantial amount of finances next year in 2012. Also in February next year, we will have the Asia Cup here. And Australia and Pakistan, are considering to play their bilateral tournaments here, as a result of the security concerns in Pakistan.
Q: Didn’t SLC overreach itself by throwing huge sums of money into building a new stadium in Sooriyawewa which was not really needed and for which they did not have the funds?
NR: I don’t agree with each and every word of yours. I think it’s a need for the country. It’s a need for the younger generation. It’s a need for society. I’m not talking politics. But I believe that Hambantota is the highest developing city in this country. Everyone is focusing there. It was a good and sound decision to build a cricket stadium at Sooriyawewe.
Q: But were you not merely following orders? That of President Mahinda Rajapaksa?
NR: No, honestly, we never got any pressure from the President to build that stadium. I swear upon my children and I say he has never told us to spend extra money or any money on that.
Q: But how can you say no pressure was exerted on you when you were even ordered to give the contracts to Sri Lanka Ports and State Engineering Corporation?
NR: I think that was the safest. I’ll tell you why. When we took office in 2009, April it took us about 2 months to settle down. By the time we started this process it took about… 3-4 months… and so we didn’t have time to go for a proper bid, evaluation and all that. This way it was much better because if we had gone with private sector organisations the whole media would have gone to town with us, accusing us of taking bribes.
Q: Nevertheless, there was strident criticism of the awarding of the contracts for all 3 stadiums. There was no transparency at all in the process or no criteria for selection of contractors. The awards were made to companies who had quoted much higher than some local bidders. Can you explain the process?
NR: I believe the process in the end suited SLC. It helped avoid allegations of corruption against us and fast-tracked work on the stadiums which would have otherwise been held up if technical and cabinet appointed committees had to be named to evaluate bids from different parties.
Q: So how much did it cost to build Sooriyawewa?
NR: If you give me 3 weeks to one month I will be able to tell you the exact figure. I really do not know yet.
Q: But you must have some kind of an estimate in mind? After all you would have been quoted rates per square foot? What did it cost you to renovate Kettarama and rebuild Pallekele?
NR: I don’t know exactly. I cannot comment without having the final figures with me.
Q: Did it not cost you over Rs. 7 billion?
NR: I think it was over Rs. 5 billion. But I can’t be sure it may have gone up to Rs. 7 billion. This is only a rough estimate I am giving you. As I said before I don’t have the final figures.
Q: If as you say you were not pressured into building a brand new cricket stadium at Hambantota on what basis was Sooriyawewa chosen? Why could you not have developed the existing stadium in Dambulla?
NR: First I’ll give you an outline of how we got into the place and… this background information is a little vital. We took over office in 2009, April. At the time most of the planning for the World Cup 2011 was not in the books. We had to host 8 matches and we had a 350 million minus bank deficit with the bank when we took over office. So what happened was as soon as we took over office we had to work for the WC 2011, we were supposed to host 8 games in 2 venues. Then, due to the Pakistani issue, we got 4 extra matches. As a result we had to build another stadium for that. When we analysed the situation in terms of where to build, we had only one ground which had all the facilities upto about 60% to host a world cup event, and that was Sooriyawewa. We had to have a ground that fell in line with guidelines issued by the ICC; 30,000 seating, a capacity to hold 400 media personnel… these were some of the guidelines. So to accommodate that, when we looked at the grounds available, we had Kettarama, leased to us, owned by the government. Then we had Pallekele; though the Cricket Board had spent money 4 years back, not a single bowler has bowled on those grounds, being such an important area for cricket. Therefore, we took a decision to rebuild that as well. Then when we looked at the third venue…
Q: Who owns Pallekele?
NR: The Cricket board owns it. The grounds are on a government lease. Then when we look at the third option. And that was Dambulla. However Dambulla, from (2008) up to the WC we had about 14 international matches to be played in Sri Lanka and those 14 one-days we had to play in a place where you have lights. That’s an agreement signed by SLC before we took over, with TenSports. So, if we had wanted to develop Dambulla, we had to do the same thing that we had done with Pallakale, we had to spend at least one and a half years to get it done and we would have lost 50%-60% of revenue that was promised by the broadcaster because we could not have then used the ground. So we had to take a decision where to build.
Q: So are you saying that it was more feasible to actually build a new stadium at Sooriyawewa, rather than develop an existing one at 1/4th the cost?
NR: No, that’s not the case. We would have lost a lot of money if we had not played, if we had not kept Dambulla for our bilateral one day games.
Q: Who owns Suriyawewa?
NR: Sri Lanka Cricket. The land was sold to us by the BOI.
Q: What is the cost per annum into maintaining that stadium?
NR: About Rs. 1.5 million.
Q: So is it being maintained currently by Sri Lanka Cricket?
NR: Yes. By Sri Lanka Cricket.
Q: What does it cost to maintain the others?
NR: Also, Rs. 1.5 million each every month.
Q: There was a huge controversy around the sale of tickets for the World Cup matches held in Sri Lanka. Was there an internal investigation done by SLC on this subject? If not, why?
NR: No. What could we do? We took best precautions. We advertised detailing the days we would be selling tickets. We were very open in that aspect. But at the time we advertised we would not have sold even 20% at the time. The success of people actually coming for the matches was only after Sri Lanka qualified for the semi finals. Initially, there not more than 50 people in a queue to buy tickets.
Q: But Suraj Dandeniya claimed to me that “thousands” of people queued to purchase World Cup tickets?
NR: That is not correct.
Q: But why were not all those three wheeler drivers who were openly flogging tickets at black market prices not stopped?
NR: How can we stop? It’s not our job to do that.
Q: According to ICC guidelines there was to be an audit on all aspects of the World Cup. Has this audit been performed for Sri Lanka? If so by whom was it done?
NR: An audit is due. It is to be performed soon. By whom we have not been informed yet by the ICC.
Q: Is it true that some staff of SLC have not received their salaries owing to the present financial crisis?
NR: That is not correct. They have all been paid.
Q: Are there many other dues outstanding to other contractors including suppliers of meals, hotels, etc.?
NR: Yes, there are some dues to be settled which we will do when we get the balance USD one million from the ICC.
Q: Is it true that most hotels are reluctant to offer accommodation to SLC for forthcoming tours owing to the fear that they may never get paid?
NR: No, that is not true. In fact, we offered to pay the hotels premium rates of USD 160 per room. We impressed upon the ICC that Sri Lankan rates are lower and so they needed to pay us a reasonable amount. So we paid each hotel a standard rate of a minimum of $155 or $160 per room.
Q: What is the story about the ‘missing files’? If hard discs were stolen it must have been an inside job – have you been able to detect the culprits?
NR: No we have not. A police investigation is going on. I for one cannot think of who may have wanted to remove entire hard disks from a computer. We do however have back-ups. I do not know yet if it is an inside or outside job.
Q: How much money did SLC receive from BCCI as a result of our players being contracted for the IPL this year?
NR: When we took over office, the Board didn’t get a single cent for IPL. But we spoke with them. We told them, if our players are to be released, we own them, we spend money on their training and all that, we don’t want them to just come. And also we don’t want to get money from a player who is entitled for something. So we negotiated. Not only Sri Lanka, New Zealand and various other Boards, they supported us and we negotiated on top of what a player gets, not from what he gets. So we now get 10%. I think it’s about a hundred thousand dollars, from the last IPL.
Q: What is the long-term deal between SLC and BCCI regarding the IPL?
NR: There is no deal as such, whenever there is a player contracted, the Board will get 10% on top of what he gets.
Q: How are relations between SLC and BCCI? Excellent – Cordial – Strained – or bad?
NR: Excellent.
Q: How many staff does SLC employ?
NR: When we took over office, this organization had 245 people working. Now we have 259. When we got into office, at that time we didn’t have a media manager, no IT manager, dealing with IT, nor anyone to handle international organisations. So we were compelled to create departments. Our intention is to try and develop provincial and district cricket. Eight to ninety percent of the Sri Lankan players are either born and educated outstation. So we have recruited provincial and district coaches. That is where our strength is. A lot of people are talking about bad administration, bad governance. Any deal that is going through this organisation, goes with a tender.
Q: What about staff you hired for the World Cup? On what basis was Suraj and Kapila Dandeniya hired?
NR: Now that is a question I find difficult to answer.
Q: Was it because they are related to D.S. de Silva?
NR: Ahhh… I really don’t know.
Q: How much was Suraj and Kapila Dandeniya paid for their services during the World Cup?
NR: Suraj was paid USD 5,000/- per month and Kapila USD 3,000/- per month.
Q: For how long?
NR: For a year or more I think.
Q: Are executive positions advertised? Are the salaries paid to executives in line with market rates for similar positions?
NR: Yes it is advertised after consulting with senior managers. We recruit according to SLIDA guidelines. In fact, the have approved all 259 of our staff.
Q: Has SLC entered into any agreements to offer special deals to certain organisations? What for instance is the agreement with Mobitel?
NR: Yes, They are our sponsors. In fact, they are our highest paying sponsors.
Q: Were you not an employee of Mobitel previously? Is there a conflict of interest here?
NR: I was head of marketing at Mobitel, so what is the problem? I left Mobitel probably about 6 years back. So in that case can’t I do anything related to Mobitel in my life?
Q: How many overseas trips have you made since taking office at SLC?
What was the cost of these trips?
NR: I have traveled 20 times. The total cost has been Rs. 1,101,750/-.
All my travels are invitations from other Boards or the ICC. Twice, due to the Singapore issue, Singapore arbitration court case, I had to travel on our money.
Q: What is the per diem you received for such trips?
NR: USD 250 per day.
What sort of father is this …. to swear on his children.
Wen he swears you become “Chicky-chikay”. If he did not you will cll yourself “Liar-liar”. The man no way to escape baseless accusations …
Nishantha..How much do you really vaue your children? Are you genuinely concerned about their well being and welfare or is corrupt ways and crooked benefits more important to you.
Yoou have become very transparent and your motives and intentions are quite evident to this intelligent society of Sri Lankans..Don’t you ever think you have us fooled…You willl need to pay and meet your waterloo some day..
We all know what serious allegations there are against this fellow nishantha…all about corrupt and illegal activities..And now he even swears by his children.What a useless father we have in this immoral fellow…May be rich in ill gotten money but one of the poorest fathers where family values are concerned…Sad doay for fathers in sri lanka…But then what do yu expect huh!! some of our leading fathers of the country are no better examples .Birds of immoral feather!!
Today elsewhere Mr Aluthgamage – The Minister himself comfirmed that there is financial crisis with SLC.
Nishantha, dont be a plonker to swear upon your kids.
They swear when they are aware that they are not their’s
How can Nishantha say not “I do not know” to many questions. Is not he responsibile???
Its not that he is irresponsible, he is bluffing.
Come on Nishantha (you were an honest guy), why lie through your teeth now. You honestly didnt answer any of the questions, you were pathetically defensive and dodgeful, face the bouncers without duck & cover.
The State Engineering Corporation bribed the Consultant during the procurement and costruction stages of the Peradeniya hospital project. The ultimate project was a very substandard ugly building structure.
In a bidding process the Consultant(Engineer) should and must protect the client. The pre-qualification process to select a contractor to be performed using previous experience of the Contractors with good reputation. But in SriLanka always happend the opposite. The government servents acted as Consultants and made very substandard products with the blessings of politicians.
The result was increible cost over runs to the Tax payers.
This interview lays to rest the endless, scurrilous allegations this unethical sheet is throwing at perfectly honest and decent people.
Shame on you, foreign agents.
Coon
Jason Cooney
You obviously don’t lack time to spend on your inanities!
Why don’t you go back to what you do best: pursuing pre-pubescent males?
Please, Please Mr President of Sri Lanka— You were democratically elected by
the people of Sri Lanka to this very high office. In the same way ,please, cant we have officials of the Cricket Board democratically elected by all the registered
cricket clubs. Look at what has happened, vital discs containing account information goes missing and consequently Rupees Five Billion spent on the venues remains unaudited. No wonder the Cricket Board is broke.
Bertus, We saw this year how corrupt the individuals are when they have voting powers in FIFA football worldcup biddings. It is the same in Sri Lanka. Everytime an election to SLC is on, casino and drug mafia pours in to the scene and throws money out electing unlelectable to office. There has been no credible chairman since 1981 except for Gamini Dissanaike and Rienzie Wijetilleke perhaps. For example Thilanga’s time, far too many many incidents happened.
The problem is, these elections are not open to the general public, but to regional cricket administrations which are full of corrupt former cricketers like Nishantha or DS. They can easily be bribed, they are not answerable to anybody, just like what happens in FIFA. It is a misconception we have that by electing to this office, we could do better. The truth is quite the contrary.
It is always good if the minister, elected by the general public makes appointments with the help of a transparent commission. There are good people like Rienzie to help the minister. Unfortunately, when the ministers are corrupt, when the constitution protects them, when they make the son-in-law of a casino man the chaiman, there is not a lot anybody could do.Elected or hand-picked, the wrong man will always cause chaos but elections are prone to more corruption.
Bertus:
Your appeal is reminiscent of those who thought the best custodian of the chicken run was Col. Sanders!
Are you belongs to Reggie Ranathunga Family?
I think Nishantha has opened his mouth and put his foot in it many times now…this is a classic example……who is he fooling? only himself…..Doe she think that the public are fools with no brains….wake up and stop telling all thee lies…stop dreaming….the SLC has been overrun by stooges and the employee cadre was only 82 when Dharmadasa took over and he said there were too many and fired innocent people for no reason except doing their jobs saying they were stooges….now look at how many there are now…..SLC is a joke….it is high time the President and Sports Minister stepped in and did the right thing
Mr Ranatunga….. just tell the truth……. you and the SL cricket board did not havea spine to say no to all powerful president as this family how wants every thing in H’tota. Now cricket and its workers are paying the price.
As far as I know, H’tota does not have a reputable cricketing heritage or clubs. These stadiums need to be used on a regular basis and if not such venues are wasted. Stadium in Galle or Dambulla could have been easily upgraded but you had to bow down to the all powerful.
No strategy or rhyme or reasoning, just only directives by presidential cohort. Cricket pays the price today and Lanka will pay the price for such decisions tomorrow for the stupidity such as the commonwealth games !!!!!!
hee hee hee. I just looked out of the window and saw pigs flying. I will never swear on my children when I tell a lie.
Dont dash the honour and charisma your father and siblings brought to your family.
“honor and charisma your father and siblings brought to your family”
Laughhable, laughable…..what charima and honor did they bring? A family of opportunists and sychopants.
LIES AND DECEIT AND MORE QUESTIONS FOR YOU
1) Initial allocation for new S’wewa stadium and refurbishment of P’kelle and K’rama stadiums was Rs3.6b but he conceeds that S’wewa alone cost Rs7b but this not a crisis!!! BTW $5m from ICC is only Rs0.55b so the gap is well over Rs4b.
2) Its cheaper to spend Rs7b on S’wewa than upgrade Dambulla with flood lights!!!!!!
3) It costs Rs1.5m a year to upkeep S’wewa that’s Rs120,000 p.m will just about pay the wages of 10 labourers!!!!!!!!!
4) DS’s two nephews earned US96000 a year, did CSL deduct PAYE tax??
5) 259 staff @ say at $50,000 pm including EPF, ETF is Rs155m ($1.4m a year) add to that all the perks, travel, cars, phones, entertainment would easily cost Rs200m even without player contracts and costs !!!!!
6) 10% commission from IPL contracts equals $100,000 means total value of contracts is only $1m? I think Mahela alone got $1.6m
THESE ARE THE LALIT’S OF SRI LANKA
Johann Gunasekera,
You are absolutely correct. The SLC is corrupt, but none dare to probe it as it backs this”Hambantota Mania” which is a product of the president’s self glorification – backed by the sycophants.
This Mania is going to lose – has already lost – billions of the peoples funds in backing this absurd attempt to stage the Commonwealth Games at hambantota – the PR firm promoting it, is ALSO hired to promote Gold Coast.
Nishantha… you are a disgrace to Arjuna. I cannot comment about the other Ranatunge’s , but anyone linked to the Rajapakse regime are corrupt.
What a deceitful and crookish individual that we have as one of the chiefs at SL cricket…..ZIn utter shambles and the response from this fellow is not worth the time spent for this interview..Answers are flimsy as the corrupt person himself and we can smell a fishy response from miles.
‘Nishantha..we can all see clearly your case and we feel real sorry for your children…whom we doubt you have any regard for..Not convincing at All.
Does not the President have time for these matters ????????
Hello !!! Stop this darussman & Channel 4 matters as there are more important things to attend internally……..
Milk it…. milk it……. untill the milk run dry.
BETRAYING INNOCENT CHILDREN FOR MONEY
The Question to this guy should have been, did any politician or anyone in the rajapakse family and thir henchmen put any pressure to do anything illegal and wrong?
I wonder why he put his children at risk.
This man is a complusive lier , Cricket board is one of the most corrupt organisation in the country full of ” no good busy bodies ” . They owe hundreds of milions to banks & service providers , yet reading his replies one may think this is a billion dollar surplus organistaion run by highly efficient people , what a jerk !
Wasn’t Access Internatiinal invovled in the building of these stadiums? And they are directly in contact with the Rajas?? So definitely money went into their pockets…
I don’t most of these people who comments here are hipocrats…I guess 95% of the people must be working for some company. When your company chairman say to do something, are you NOT doing it. We get so many hipocrits living in overseas and living luxury life and try to fix problems in Sri Lanka, including Sri Lanka Cricket. So the day you say NO to your chairman who asked you to do something and you give your resignation, come and comments here…I feel sorry for all the losers who comments here. Nishantha of Sri Lanka Cricket of Susantha Ratnayake from Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman to Gamimini Wicks from BOC are the same. They do what their boss say..like we all..
How was Suraj and Kapila Dandeniya paid in US Dollars for their services during the World Cup instead of in Sri Lanka Rupees?
Disgrace on you swear on ur kids they are innocent and have clue what the father is lying on the name of his children…………………May God Bless the children
We are living in a time even the deady body of the own mother will be sold for money. So swaering over children is a small matter compared to the money you can amke now a days…….afterall who knows how many children one has!!!
The financial resources involved in Sri Lanka cricket seems to be massive and far too excessive to be put in the hands of elected / appointed officials.
The billions of the cricket board should be handled independently.
OMG…This guy doesnt have children…thats why he said this
OMG…..OMG….. Terrible Answers, i think the Sri Lankan cicket board will not get the balance payment from ICC, the way our secretary speaks. he is not responsible person, he might be kidding.
I think anyone can be appointed to this position , because of the way our gentleman secretary speaks……..
Rashid
My Gosh Nishantha, why do u need to bring your innocent kids to this dirty game of SLC & Corruption, for sure your wife would have given you hell after looking at headlines.. tc mate
COME ON YOU CRICKETERS , HAVEN’T YOU GOT AN OUNCE OF DECENCY LEFT. WHY DONT YOU SWEAR ON THE PRESIDENTS HEAD, INSTEAD OF
YOUR INNOCENT CHILDREN?
WHAT A FATHER YOU ARE!!!!
YOU ARE A DISGRACE!!!!!!
i was there with srilanka cricket crowd in dambulla and its bunch of crooks and uselss character who just dissolve money for nothing, the media boss some jerome is like a pimp behind girls,and see many of the yester year cricketers with their familes for vip meal while people who are working hard right thru the day been given batt parcels to gain their own personal interest they will not swear on their kids they will sell their wife too the money of the mass been melted for fools with tie in the scap goat called srilanka cricket god should punish them all with either diabetics or cancer
“Fathers swear on children when they are aware, that they are not theirs”
“Fathers swear on children when they are aware, that they are not their’s”