Newspaper claims cash found in player's room

Loadsamoney? Not mine, insists Atapattu

Charlie Austin

December 21, 2003

Marvan Atapattu explains all: 'I didn't know anything about it' © Getty Images

Atapattu's denial followed a report in the state-run Sunday Observer that revealed that 11,000 lakh of rupees (around £7000) had been found by an hotel employee after the team's departure.

"Was it a bribe to fix the match?" speculated the article. "Has any interested bookie had a hand in the matter similar to what happened to India's former captain Mohammad Azharuddin and his South African counterpart Hansie Cronje?"

Ajit Jayasekera, the Sri Lankan team manager, read out a statement before the start of the fourth day's play in Colombo, and announced that the cricket board had called upon the police to make a full investigation:

"There was a news item today in one of the English newspapers stating that some money was found in a Kandy hotel room that had been occupied by one of our players," said Jayasekera. "It implies that it was found in a room occupied by Mr Marvan Atapattu. To prevent any speculation we decided to speak to the media.

"Marvan has denied totally that it is his money. We left the hotel on the morning of December 14 and money had been found subsequently. There were several people that occupied that room after Marvan had left. It could be possible that the money belongs to someone else.

"The cricket board will be conducting an enquiry into this. They will get the CID to look into this to find out what really took place."

Atapattu denied any connection with the money: "The coach told me yesterday that the president [Thilanga Sumathipala] was expecting a call from me. I called him and he told me what the hotel had said and asked me 'Is it yours?' I told him I didn't know anything about it."

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Players/Umpires

Marvan Atapattu

Teams

Sri Lanka