Cricket chief misses court date

Sumathipala has fallen foul of the Sri Lankan authorities before

Sri Lanka Cricket president Thilanga Sumathipala is in hospital and unable to appear in court to face charges of passport fraud.

Sumathipala is accused of violating immigration rules to send alleged gangster Dammika Amarasinghe to watch the 1999 Cricket World Cup in England.

He is also accused of using £1,500 of the Board's money to fund the trip.

Sumathipala was to to face charges in Colombo on Thursday, but his lawyers submitted a medical certificate.

It was stated he had been in a hospital since Tuesday suffering from chest pains.

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Judge TB Boyagama ordered Sumathipala be examined by a judicial medical officer and report to court on Monday.

Sri Lankan police last week raided SLC headquarters, seizing documents and accounts as part of their investigations.

Amarasinghe faces trial over several killings and attempted murders, including the attempted assassination of a newspaper editor in 1998.

Sumathipala, who denies involvement with the alleged gang leader, was sacked by the Sri Lankan sports minister in March 2000 over alleged irregularities in awarding contracts to build a new cricket stadium.

However, the allegations were not proven and Sumathipala was re-elected to a third term as president in June 2003.

Police are currently conducting two separate inquiries into Sri Lankan Cricket.

The second follows the discovery of £6,500 in a Kandy hotel room used by batsman Marvan Atapattu during the recent series against England.

He insists the money does not belong to him.