ICC bans Jayasuriya for two years for destroying evidence of corruption, player claims innocence

Legendary Sri Lanka batsman Sanath Jayasuriya was Tuesday banned for two years after admitting to obstruct an anti-corruption probe by "destroying" the phones which were sought as evidence by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Jayasuriya admitted breaching the anti-corruption unit (ACU) code of the global body on two separate counts.

"As a result of the admissions, he has accepted a sanction of a two-year period of ineligibility," the ICC stated.

However, he wasn't given the maximum punishment of five years for his breach after the world body took his "previous good conduct" into account. Jayasuriya's sanction will be a backdated one starting from October 16, 2018.

The left-handed batsman and orthodox spinner is a former Sri Lankan captain who was a key member of the 1996 World Cup-winning team before going on to serve two terms as the chairman of selectors.

The 49-year-old was adjudged 'Player of the Tournament' during Sri Lanka's victorious 1996 World Cup campaign.

"It is unfortunate that even though I provided the ICC ACU with all the information as demanded by the officials the ICC ACU thought it fit to charge me under the Code although there were no allegations of corruption, betting or misuse of inside information," Jayasuriya issued a statement after ICC imposed the sanctions.

Jayasuriya was questioned as part of the ICC's investigation of wide scale corruption in Sri Lankan cricket.

The Article 2.4.6 of ICC Code of Conduct deals with "failure or refusal, without compelling justification, to cooperate with any investigation carried out by the ACU."
The Article 2.4.7 deals with "obstructing or delaying any investigation that may be carried out by the ACU, including concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information..."
As per the detailed judgement uploaded by the ICC, Jayasuriya was asked to hand over his mobile devices after ACU GM Alex Marshall was satisfied that information on the mobile devices belonging to him in the period between January 1, 2017 to 22 September, 2017 "might be relevant to the investigation."
However, Jayasuriya had no inkling that the "investigators called up on the numbers with last digits '888' and the phone rang contrary to his statement."
When asked why he admitted to the charges of having destroyed the evidence as claimed by the ICC, he said: "I accepted the charges for the greater good and to protect the integrity of cricket"