Sri Lanka’s president has called on the head of the cricket Shammi Silva board to resign amid allegations of corruption

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s request follows years of systemic corruption and mismanagement allegations against Shammi Silva, whose seven-year tenure atop the country’s powerful sports body has sparked mounting public outrage.

Sri Lanka’s president has asked the head of the country’s influential cricket board to resign over longstanding allegations of corruption and mismanagement at the sports body, local media reported Wednesday.

Sri Lankan newspaper the Daily Mirror first reported that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who was elected in 2024, asked Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) head Shammi Silva to voluntarily step down from his role. He reportedly responded by saying he wanted a week to decide.

When contacted by OCCRP, SIlva refused to confirm or deny the report and did not respond to further requests for comment. Neither did Sri Lanka’s sports minister, Sunil Kumara Gamage, nor the International Cricket Council, the sport’s global governing body.

Silva has proved to be a powerful and controversial actor in cricket-mad Sri Lanka. His seven years at the helm of SLC have been marred by persistent allegations of mismanagement and systemic corruption.

The country’s former president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in 2023 appointed a cabinet subcommittee, chaired by the country’s then-foreign minister that uncovered alleged governance failures, structural corruption risks, conflicts of interest, and irregularities in elections and voting procedures at SLC. It also criticised the club-based voting system, which critics argue enables entrenched control over the organisation, and recommended legal restructuring and stronger oversight mechanisms.

The sub-committee also reviewed proposals from a separate reform panel led by retired Supreme Court Justice K.T. Chitrasiri, which recommended sweeping changes to SLC’s governance structure.

The Chitrasiri Committee was formed following a governance crisis in 2023 that resulted in the ICC temporarily suspending Sri Lanka Cricket over concerns about political interference.

Over the years, several prominent cricket figures, including former national captain Mahela Jayawardene and ex-test captain Sidath Wettimuny, have publicly raised concerns about how cricket administration is managed in Sri Lanka.

An online petition launched several weeks ago calling for Silva’s removal under the hashtag #GoHomeShammi has gathered more than 16,000 signatures.