Female ex-employee reveals the rampant abuse by frustrated officials at Cricket's head office
Wickramasinghe, though many may not know her by name, rose to prominence in Sri Lanka as much as SLC’s international cricketers in recent years largely thanks to the no-holds barred, un-governed and un-monitored world of cyber journalism which today is a free-for-all and seen by many as a monster beyond control.
Sexual demands, groping, touching, lude
comments and verbal abuse of helpless and silent female employees are
common occurrences inside the glamourous offices of Sri Lanka Cricket
(SLC) according to the official testimony of a former female Executive
officer of the country’s most internationally recognized corporate body.
In a startling revelation made during a
formal disciplinary hearing, SLC’s former Confidential Secretary in the
Marketing Division, Gayathri Wickramasinghe has exposed the dirty
underbelly of the creature that in Sri Lanka governs what is supposedly
the “gentlemen’s game”.
“During the tenure of my service with SLC,
I have faced harassments including sexual harassment and perversion by,
certain personnel of SLC. I have been offered with club memberships in
order to call for evening drinks and certain individuals have related
about their extra marital affairs during the official working hours with
me” revealed Wickramasinghe in her statement at a recent inquiry
against her.
“Even I have faced sexual harassment
physically. In fact, I reported one incident in 2012, to then CEO Mr.
Ajith Jayasekara and he has taken the matter up with the then President
Mr, Upali Dharmadasa who sorted out the issue,” she added.
“The individuals I have mentioned here are
certain employees of SLC and certain Ex-co members of the SLC. I do not
want to divulge the names of them but I would do when the necessity
arises. Being an unmarried lady, I did not want to complain and tarnish
my image, myself due to the reason of manipulation and finally
publishing all bogus stories against the innocent parties,” she said.
“However bogus stories about me have been
published in tabloids and newspapers. Later on “Ceylon Today” dated 17th
September 2014 published an apology. I was the only female involved in
organizing tournaments. During the time I was working with tour
organizing I have faced sexual harassments and perversion from certain
support staff individuals as well” said Wickramasinghe.
She went on to drop a bombshell when she
claimed that the termination of her employment at SLC was mainly due to
her refusal to co-operate with the sexual demands of some perverted
officials.
“Having stated all these harassments during the past, I feel the allegations which are stated in my charge sheet are meaningless, baseless, lack of coherence and (levelled) to take revenge from me for not obeying them” she stated.
“Having stated all these harassments during the past, I feel the allegations which are stated in my charge sheet are meaningless, baseless, lack of coherence and (levelled) to take revenge from me for not obeying them” she stated.
Subsequently, websites published
stories about Wickramasinghe’s allegations, though without solid proof
and she felt it obviously was the work of frustrated SLC officials
hell-bent on destroying her for not acceding to their perverse sexual
demands. It bore all the hallmarks of their usual modus operandi.
Then on September 7, SLC’s COO Jerome
Jayaratne quoted these web stories and a newspaper article and asked her
for a “detailed report” of the alleged harassment she faced as they
were “serious allegations”.
However, she did not respond as she had
more than enough reason to lose confidence of SLC and its officialdom
and felt it was another attempt to ridicule her more through web-site
mudslinging.
Wickramasinghe, though many may not know her by name, rose to prominence in Sri Lanka as much as SLC’s international cricketers in recent years largely thanks to the no-holds barred, un-governed and un-monitored world of cyber journalism which today is a free-for-all and seen by many as a monster beyond control.
Stories made up, according to
Wickramasinghe, by frustrated SLC officials often spread like wild fire
on gossip media though they had no shred of evidence and sometimes
forced SLC to conduct investigations, only to find they held no water.
A weird story of spending a night with a
cricketer during a Test match was one such story. A shocking allegation
of altering a receipt for a false claim was another example. There are
several such examples that made her famous or infamous in the cricket
circles.
Wickramasinghe by nature is outgoing,
confident and straightforward. She is talented and was good at her job,
exactly the things despised by uneducated and incompetent officials and
their henchmen who roamed the offices of SLC. So they resorted to
alleged sexual harassment and spreading gossip to get the better of her.
Finally, they got rid of her but through flimsy charges, most of which
were rejected by her immediate supervisor.
Interestingly, among the charges for her
sacking are none to say that she was incompetent. Among the charges
levelled by SLC are brushing her hair, applying make-up and painting her
nails in the office, talking too loudly on the phone and getting late
to come to office though she had covered those hours by staying well
behind the closing hours to cover the work assigned to her.
In fact, Wickramasinghe had worked for an
extra 39 hours and two minutes more than her stipulated working hours
during the period SLC had investigated according to information
transpired at the inquiry. Her superior officer confirmed at the inquiry
that she had come to office late as she was assigned to collect cheques
from SLC sponsors on her way to office.
So frustrated by the sudden
sacking even without a letter of warning, Wickramasinghe was forced to
come up with the harassment she had silently endured at the hand of some
officials. She said she feared reprisals from officials if she revealed
them at the time she was working but felt the suffering was
meaningless, when she heard of the ridiculous charges trumped-up to get
rid of her.
She told “Daily Mirror” that current SLC
officials suspected her of links with their rival parties and have gone
to extremes to find a reason to get rid of her.
In his evidence, Wickramasinghe’s superior
Vajira Dassanayake, the then head of Marketing at SLC gave a clear
picture on how things developed. Recalling a SLC meeting on May 30,
Dassanayake said “He (SLC President) told the staff present that he is
aware of information leaking out due to the conduct of some staff
members. He further told that he would take appropriate action to remove
such obstacles and he is aware of the proper legal mechanism to achieve
such an action”.
Wickramasinghe, describing the said
meeting in her statement stated; “The President SLC accused the
personnel who were present there for leaking confidential information to
the media. He further stated that he had further identified the people
through his sources who support the opposed parties to SLC. Also the
President stated in a threatening tone that he will be taking action
against the employees from tomorrow as he has identified them as
obstacles for his future plans. He further stated that he very well knew
the law and he knows how to tackle the situation”.
Recalling what happened the
following day Dassanayake added: “CEO called me to his office and
reluctantly handed over a letter of suspension for a period of three
months. After half an hour I got to know that the accused officer
(Wickramasinghe) has also been given a similar suspension order.”