Bangladeshi owner of LPL franchise handed 4 years of jail for match-fixing

Tamim Rahman owner of LPL franchise arrested [Source: X]

In a recent development, a British-Bangladeshi owner of a Lanka Premier League team was handed a four-year suspended jail sentence by the Sri Lankan court on Wednesday.

The sentence was passed in connection with match-fixing in a domestic T20 cricket tournament, where Bangladesh-born Tamim Rahman, the owner of the Dambulla Thunders, now Dambulla Sixers, admitted to serious offences.

Bangladeshi owner pleads guilty after 2 years

Tamim Rahman confessed that he had attempted to influence a player and organised betting in the Lanka Premier League. Following his guilty plea, Rahman was sentenced to a four-year jail term, suspended for five years, as per a court official quoted by AFP.

The owner was also fined 24 million Sri Lankan rupees (approximately $80,000), as the conviction fell under the strict 2019 law aimed at preventing corruption in sports in Sri Lanka.

Interestingly, Rahman was arrested after the player he allegedly approached to organise match-fixing alerted the authorities instead of cooperating. This arrest marked the first detention of a Premier League official since the league was established six years ago.

Rahman was caught at the airport in Colombo before he attempted to board a flight to Dubai. He spent a few weeks in detention before being granted bail. Notably, an arrest warrant was also issued for team manager Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, a Pakistani resident who was also involved in the case.

Dambulla Thunders now owned by ex-U19 Sri Lanka cricketer

For the unaware, Tamim Rahman, a British national of Bangladeshi origin, was also a co-owner of the Imperial Sports Group and was arrested in May 2024 over these match-fixing allegations in the Lanka Premier League.

After almost two years, Rahman pleaded guilty to the charges and was subsequently handed the punishment. However, Rahman lost his ownership rights of the Dambulla Thunders immediately after his arrest in 2024, as officials sought to uphold the integrity of the league.

 In Rahman’s absence, the franchise was taken over by Sequoia Consultants, led by former Sri Lanka Under-19 cricketer Priyanga De Silva, and was renamed the Dambulla Sixers.

Earlier corruption scandals in the Lanka Premier League

Although this marked a major guilty plea related to corruption in the league, former Sri Lanka off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake was indicted in June 2025 for attempting to lure a fellow player into match-fixing during the inaugural LPL edition in 2020.

Senanayake allegedly approached at least three players for corrupt purposes via telephone from Dubai. He was arrested in 2023 and later released on bail ahead of a formal hearing.

In another incident, the Lanka Premier League was again marred by controversy in February 2022, when the Sports Ministry’s Anti-Corruption Unit launched an investigation after a leading Sri Lankan batter lodged a complaint about being approached for corrupt activities.

As of now, the Lanka Premier League 2026 is scheduled to begin on July 8, with five teams set to participate: Colombo Strikers, Dambulla Sixers, Galle Marvels, Jaffna Kings, and Kandy Falcons. The tournament is set to be concluded by August 8, 2026.