02 February 2004	Monday	10 Zilhaj 1424

COLOMBO, Feb 1: Sri Lanka's cricket chief Thilanga Sumathipala, in custody on charges of breaking immigration laws, on Sunday announced he would not seek reelection to the governing body.

Sri Lanka Cricket said its president Sumathiapala will not contest for another term at its annual general meeting next month.

Sumathipala, who was was ordered on Friday to be remanded in custody for 10 more days pending further police investigations, will also not attend the International Cricket Council's meeting in Auckland next month.

He chief appeared before a magistrate on Friday, 11 days after being taken into custody on allegations that he helped a criminal travel abroad on a forged passport.

The magistrate refused him bail and fixed the next hearing for this month. Sumathipala is also the chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom, the main carrier partly owned and fully managed by NTT of Japan.

He is accused of aiding and abetting Dhammika Amarasinghe, a man implicated in more than 28 murder cases and with previous convictions, to obtain a forged passport and travel to London to see a cricket match.

Amarasinghe was shot dead last month as he was escorted to court here in connection with an unrelated case by a gunman disguised as a lawyer.

A police spokesman said the man who killed Amarasinghe had given himself up to the authorities and claimed he carried out the attack to avenge the victim's alleged killing of another gang member in 2001. -AFP