COLOMBO, May 30: Sri Lanka’s former cricket chief Jayantha Dharmadasa was on Friday fined $31,000 by the securities regulator over his alleged role in manipulating share prices.

Dharmadasa, who headed the cricket board from 2005 to January 2008, his son and seven others were charged with illegally boosting the share price of Nawaloka Hospitals, in which they hold a majority stake.

The Securities Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) filed a case in 2006 against all nine for alleged “acts to create a false and misleading appearance of an active share market.”

“Taking account of all the attendant circumstances, it was decided by the Members of the Commission to allow the compounding of the offence upon payment of 3.3 million rupees,” the SEC said, adding that Dharmadasa had paid the fine.

Dharmadasa’s family controls the Nawaloka Group, which has investments in construction, plastic, timber, trading and heavy machinery. The family took the hospital unit public in 2004.—AFP