Sri Lankan cricket board president Thilanga Sumathipala went on trial on Tuesday for an alleged breach of the country's Immigration and Emigration Act.
Sumathipala, who has been held in police custody since January 19, pleaded not guilty to the charges. They centre on his alleged ties to a suspected underworld figure called Dammika Amarasinghe who was murdered last month.
Sumathipala is alleged to have helped Amarasinghe travel on a false passport to watch the 1999 World Cup in England as a guest of the Sri Lankan board.
Sumathipala denies the allegations. He released a media statement the day before being taken into custody saying that he was being unfairly attacked.
"Over the past four months certain parties with vested interests have been carrying out a vicious, malicious and utterly false and fabricated media campaign against me," he said.
"Having done nothing wrong, I have nothing to hide and I am confident that truth and justice will prevail."
Sumathipala is alleged to have signed visa sponsorship letters and authorised the disbursement of $1,500 in traveller's cheques to Amarasinghe's false identity.
The team investigating the case obtained a court order and raided the cricket board headquarters in Colombo last month in search of evidence. Several former and current cricket board employees are due to appear as witnesses.
Amarasinghe, who was being prosecuted for a series of contract killings, was shot dead in court by an assassin dressed in lawyer's robes on January 9.
Since his detention, Sumathipala has been held on remand at the National Hospital after complaining of kidney problems and a spinal condition.
The next session of the high-profile case, which has attracted huge media interest in the island, is set for Friday with later hearings on February 17, 19 and 20.
Sumathipala, who is also chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom, has announced that he will not stand for re-election as cricket board president when elections are held in March.
