The world governing body of cricket is encouraging people to “come forward and share … without fear of any repercussions”.

Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager – Anti-Corruption, said: “This is the first time the ICC has held an amnesty and it is in response to the very specific challenges we face in Sri Lanka.

“Allowing retrospective reporting of alleged approaches to engage in corrupt conduct will assist in our ongoing and wide-ranging investigations, as well as enabling us to continue to develop a comprehensive picture of the situation there.

[caption id=”attachment_91891″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″] Sanath Jayasuriya was charged for failing to co-operate with anti-corruption investigations[/caption]

“If any player or participant has any information concerning corrupt conduct they should come forward and share it with us now without fear of any repercussions.

[breakout id=”0″][/breakout]“We would urge any participant with any information that may demonstrate corrupt conduct affecting cricket in Sri Lanka to come forward in the strictest of confidence.”

Former captain, selector and batting great, Sanath Jayasuriya, plunged Sri Lanka cricket into crisis after he was charged by the ICC on two counts of failing to co-operate with anti-corruption investigators in October.

[caption id=”attachment_52779″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″] Kumar Sangakkara believes players need more protection from corruption[/caption]

Sky Sports commentator and former England captain Nasser Hussain believed this to be “just the tip of the iceberg”, while Sri Lanka batting legend Kumar Sangakkara called for a “solid barrier” to be installed to protect players from outsiders looking to encourage corruption, and for agents to be vetted.

The ICC also charged Sri Lanka bowling coach Nuwan Zoysa with three counts of breaching its anti-corruption code.

[breakout id=”1″][/breakout]The amnesty will run from January 16-31 and will apply to all participants under both the ICC and Sri Lankan Cricket Anti-Corruption codes, which state that both domestic and international participants are obliged to report full details of any information on corrupt conduct without delay.

Failure to do so is a serious offence and could result in a ban of up to five years, but the amnesty will protect individuals from such a suspension if they report their insights within the amnesty timeframe.