Bribery complaint filed against Maithripala
A complaint has been filed against former President Maithripala Sirisena at the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.
The complaint was filed by former executive member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Montague Sarathchandra.
In his complaint, Sarathchandra called for an investigation into the funds Sirisena claims to have obtained to pay as compensation to the victims of the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
He noted that Sirisena had, at one time, wanted to collect money from the public to pay the compensation but has now reportedly paid part of the money.
Sirisena was last year found guilty in a case related to the Easter Sunday attacks, and was ordered to pay Rs. 100 million as compensation to the petitioners.
The Supreme Court ruled that Sirisena, who was President and Defence Minister at the time, had failed to take action to prevent the attacks in 2019 from taking place.
India was among the countries that had reportedly warned Sri Lanka of a plot to carry out deadly attacks on Easter Sunday but the warnings were ignored.
Suicide bombers killed over 350 people at hotels and churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa on Easter Sunday in April 2019.
Former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara, former National Intelligence Chief Sisira Mendis and former Chief of State Intelligence Nilantha Jayawardena, who were holding office at the time, were also found to have failed to take action to prevent the deadly attacks from taking place despite being warned earlier. (Colombo Gazette)
