News
Ex-CNI says he grappled with inadequate funding
By Rathindra Kuruwita
The Office of the Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) had not been able to maintain contacts with informants due to inadequate fund allocations, former CNI Sisira Mendis yesterday told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating the Easter Sunday attacks.
Asked by Commissioner whether the CNI’s office had maintained contacts on the field, Mendis said that funds were required for that purpose.
“We didn’t even have good vehicles. We needed money and other facilities to maintain a network of informants.
But funds were always in short supply.”
Mendis said that when he assumed duties on July 28, 2015, there had been about 22 army officers in the CNI’s office including a Lieutenant Colonel, but he was arrested by the CID. He was replaced. Then there were two majors. All of them were good officers.”
It was also revealed at the commission that although Mendis assumed duties on July 28, 2015, his appointment letter said that he had taken over as the CNI on April 10, 2015.
The Attorney General’s Department (ADG) Official, who led evidence, asked the witness whether that undermined his office from the very beginning. “You might be held responsible for something that happened when you were not in charge at all,” she said.
Mendis also said that he had been paid a salary of Rs. 42,000, a fuel allowance of Rs. 20,000 and a phone allowance of Rs. 8,000.
Mendis, 69, retired from the police in 2011 as a DIG.
The Rs. 42,000 is the pension he received.
The former CNI said he had found employment in the private sector after retiring in 2011. In April 2015, B. M. U. D. Basnayake called Mendis and asked if he was interested in becoming CNI, as the post had fallen vacant after Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Kapila Hendawitharana left on January 09, 2015. He had been hesitant initially, but he had been assured that he would receive the kind of support Hendawitharana had from former Defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and other senior officers, Mendis said.
“Two persons called and assured me of this,” Mendis said. The names of the two officials were not revealed to the media.
“I had seen how Hendawitharana operated when I was the Director and DIG of the CID. I saw him coordinate with all intelligence agencies. How everyone cooperated with him and the support the current President gave when he was the Defence secretary and I felt confident that I too could do so.”