Kiriella complains tabled report on political victimisation incomplete

By Saman Indrajith

Chief Opposition Whip and Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella told Parliament yesterday that the Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI), which investigated the alleged incidents of political victimisation tabled by the government in Parliament, was incomplete.

When the report was tabled in Parliament by Leader of the House, Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, the Chief Opposition Whip said that the testimonies of the report had not been included in what had been tabled.

The first three volumes of the Sinhala version of the report were tabled by the Leader of the House Minister Gunawardena.

Chief Opposition Whip Kiriella requested the government for recordings of evidence of the PCoI reports. “Not even the volumes containing the records of testimonies of the report on the Easter Sunday terror attacks have been given. The Attorney General says he too has not been given them. How could he institute legal action without reading them? We have been repeatedly asking for the complete report.”

Leader of the House Minister Gunawardena said: We agreed at the Party leaders’ meeting to debate the Presidential Commission of inquiry report on Easter Sunday attacks for three days. The first day of debate is scheduled for Wednesday. The next two days will be allocated on the third next sitting week. That was the agreement and we would work according to that.

Chief Opposition Whip Kiriella:

Where are the sections containing the testimonies? They too should be given to us.

Leader of the House Minister Gunawardena:

That is a future issue.

A three-member Presidential Commission of Inquiry was appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in January 2020, to inquire into alleged political victimisations that took place from 2015 to 2019.

The Commission consisted of retired Supreme Court Judge Upali Abeyratne, retired Court of Appeal Judge Daya Chandrasiri Jayatilake, and retired IGP Chandra Fernando.

The Commission was mandated to inquire into political victimisation as regards investigations conducted by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, FCID, CID, and the Special Investigation Unit of the Police from January 8, 2015, to November 16, 2019.

The Commission also investigated the cases of politically victimised public officers during the relevant period.