Public Security Minister accues Ranil and Maithripala of having blocked probes

By Saman Indrajith

Former Presidents Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe obstructed investigations into hundreds of fraud and corruption cases during the Yahapalana government, Minister of Public Security Ananda Wijepala told Parliament on Friday.

“I was the Director of the Anti-Corruption Unit during the yahapalana government. We received 1,200 complaints, and 500 of them were referred to various institutions such as the Bribery Commission, the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID), and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further inquiry.

However, both then-President Maithripala Sirisena and then-Prime Minister Ranil ickremesinghe halted many of the investigations after striking certain political deals. The present government has now resumed inquiries into most of those complaints,” the Minister said.

He added that assets worth billions of rupees, accumulated through financial crimes and drug trafficking, have been confiscated under the current administration.

“To date, assets valued at Rs 4.5 billion acquired through drug trafficking and Rs 1.05 billion obtained through financial crimes have been seized,” he said.