Sirisena calls Ranil a political devil

Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was a political devil and the former yahapalana government was akin to a mismatched wedding, former President Maithripala Sirisena said on Monday, at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating the Easter Sunday attacks.  

Sirisena told the PCoI that disputes arose between him and Wickremesinghe within the first week of establishing the yahapalana government.

“Within the first week Wickremesinghe wanted to appoint Arjuna Mahendran as the Governor of Central Bank. I wasn’t happy because Mahendran was a citizen of Singapore. However Wickremesinghe insisted that Mahendran was the ideal person and since I also did not want to create a conflict within a week of coming to power and I let it happen,” Sirisena said.

The ex-president said that the relationship further deteriorated after he appointed the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Central Bank Treasury Bond Scams.

Sirisena also said that he banned several officials, including former IGP Pujith Jayasundara, from attending the National Security Council (NSC) due to issues in their conduct.

“Most of the presentations made by the former IGP when he attended the NSC added no value. He was being criticized at the time for his unbecoming behavior,” he added.

Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Ravi Seneviratne of the CID had been invited to the NSC instead of Pujith.

Earlier Jayasundara told the PCoI that barring him from attending the NSC prevented him from learning about the rising Islamic terrorism in the country.