Former Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, yesterday urged the Department (CID) to question former Attorney General Dappula de Livera, PC, regarding his claim that the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage was a grand conspiracy.

Dr. Rajapakshe, a former President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, pointed out that the former Director of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) and the ex-head of State Intelligence Service (SIS) had been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations levelled by a fugitive from the Sri Lankan law that Gen. Sallay masterminded the Easter Sunday carnage.

The CID arrested Sallay on February 25, 2026, at Peliyagoda.

Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe, (Jnr), PC, could not under any circumstances further delay seeking an opportunity for the CID to question de Livera. The ex-Minister said so yesterday (15) when The Island sought his explanation regarding the claim he made in Kandy on Sunday that de Livera alleged a grand conspiracy after the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declined to grant him a one-year extension.

Ex-parliamentarian Rajapakshe quoted President Rajapaksa as having told him that de Livera was told of his inability to grant the outgoing AG’s request. However, the then government offered him the opportunity to serve as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in Canada. He declined that offer.

Responding to The Island queries, Rajapakshe said that though de Livera succeeded in thwarting the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) from questioning him over his claim made on the eve of his retirement, in May, 2021. According to him, when a major controversy erupted over De Livera’s claim, the TID had been sent to record his statement.

Having evaded the police and successfully moved the Court of Appeal against the TID, the former AG sent a lawyer to the TID on his behalf. That lawyer declared that a seven-paged legal objection to the matter in question has been submitted to the TID.

“Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and all those who had been demanding justice for Easter Sunday victims should urge AG Parinda Ranasinghe (Junior), PC to record de Livera’s statement. The ex-Minister said that the Leader of the House, Minister Bimal Ratnayake, disclosed that SSP Shanie Abeysekera and Senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne had been appointed Director, CID and Secretary to the Public Security Ministry, respectively, on the Cardinal’s advice. Therefore, the Cardinal should stress the urgent need to record the former AG’s statement.

Dappula de Livera received his appointment on 10 May, 2019, just weeks after the Easter Sunday carnage, and retired on 25 May, 2025.

On the eve of his retirement, alleging that there had been a grand conspiracy, de Livera said that the information by the SIS with times, targets, places, method of attacks and other information proved the conspiracy. He said that the identities of those involved in the grand conspiracy must come by the way of evidence.

Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said that investigations into the Easter Sunday carnage couldn’t be brought to a successful conclusion until de Livera revealed what he knew about the grand conspiracy, mastermind or whatever various interested parties chose to call the attacks.

The government sent a CID team to Paris to record a statement of Azad Moulana, a fugitive seeking asylum in Switzerland and who implicated Sallay in the Easter Sunday attacks. “This matter is so serious de Livera must consider volunteering to assist the investigation,” ex-lawmaker Rajapakshe said, challenging all those genuinely concerned about the inordinate delay in bringing the high profile investigation into a conclusion to push for immediate questioning of de Livera.

Having spearheaded the Easter Sunday investigation at the onset of the probe, de Livera could shed light on the alleged conspiracy if he really meant his declaration on the eve of his retirement, Dr. Rajapakshe said.

By Shamindra Ferdinando