News

Govt. promises action against those who misused them

Published

2 years ago

2024/09/26

Some of the vehicles returned up to yesterday by those who used them under the previous administration (Pic by Nishan S. Priyantha)

Vital question remains unanswered

Display of vehicles:

Newly appointed Director General of the President’s Media Division Dr. Najith Indika yesterday said that many of the vehicles belonging to the Presidential Secretariat had been returned by those who used them before the recently concluded presidential election.

Due to insufficient parking space at the Presidential Secretariat, those vehicles had been parked along the road near Galle Face Green, Dr. Indika said in response to our query why a large number of state vehicles had been parked near Galle Face and near Sri Lanka Foundation.

“We are currently examining the relevant details pertaining to those vehicles and will issue an official statement in a day or two. We are in the process of receiving more vehicles,” Dr. Indika said. However, he did not say whether all the vehicles being displayed to the public belonged to the Presidential Secretariat and had been misused under previous governments.

Some state officials, asked for comment on Dr. Indika’s claim, said many of those vehicles belonged to different ministries and other state outfits, and when those who had used them lawfully tried to return them to the institutions which they had worked for, after the government change, they had been asked to take the vehicles to the Presidential Secretariat, where they were instructed to park them either near Galle Face Green or Sri Lanka Foundation. All our efforts to ascertain the government’s response to the aforesaid claim were in vain as Dr. Indika did not answer his phone.

There were nearly 100 vehicles parked along the roads by their former users and several hundred such vehicles were yet to be returned, according to NPP Executive Committee member and former MP, Wasantha Samarasinghe. He told the media yesterday they had returned the vehicles following an order from President Anura Kumara Dissanayake that all those who had received vehicles from the Presidential Secretariat return them immediately. However, he, too, did not say specifically whether all those vehicles belonged to the Presidential Secretariat and had been misused.

After inspecting a large number of vehicles parked near Baladaksha Mawatha, opposite the Presidential Secretariat, former MP Samarasinghe said: “These vehicles have been parked by those who used them. We have records of 833 luxury vehicles belonging to the Presidential Secretariat that were assigned to various individuals. We have been able to trace only some of them. We are aware that at least 29 of them have been missing since 2022.

“When Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office, we found that 253 vehicles belonging to the Presidential Secretariat had gone missing. Some of those who used those vehicles have parked them here, while others are near Laksala and the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.”

“These vehicles would still have been in use if Anura Kumara had not become the President,” Samarasinghe said.

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Geneva takes up Sallay’s case and govt. ignores opportunity to answer accusations

Published

4 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

Suresh Sallay

The government has chosen not to respond to questions raised by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) regarding the detention of retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay in connection with the ongoing investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested the ex-official in late February this year. The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers have jointly raised the issue on 20 July, 2026.

Drawing attention of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to what they called alleged arbitrary detention of Sallay, former Director General of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), as well as allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment while in custody, resulting in the grave deterioration of his health, and imminent risks of retaliation through further torture and ill-treatment resulting in irreparable harm, should he be released from hospital and returned to custody, the UN sought the government explanation with a 60-day period.

The UN has stated: “This communication, and any response received from your Excellency’s Government, will be made public via the communications reporting website at the 60 days mark. Should your Excellency’s Government respond within 60 days, both the communication and the response, may be published before the 60 days mark. The communications and responses

will also be made available in the subsequent periodic report to be presented to the Human Rights Council.”

In the absence of the government’s response, the UN posted the letter, dated 20 July, 2026, addressed to President Dissanayake. The full letter can be accessed https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=31125

News

Section of wartime KKS High Security Zone vacated to facilitate economic development in the area

Published

4 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

The Army, last week, vacated an area, within the wartime high security zone in the Jaffna peninsula. The Defence Ministry said that an extent of 187.56 acres of land, belonging to the Cement Corporation in Kankesanthurai, Jaffna, has been released by the military. The released land, located in Grama Niladhari Division J/233, Kankesanthurai West, within the Valikamam North (Tellippalai) Divisional Secretariat Division, had been utilised by the Sri Lanka Army since the middle of 1997.

The release of the 187.56-acre extent forms part of the initiative to make State land available for the proposed investment zone in Kankesanthurai, thereby facilitating future investment and economic development in the area.

News

Lawyer lodges complaint against Govt. Printer, Media Ministry Secy.

Published

4 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

A complaint has been lodged with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau against the Government Printer and the Secretary to the Ministry of Media regarding the online release of falsified documents bearing a forged Speaker’s certificate.

Attorney-at-Law Aruna Laksiri has lodged a complaint with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau requesting legal action against the Government Printer of the Department of Government Printing (No. 118, Dr. Danister de Silva Mawatha, Colombo 08), Prasanna Jayaratne, and the Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media (Asidisi Medura, 163, Kirulapone Mawatha, Polhengoda, Colombo 05), Dr. Anil Jasinghe.

The complaint alleges the commission of offences by forging and uploading falsified documents online using a forged Speaker’s certification, failure to perform statutory duties, and misappropriation of public property.

The complaint states that a copy of the English translation of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was downloaded and printed from the official website of the Government Printing Department (www.documents.gov.lk), which operates under the Ministry of Mass Media. On its outer cover and on page 1, the text “certified on 25th of September, 2026” is inscribed inside brackets.

The complaint pointed out that the Speaker has certified an English translation. Under Articles 23, 79, 83, and 80 of the Constitution, Parliament enacts laws and the Speaker certifies bills strictly in the Sinhala and Tamil languages; under the Constitution, therefore the Speaker cannot apply such certification to an English translation.