By Shamindra Ferdinando

Ven. Athureliya Rathana Thera, MP, yesterday (23) denied that he had financially benefited from arranging a presidential pardon for convicted killer Jude Shramantha Anthony Jayamaha.

‘Our Power of People Party’ (OPPP) National List lawmaker Ven. Rathana said that he hadn’t received a cent from Jude Shramantha’s family or any other benefit.

An irate MP said so when The Island sought his response to ex-President Maithripala Sirisena’s recent declaration that those who had sought his intervention on behalf of Jude Shramantha received a massive amount of money.

Sirisena made the allegation in a live interview after having claimed that Ven. Rathana had relentlessly pursued the matter until Jude Shramantha’s release.

Jude Shramantha was convicted for the murder of19-year-old Swedish teenager Yvonne Jonsson at the Royal Park Condominiums at Rajagiriya in July 2005. He was 19 at the time of the incident. The Court of Appeal in 2012, sentenced the teenager to death after having dismissed a 12-year prison term imposed by the Colombo High Court. Sirisena granted him a presidential pardon a few days before the end of his presidential term in Nov. 2019.

Responding to interviewer Attorney-at-Law Sanka Amarajith on Derana 360 on Monday (20), a flustered MP Sirisena said that he had directed State Intelligence Services to inquire into allegations that Jude Shramantha’s family paid money for his release. Sirisena said that some alleged he had received “koti (crore) 5, koti 800 while some said koti 500″. The intelligence services reported back that money had been paid, MP Sirisena said, adding that as he didn’t receive a cent, somebody else must have benefited. The former President alleged that those who had been involved with the convict’s family must have benefited.

Sirisena said that Ven. Rathana had brought the Jude Shramantha’s family whom the SLFP leader described as Catholics, four or five times, even in the night to his Pajet Road residence. Ven. Rathana told The Island that he had taken them twice, one time before the presidential pardon and another time thereafter.

Ven Rathana alleged the SLFP leader propagated lies. “I’ll be lodging a complaint with the CID in this regard. Law enforcement authorities and the CIABOC can verify the ex-President’s accusations with Jude Shramantha’s family,” Ven. Rathana said on Wednesday (22).

Sweden took up the presidential pardon with the Sri Lanka government at that time as the victim was half Swedish.

Both Sirisena and Ven. Rathana emphasised that proper procedures had been followed as regards Jude Shramantha’s release. After having lodged a complaint with the CID yesterday morning, Ven. Rathana told this newspaper that investigators could ask the then head of State Intelligence Service (SIS) Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena whether the President had directed him to investigate the Jude Shramantha affair.

Ven. Rathana said that as he had been engaged in drug rehabilitation work there was an opportunity to work with Jude Shramantha. The former JHU heavyweight and one-time close associate of President Sirisena, Ven. Rathana said that the inference he had received money from the boy’s family was nothing but a figment of the ex-President’s imagination or a deliberate attempt to discredit him.

Sandra Nathaniels yesterday denied ever having paid anyone. Recalling a meeting with the then President at his official residence at Pajet road, she said both Ven. Rathana and the late Ven. Baddegama Samitha Thera had made representations on her son’s behalf. Responding to questions, Nathaniels pointed out that the former President himself had repeatedly said that his consent had been given after proper procedures were followed as regards the request for presidential pardon. Mother of four, Sandra said that Jude Shramantha, now overseas, wouldn’t come back ever again.

Ven. Rathana thera said that relevant authorities should inquire into MP Sirisena’s accusations. The amounts of money alleged to have been paid by the concerned family was so huge by any standards the government couldn’t afford to ignore the need to investigate. The Parliament, too, should be concerned about this matter as the accuser and the accused were both members of the current Parliament, the Ven thera said.