Former MP Udaya Gammanpila claims current Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security former senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne was informed of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, but had failed to act on it at the time.
He made the claim while holding a special press conference today to present facts on the two unpublished investigations related to the Easter Attacks.
Details revealed in the two reports;
Udaya Gammanpila told the media that the probe reports state that Ravi Seneviratne who was the head of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the time, was informed of the attacks.
The reports he was talking about were from the Committee appointed by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and received close to the recent Presidential Election.
Gammanpila said a committee chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice S I Imam had investigated and reported on the 25 allegations made in the “Channel-4” video about the Easter attacks, adding that the investigation focused on finding out whether the allegations were true or not.
The second investigation report conducted under a committee chaired by retired Justice A.N.J. de Alwis, he said focussed on whether the Police and State Intelligence Services had failed in any way to prevent the attacks.
Questioning why the incumbent President was attempting to conceal the two unpublished reports, MP Gammanpila revealed it was due to page 40 of the second report clearly stating that the Senior DIG of the CID being informed by the Head of the State Intelligence Service on 09th April 2019 of a potential attack on prominent places, including churches, by the Thowheed Jammath militant group headed by Zahran Hashim.
Former MP Gammanpila further noted that the Senior DIG mentioned in the report is the current Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security Ravi Seneviratne.
“The report raises serious allegations against Ravi Seneviratne. The former Senior DIG has also filed a case at the Supreme Court seeking to prevent his arrest in this regard,” Gammanpila revealed.
The former MP said the report states that in April 2019 Ravi Seneviratne had been overseas from 09 -16 April and had appointed Officer Nagamulla in his stead, but the letter warning of the attacks had not been conveyed to Officer Nagamulla, prompting Gammanpila to question how such a letter had not been handed over to the officer in charge.
“When inquired, the Senior DIG’s Office had informed the Commission that they had been instructed by Seneviratne not to open confidential letters addressed to his name in his absence. As such, the letter had been on the table of Ravi Seneviratne for nearly 12 days,” Gammanpila said.
The former MP said that the report also says that Ravi Seneviratne had received 13 reports from January to April 2019 on the activities of Zahran Hashim and his team, and was in charge of several key investigations such as the destruction of a Buddha Statue in Mawanella in 2018, religious tensions in Katandy in 2017, murder of Police officers in Vavunativu in 2018, and finding explosives in Wanathavilluwa in 2019.
Stating that Ravi Seneviratne had the opportunity to initiate action against Zahran and his team, Gammanpila said the former Senior DIG was in charge of the Terrorism Investigation Unit and the CID, and had also been in constant contact with the State Intelligence Service, but had failed to take the necessary actions to prevent the Easter attacks.
Udaya Gammanpila further said that page 41 of the second report says that legal action must be initiated against Ravi Seneviratne on charges of negligence.
Stating that the reports clearly name Ravi Seneviratne as a key accused in the 2019 Easter attacks, Gammanpila Pointed out that, however, Seneviratne has now been appointed as the high-ranking official of the Ministry in charge of the Police, which was conducting investigations into the attacks.
Gammanpila questioned if the victims and relatives would gain justice if a new investigation was conducted under the leadership of Ravi Seneviratne and if they could expect a transparent investigation from the Police.
Calling for action;
Udaya Gammanpila said under such circumstances concerns were raised on the appointment of Ravi Seneviratne as the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, which is in charge of the Sri Lanka Police.
“On one side he has filed an FR petition seeking to prevent his arrest by the Police, at a time when the Police were conducting a probe, and at the same time, he has been appointed as the key official in charge of the Police Department. Under such circumstances will the Police be able to do an impartial investigation?” Gammanpila questioned.
He further revealed that Ravi Seneviratne is someone who was remanded for causing an accident while under the influence of alcohol.
Showing these facts, we pointed out that it was wrong to appoint Ravi Seneviratne as the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, but the President has not taken this into consideration, he said.
Pointing out that several of the new government appointments were of those who had aided the President’s Presidential campaign, Gammanpila said if the two unpublished Easter attack reports were not unveiled then it could have assisted the President in concealing facts against those appointed.
Former MP Udaya Gammnapila, thereby, called on the authorities to immediately remove Ravi Seneviratne from the post of Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security.
He also called on the President to issue a public apology for abusing his powers by concealing information from the public by attempting to keep the two reports unpublished.
Gammanpila warned that if the President fails to do as requested, measures will be taken to present an impeachment against the President in the next Parliament.
The Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Leader has unveiled details of the two reports, after warning the government last week, that he will release the reports to the public if the government fails to publish them. (Newswire)
