Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and former Presidential Secretary Saman Ekanayake have been asked to make statements to the CID in connection with two separate investigations.Rajapaksa is to be questioned on the basis of a statement made by former IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon about the failure of the police to prevent goon attacks on the ‘Aragalaya’ protesters at Galle Face in 2022.
The CID has asked the former President to let it know when he can make a statement.
According to police sources, the CID will question him on the allegations that the attacks on the protesters were carried out on his orders.
Earlier, the former Police Chief took into custody some individuals responsible for attacks on the protesters. They were later released on bail. The attacks on protesters triggered a wave of countrywide retaliatory violence, which left one SLPP MP dead and scores of properties, belonging to SLPP politicians, gutted.
Meanwhile, Ekanayake has been asked to appear before the CID today (01) to make a statement on allegations of misuse state funds during former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to the United Kingdom in 2023.
Former President Wickremesinghe was arrested after being questioned by the CID on 22 August. Produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate, he was remanded until 26 August. He was admitted to the Prison Hospital first and then transferred to the ICU of the National Hospital, Colombo, where he stayed until he was discharged on 29 August. He was given bail on 26 August on medical grounds.