Foreign Ministry Confirms President’s Son Sought UK Visas

March 23, 2016

In a letter addressed to Colombo Telegraph, S. Rodrigo, Acing Director General – Public Communications confirmed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did in fact intercede on behalf of Daham Sirisena, son of President Maithripala Sirisena, and three other persons to facilitate the obtaining of UK Visas.

Colombo Telegraph publishes below the full text of the response sent by Rodrigo to the Colombo Telegraph news story on Daham Sirisena’s UK Visa application, including his covering note:

Editor
Colombo Telegraph

Dear Mr. Kurukulasuriya,

Please find enclosed a letter from the Ministry addressed to you regarding an article that appeared in the Colombo Telegraph on 21 March 2016.

We would be grateful if the contents of the letter could be given the same prominence as the original. A copy of the text of the letter in Word is also attached.

Yours faithfully,

Satya Rodrigo
Actg. DG/PC
for S/FA

An article on your website regarding the application for visas submitted by Daham Sirisena and three others to visit the UK has been brought to the Foreign Ministry’s attention. Regrettably, the article contains a number of inaccuracies and distortions.

The actual facts are outlined below.

• The passport of Daham Sirisena and three others was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 1st March, 2016 requesting the Ministry’s assistance to obtain visas to visit the UK.
• The Ministry issued a Third Person Note to the British High Commission to facilitate the issue of visas.
• The relevant visa was issued to Daham Sirisena. However, due to insufficient information the remaining three applications were withdrawn.

At no point did the Secretary/Foreign Affairs nor the Chief of Protocol summon the Deputy High Commissioner of the UK Mission to the Ministry to lodge a protest regarding the issue of the relevant visas.

The Ministry is well aware that any decision on visa matters rests with the Mission concerned.

Editor’s Note: We thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for responding to our report and confirming all the main elements we have exposed.

Our report said that Daham Sirisena and his three friends (the Ministry simply calls them ‘others’) requested Ministry assistance to obtain visas to visit the United Kingdom. We challenge the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reveal the names of the three friends who they describe as “others.”

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