CID Grills Mangala For 5 Hours – Govt Planning To Jail Top Opposition Politicians During Polls Campaign
Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera defended
his decision to approve funds for the transport of IDPs from Puttalam
to the Northern province to cast their ballots in the November 2019
presidential election and denounced his five hour interrogation at the
CID on Thursday (14) as a political witch-hunt.
The former finance minister said the interrogation was aimed at the coming election.
“This is the usual Rajapaksa way,” Samaraweera told reporters outside
the CID late Thursday. The last time the Rajpaaksa regime was in power
he had been grilled at the CID three times Samaraweera recalled. “They
tried to destroy me mentally. I want to warn the Rajapaksa Government.
You’re messing with the wrong man. Bring on the attacks. The more you
attack me the stronger I become,” he said.
Samaraweera told the media that the monies were approved at the request
of the Northern Rehabilitation Department for displaced persons whose
ballots were several hundred miles away in the Northenr Province even
though they had lived in camps in Puttalam for 30 years. “They are
victims of LTTE terrorism and were evicted from Jaffna and other parts
of the Northern Province by the Tigers in 1990. As Governments before us
have done we did the responsible thing and guaranteed their right to
vote,” Samaraweera told the media after his interrogation.
“We are talking about an extraordinary group of citizens. These are
people who have suffered for 30 years. They are people that no
Government has done anything for over three decades. All of us have to
take responsibility for that. Their franchise has been affected by
terrorism,” he said.
Samaraweera said he was happy to have ensured he had been able to help
citizens victimized by LTTE terrorism had been guaranteed their vote. “I
told the CID I am proud of that,” he added.
Samaraweera said that he had approved funds for CTB buses to be hired
for the purpose of transporting these voters to their areas to cast
their votes. “Basil Rajapaksa did the same during his Government. We
never lodged complaints about it because they are citizens and it is the
duty of the Government of the day to ensure every citizen is
facilitated to cast their vote. This is their most sacred constitutional
right,” he added.
Samaraweera said his “marathon” interrogation had gone on for 5 hours
and 15 minutes and said he had been told to return next Tuesday to
continue answering questions.
Colombo Telegraph learns that the Government is hoping to make sure that
Rajitha Senaratne, Mangala Samaraweera and Champika Ranawaka are behind
bars during the parliamentary election season in order to disrupt and
damage the opposition campaign. Senaratne was remanded by High Court
Judge Manjula Tilakratne until May 27th and Ranawaka is currently out on
bail on a trumped up manslaughter charge. Opposition activists worried
Samaraweera will be arrested next time he is questioned by the CID.
