Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a statement refuting allegations made against him by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and claimed the Catholic leader “glosses over the responsibility of, or expressly absolves” the role of Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the Easter Sunday attacks.
Referring to a speech given by Ranjith on the 5th anniversary of the bombings, Rajapaksa accused the Catholic leader of lying, refuting claims that the two had spoken the day after Sri Lanka’s own Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the attacks was handed to the then-president.
He adds that the highest investigative arm of the government, the Criminal Investigation Department “had for several months before the attacks, been investigating the activities of the very same individuals and groups that carried out the suicide bombings but failed to apprehend the terrorists before they struck.”
Rajapaksa squarely blames the CID for the inaction adding that “the failure to prevent the attacks was the failure of the CID under that director.”
The accused war criminal also attempts to distance himself from reports that Rajapaksa himself had links to the Easter Sunday bombers.
“It is a well-known fact that the Muslim community, in general, did not vote for me or support my candidacy at the Presidential election,” he claimed. “So I cannot possibly have had any allies in any organisation that would need to be banned over complicity in the attacks.”
It comes after the Cardinal claimed Rajapaksa told him he could not implement recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry as it would “entail the certain individuals and banning of organisations that were supportive” of Rajapaksa. See Rajapaksa's full statement below.
The rift between Ranjith and Rajapaksa continues to grow, as the Cardinal, a previously staunch Rajapaksa ally, continues to call for an international mechanism to deliver justice for the Easter Sunday attacks of 2019.
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