In the wake of the All Ceylon Medical Officers' Association (ACMOA) demanding the immediate arrest of former Health Minister and incumbent Environment Minister Keheliya Rambukwella in connection with the controversial substandard intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) import case, the Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles said that Rambukwella will be arrested not as demanded by the media or political parties, but if sufficient evidence is presented against him.
Several individuals including the former Secretary to the Ministry of Health Janaka Sri Chandraguptha are currently in remand custody over the incident of a batch of IVIG having been supplied to the country’s health sector using forged documents. With those arrests being made, several parties have called for action against Rambukwella, who was the Health Minister at the time of the relevant incident.
Attending a media briefing yesterday (21), the ACMOA Secretary Dr. Jayantha Bandara claimed that Chandraguptha and the other suspects who are currently in remand custody over the incident have claimed that they have committed the fraud with the knowledge of the then Health Minister. “According to the evidence of Chandraguptha and the other suspects, facts have been presented that he (Rambukwella) is behind this fraud. We have come to know that he is not in the country, and we don’t know if he fled the country in the face of these investigations. However, sufficient evidence has been presented against him, and he should be arrested immediately.”
The media queried Alles regarding the matter during a media briefing yesterday, and he said that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) which conducts the relevant investigations would arrest Rambukwella if sufficient evidence will be presented against him. “There should be evidence. It will not happen just because the media and political parties demand his arrest. When several suspects were arrested in connection with this incident, several parties were demanding the arrest of the former Health Ministry Secretary, but, he was not arrested until sufficient evidence was presented against him. If such evidence is there, the CID will arrest him.”
The batch of IVIG in question had been suspended from use following the revelation that the local supplier named Isolez Biotech Pharma AG (Private) Limited had imported it by submitting forged documents for Customs clearing. Among the government officials who were arrested by the CID regarding the incident and were subsequently placed in remand custody are Chandraguptha, the Medical Supplies Division (MSD) Director Dr. Kapila Wickramanayake, the Assistant MSD Director Shanthi Solomon, the MSD’s Accountant (Supplies) Niran Dhananjaya, and the MSD’s Pharmacist Sujith Kumara.