Government Printer Gangani Liyanage yesterday (15) denied reports that she was summoned by President and Minister of Finance Ranil Wickremesinghe or Prime Minister and Minister of Local Governments Dinesh Gunawardena regarding the printing of ballot papers for the Local Government (LG) poll, and was pressurised regarding the same.

When queried by The Daily Morning as to whether she was summoned by any of them, she said: “No. There wasn’t anything like that. If I have received an urgent call from the President, I would have to go. This applies to the Prime Minister or any Director General of a Ministry. There were reports that I was summoned, but there was nothing like that. I was not pressurised by anyone. Only people from my Government Printing Department pressurise me to complete the printing task soon.”

She further clarified that visiting the Presidential Secretariat does not mean that it is to meet the President. “There is an Appeals Commission at the Secretariat. There are many other tasks for us to carry out at the Presidential Secretariat. I would go to the Presidential Secretariat many times for other work,” she added. 

Earlier, it was reported that Liyanage was summoned by the President and the Premier over the printing of ballot papers for the LG poll.