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President orders probe on ex-CAA Director’s allegations

12 Oct 2021

  • Bandula claims allegations ‘mysterious and malicious’
  • Police commence probe as per Minister’s instructions
BY Buddhika Samaraweera President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has instructed Minister of Public Security Rear Admiral (Retd.) Sarath Weerasekera to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the allegations made by former Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) Executive Director Thushan Gunawardena, and accordingly, the Police have already commenced an investigation. Speaking at the weekly cabinet media briefing held yesterday (12), Minister of Trade Bandula Gunawardana said: “The President instructed Weerasekera to conduct a full investigation into the mysterious and malicious allegations made by this person and to take necessary steps in that regard.” Co-Cabinet Spokesman Dullas Alahapperuma, during the same briefing, stated that Weerasekera had informed him that the Police were conducting a thorough investigation into the incident. “He informed me over the phone that security cameras had been set up around Gunawardena’s house and that necessary steps have been taken to ensure his safety,” he said. Gunawardena recently resigned from the post of Executive Director, claiming that he had to face various political influences and threats while attempting to carry out the duties of the CAA independently. Meanwhile, he also lodged a complaint with the Kirulapone Police on 10 October regarding an incident where a group of persons had arrived at his house in a white van on 7 October. Elaborating on the incident to The Morning recently, he said: “I was away from Colombo on 7 October. That morning, three or four persons had come in a white van and searched for my house. A woman in the neighbourhood had seen one of those persons in the van get out of the vehicle and say: ‘This is the house’.” Accordingly, claiming that the incident is definitely related to his previous job as the CAA Executive Director, Gunawardena said that therefore, a complaint was lodged with the Kirulapone Police on 10 October requesting an investigation into the incident. Gunawardena has previously lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), claiming that he had received various threats when carrying out duties as the CAA Executive Director. However, when questioned as to whether he has been informed by the CID of any progress into the investigations into those threats, Gunawardena recently said that no investigation, according to his knowledge, has been carried out into said complaint filed on 30 July 2021. “Everything related to the threats, such as phone numbers, WhatsApp numbers, and screenshots, was given to the CID, but so far no investigation has been carried out,” he added. When queried about the allegation made by Gunawardena that the CID has not yet carried out an investigation into the complaint he lodged on 30 July, Ministry of Public Security Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Jagath Alwis said that there would be no room for such threats. He further said that necessary steps would be taken after inquiring from the CID in this regard. “But he also gives all these stories to the newspapers. He first gives the information about the death threats to the newspapers. Therefore, we also have doubts as to whether this is a propaganda campaign. People with more reasonable issues lodge complaints and remain silent,” he further added. Moreover, Gunawardena said that he had received the first call about the much-talked-about garlic scam and the involvement of several Lanka Sathosa officials in the incident, after which he had received various pressures and even death threats to resign from his post due to his intervention in investigating the matter. He had further revealed that some agreements were to be signed between the CAA and traders and companies that import wheat flour, sugar, and cement in a way which is adverse for the CAA and the consumers. “If those agreements were signed, it would have been very disadvantageous to the CAA, and therefore, I didn’t sign them. My signature is essential for them to be signed; however, I opposed signing such agreements,” he explained.


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