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‘What happened to $ 5 m Easter donation?’

22 Apr 2021

  • Omalpe Sobitha Thera complains to CID about 2019 donation to victims

Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobitha Thera lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) yesterday (21), requesting an investigation into a $ 5 billion donation that was given by the Islamic Muslim Organisation to the Government of Sri Lanka in 2019 following the Easter Sunday terror attacks. “In July 2019, the International Muslim Organisation donated $ 5 million to the then-United National Front-led Government. That means that they donated an amount of Rs. 1 billion,” said Dr. Sobitha Thera, speaking at the memorial for the victims of the Easter Sunday bombings at the St. Anthony’s Shrine in Kochchikade yesterday (21). “Our question is whether the victim families benefitted from it. Since there is no proper information on it, we are giving this responsibility to the CID. What happened to the Rs. 1 billion? Was it spent on the victims and their families? We are asking the Government and the CID to find information on this,”  Speaking to the media afterwards, Dr. Sobitha Thera said that he had inquired from Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith about the funds, but that the latter had claimed no knowledge of it. However, sources who ultimately received all funding given on behalf of the victims at the time alleged to The Morning that the cheque by the International Muslim Organisation had merely been a dummy cheque. All attempts to contact Cabinet Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella regarding the matter proved futile. Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks on 21 April 2019 Easter Sunday that claimed over 250 lives.


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