Former Minister and Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila has claimed that the government is conspiring to imprison him before the combined opposition’s planned “Nugegoda Rally” on November 21.
Speaking at a media briefing held today (29), Gammanpila said that a complaint was recently lodged against him with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) by an individual representing a non-governmental organization.
He alleged that Bribery Commission officials themselves had prepared and recorded the complaint, which accuses him of defaming the Commission’s Director General under Section 125 of the Bribery Act through his media statements.
Gammanpila further charged that the complaint was politically motivated, lacking even a valid registration number of the NGO that supposedly filed it.
He reiterated that his previous comments on the appointment of the current Director General were based on facts presented in affidavits before the Supreme Court, pointing out that the candidate who scored the highest at the interview, Madhava Tennakoon, had been overlooked in favour of Ranga Dissanayake, a decision allegedly influenced by senior government leaders.
“The Director General of the Bribery Commission was appointed as a result of a corrupt process. When we expose that, instead of correcting the wrongdoing, the government is trying to jail those who reveal the truth,” he said.
The former minister alleged that this is the seventh attempt by the current administration to arrest him and claimed that certain ministers are personally pushing for his detention.
He added that he is now “mentally prepared” to be imprisoned and sarcastically remarked that he would “live at government expense” for a few weeks so that “the ministers who lose sleep over this can finally rest.” (Newswire)