The United National Party (UNP) has issued a statement questioning whether the Sri Lankan government has sought access to material from the U.S. investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks.

The party recalled that then‑Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had requested a full investigation by the U.S. Government immediately after the attacks, citing limited expertise within local agencies. Wickremesinghe also made a similar request during a phone call with the U.S. President Donald Trump on April 22, 2019.

The FBI subsequently conducted a comprehensive investigation in collaboration with Sri Lankan authorities including the CID, Military Intelligence, and State Intelligence Services. A report was handed over to the Sri Lankan government and accepted by all relevant agencies.

The UNP noted that FBI Special Agent Merrilee R. Godwin filed a 71‑page affidavit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on November 12, 2020, following a two‑year probe. A criminal case was filed in Los Angeles on December 11, 2020, naming suspects already detained in Sri Lanka.

According to the UNP, all material from the U.S. investigation remains with the FBI and the Department of Justice. 

The party questioned whether the Sri Lankan government has formally requested this material since restarting its own investigation, and if not, why such a step has not been taken. 

The UNP stressed that the documents must be made available to judicial authorities in Sri Lanka. (Newswire)

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The United States Department of Justice and experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) worked alongside Sri Lankan investigators and prosecutors in Colombo last week to strengthen strategies against transnational organized crime, including drug trafficking, cyber scams, and human trafficking.

According to the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, these crimes affect real families, from communities facing narcotics trafficking to victims of online fraud and exploitation.

“By sharing investigative tools, legal expertise, and best practices, we’re deepening real-world cooperation to disrupt criminal networks before they harm our communities, protecting citizens, strengthening the rule of law, and making both our countries safer,” The US Embassy added.

The joint initiative focused on enhancing investigative capacity, improving prosecutorial strategies, and fostering international cooperation to counter criminal networks that threaten both Sri Lanka and the United States. (Newswire)

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Director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kash Patel, gifted illegal firearms to New Zealand officials during his visit there earlier this year, police authorities said on Wednesday.

Patel visited New Zealand in July to open a standalone intelligence office there. He is the highest-ranking official from US President Donald Trump’s administration to have visited the country.

What was the gift?

New Zealand’s Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said he received a “coin display stand featuring an inoperable plastic 3D-printed replica pistol” from Patel.

“The advice of the Firearms Safety Authority was sought the following day and the gifts were collected from recipients and secured that day,” Chambers said in a statement. “While inoperable in the form they were gifted, a subsequent analysis by the Firearms Safety Authority and Police Armoury determined that modifications could have made them operable,” he added. 

Similar gifts were given to Andrew Hampton and Andrew Clark, the bosses of New Zealand’s spy agency.

Two senior elected officials, Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Minister for Defense, Judith Collins, said that Patel had given them pistols too.

All the firearms were destroyed in compliance with local firearms laws, statements from the various institutions said. 

How did the US react?

A US embassy spokesperson in Wellington said the gift was a coin display stand and the non-operable firearm replica was a design element.

“We supported New Zealand officials’ efforts to ensure this gift did not inadvertently contravene any New Zealand firearms laws. The embassy has indicated to our New Zealand counterparts our understanding and acceptance of their decision regarding the disposition of the director’s well-intentioned gift.”

The FBI has not commented on the matter.

New Zealand has strict rules on firearms, especially pistols, which were strengthened after a mass shooting in 2019. (DW)

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The former director of the FBI, James Comey was on Thursday criminally charged for making false statements and obstruction of justice.

US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan announced the charges, and said Comey could face up to five years behind bars if convicted.

US President Donald Trump hailed the indictment on his Truth Social platform, claiming Comey “is now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation.”

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the indictment “reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people.” FBI Director Kash Patel also said “no one is above the law.”

In a video posted on Instagram, Comey maintained his innocence.

“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I am innocent, so let’s have a trial and keep the faith,” Comey said.

Comey said that “my family and I have known for years that there are cost(s) to standing up to Donald Trump, but I couldn’t imagine living any other way.”

Other members of Comey’s family have been targeted by the Department of Justice in recent months. The Justice Department dismissed Comey’s daughter, federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, in July without cause.

Comey’s son-in law Troy Edwards, stepped down from his position at the Justice Department after Comey’s indictment. (DW)

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Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe says the US secret service has ruled out any foreign involvement in the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks.

During an exclusive interview with German Media, Deutsche Welle, the President said the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its report has ruled out outside involvement, possibly referring to it being an internal matter without the involvement of foreign elements despite earlier reports of ISIS being behind the attacks.

“We had the FBI, we had the British Police, the Australians, Indians, Chinese and the Pakistanis. If those secret services have given reports, what are these allegations,” he questioned. 

The President further emphasized that the Sri Lanka Government does not have international inquiries. 

“A few people may have called for an international inquiry, but the Parliament has not requested for such an inquiry. Sri Lanka conducts its own inquiries using its own personnel,” he said.

In a heated exchange of words with the interviewer, the President said Sri Lanka will not have international inquiries on any issues related to the nation, drawing parallels with European nations and questioning if European countries conduct such inquiries.

Pointing out that action has been taken pertaining to the Commissions on the Easter attacks, the President acknowledged that there are commissions on which the State has acted on and some commissions on which action is yet to be taken. 

Commenting on the recent report of the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) on alleged abuse of power and human rights violations in Sri Lanka, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that his government rejects the report.

“The Government of Sri Lanka has rejected the report and I am not accepting that report. The UNHRC report is wrong,” he reiterated.

When questioned on the newly appointed Truth and Reconciliation Commission and persuasion of the US Government to put pressure on Sri Lanka over human rights violations, the President said the new Presidential Commission on Truth and Reconciliation has been established in agreement with the UN member states. 

“At the moment discussions are ongoing with the parties as well as the Sri Lankan Government. We are also engaging with the Western Governments. The Truth and Reconciliation Bill will come to Parliament before the end of the year,” he said. 

President Ranil Wickremesinghe also revealed that since taking over power there have been no reports of incidents. (NewsWire)

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FBI Director Christopher Wray said the COVID-19 pandemic was likely caused by a lab leak in Wuhan, China.

“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray told Fox News in an interview that aired Tuesday. “Here you are talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab.” 

“I will just make the observation that the Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we’re doing, the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing. And that’s unfortunate for everybody,” he added.

Wray said the FBI has specialists who focus on “the dangers of biological threats, which include things like novel viruses like COVID, and the concerns that they [are] in the wrong hands [of] some bad guys, a hostile nation state, a terrorist, a criminal.”

He also said that the Chinese government has been trying to block investigative work into the origins of the coronavirus.

Wray’s comments come after the Department of Energy has also recently assessed that the COVID-19 pandemic was likely caused by an accidental lab leak in China.

The development was included in an update to a 2021 document made by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’s office.

The National Intelligence Council as well as four other government agencies assess at “low confidence” that COVID-19 originated as a result of natural transmission from an infected animal, but the CIA and other government agencies remain undecided.

According to the report, there’s a consensus between intelligence agencies that the pandemic wasn’t the result of a bioweapons program by China. (Fox News)

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