INTERPOL Red Notice to arrest Mahendran issued twice

Thursday, 7 March 2019 01:09 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

President says he has done his duty to arrest Mahendran as minister in charge of Police

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday said that INTERPOL has issued a Red Notice for the arrest of absconding former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran for the second time, after rejecting an appeal by the latter.

Sirisena, stressing that he had done his duty to bring the former CB Governor to face charges against him, said that INTERPOL heard an appeal by Mahendran following the first Red Notice issued against him.

“But the appeal was rejected by the judge appointed to examine the case. Now the notice has been issued again,” he said, speaking at the meeting with the heads of media institutions, editors of newspapers, and directors of electronic media institutions at the President’s House.

However he did not express confidence in arresting Mahendran in the near future.

“If he was in this country, I could have acted on it as the person in charge of the Police. But now it is out of my hands,” he said.

Sirisena also said that he went as far as discussing the matter with the Singaporean Prime Minister during his visit to the country, as the former Governor is a citizen of that country. However, he said that the whereabouts of Mahendran are not known, and he has no information whether he is in Singapore or hiding elsewhere.

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