Swiss Embassy employee at centre of abduction claim appears before CID

• She was accompanied by Embassy officials and lawyers
• Statement made hours before Court order asking her to appear before CID was to lapse
• Statement recorded for five hours

By Chandani Kirinde

The Swiss Embassy employee who claims she was forcibly detained and threatened by a group of unidentified persons in order to obtain embassy-related information from her gave a five-hour statement to the CID last evening.

She was accompanied by two Swiss Embassy officials and two lawyers, Daily FT learns.

Her statement came hours before a Court order given by Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne  to  make a statement to the Police was to lapse.

Police last Tuesday sought a Court order to get her to make a statement as well as to impose an overseas travel ban on her in a bid to assist their investigation. The travel ban is in place till today. She was also referred to a Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) by the CID.

The alleged victim, the assistant to the Immigration Officer at the Embassy, had reported to the Embassy that she was forced into a vehicle and seriously threated by a group of unidentified persons on the evening of 25 November but no formal complaint was lodged with the Police nor did she make herself available to enable the investigators to record a statement until yesterday.

Police said last week that initial investigations done by them using CCTV footage, phone records, etc. did not tally with the sequence of events as reported by the alleged victim to the Embassy, which was then relayed to the Police.

The Government has insisted that it is imperative that the alleged victim give a statement so that a proper investigation can be done.

The Swiss authorities have maintained that they fully support a complete and thorough investigation of the security incident on 25 November and the Embassy and its personnel are in full collaboration with the Sri Lankan authorities to resolve this matter.

However, they said the delay in making the statement was due to the poor health of the employee and reiterated that the health and wellbeing of its employees was its highest priority.