AG issues new directives on probe of Brandix cluster

• Writes to Acting IGP to appoint ‘senior and experienced’ team from all Police divisions to investigate Brandix cluster
• Says not to entrust investigation to CCD but draw personnel from all divisions
• Many Police personnel in CCD infected with COVID-19 and unable to undertake investigation in present scenario

Attorney General Dappula De Livera yesterday wrote to the Acting IGP Chandana Wickramaratne to appoint a senior and experienced team of Police officers to investigate the COVID-19 outbreak linked to Brandix drawn from different Police branches instead of entrusting it to the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD).

The letter was a follow-up to an earlier correspondence that the AG sent the Acting IGP on 27 October in which he directed that he appoints a team of Police officers to investigate the Brandix cluster and send a progress report within two weeks.

An AG’s Department official said that it has been brought to their notice that the Acting IGP had forwarded the first letter to the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) and a Police team headed by an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) has been appointed for this purpose.

However subsequently it was found that several Police personnel attached to the CCD had contracted COVID-19 by 26 October and it is in such a scenario that the Acting IGP has directed the Division to undertake this investigation.

Later the Director of the CCD had informed the Acting IGP that under these circumstances it is difficult for them to carry out this investigation. “Given that this is a matter of public importance and an emergency situation, the AG has once again directed the Acting IGP to appoint a team of senior and experienced officers drawn from different branches,” the AG’s Department official said.