• Charges that former President not been held accountable
• Claims Govt. failed to deliver on election promises of fighting corruption 
  
   

United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Palitha Range Bandara yesterday charged that the Government has failed to take action against former President Maithripala Sirisena for his alleged role in failing to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings.

United National Party (UNP)  parliamentarian Palitha Range Bandara

“Sixty days have passed, the Government led by Gotabaya Rajapaksa has failed to bring anyone responsible for the Easter attacks to book despite promising to do so. The person who bears the most responsibility for not preventing the Easter attacks is living in a multimillion-rupee luxury mansion down Pajet Road. The person who was most responsible for not preventing it is former President Maithripala Sirisena,” he stated.

A Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) inquiring in to the attacks found former President Sirisena failed to give leadership on numerous occasions and that he actively undermined the Government and systems by leaving key individuals out of ad-hoc National Security Council meetings. However, former President Sirisena has on numerous occasions denied there were any lapses on his part that led to the Easter attacks.   

Bandara faulted the Government for not bringing the culprits of the Easter Sunday attack, the bond scam and other corruption cases to book within two weeks of taking office, which he insisted was an undertaking the Government made in the lead-up to the Presidential Elections last year. 

“When will the wrongdoers be brought to book? How long must the public wait to see results?” Bandara questioned at a press conference held at the UNP headquarters yesterday. 

The PSC report also found that the then director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) held the greatest responsibility of failing to stop the attacks. The PSC also found that whilst the greatest responsibility remains with the Director SIS, others too failed in their duties. Within the security and intelligence apparatus the PSC names the Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chief of National Intelligence and Director Military Intelligence as those who failed in their responsibilities.

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