President Gotabaya Rajapaksa meeting Swiss Ambassador Hanspeter Mock at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday   

• In update to Swiss Ambassador, President says investigation has shown alleged detention false 
• Says effort to bring Govt. and Head of State into disrepute 
• But President sees no wrong in initial reaction by Swiss embassy
• Calls for Ambassador to cooperate in completing investigation   
  
   

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday updated the Switzerland Ambassador of investigations into the allegations made by the Swiss embassy employee and said they were “a total fabrication” but had acknowledged that the initial reaction by the Embassy was justifiable, the President’s Media said in a statement.     

Swiss Ambassador Hanspeter Mock had called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday morning.

Conveying warm congratulations to the President over his recent election victory on his and his Government’s behalf, the Ambassador said that he especially appreciated President Rajapaksa’s remark that “he is the President of all Sri Lankans”. 

“Switzerland is happy that traditional relations with Sri Lanka remain strong and mutually beneficial,” the Ambassador was quoted as saying in the statement.  

Focusing his attention on recent incident involving a locally recruited official of the Swiss Embassy, the Ambassador had stressed that Switzerland harboured no intention to do any harm to Sri Lanka.

“We wish to work together for the benefit of both countries. Also we need to overcome this situation of tension and to remove any misunderstanding,” the Swiss Ambassador said.

In response President Rajapaksa explained to the Ambassador the progress of investigations in to the incident so far. “It is very well established by now that the alleged detention is a total fabrication. Irrefutable evidence such as Uber reports, telephone conversations and CCTV footages point to this fact. 

“The Embassy official must have been compelled by some interested parties to bring myself and my Government in to disrepute. It is not clear why the alleged victims acted in such a manner,” President observed.

President Rajapaksa said that he saw no wrong in the initial reaction by the Swiss Embassy when this incident was first reported. “It is justifiable. If a member of its staff is in trouble, the Embassy has to intervene.”

President requested the Ambassador to cooperate with the Government to conduct the investigation to its end so that the truth would emerge, the statement said.

First Secretary of the Mission Sidonia Gabriel accompanied the Ambassador.

President Gotabaya reassures no threats to media freedom