Action against perpetrators in two weeks - Aluthgamage | Sunday Observer
Easter Sunday attacks, bond scam:

Action against perpetrators in two weeks - Aluthgamage

7 February, 2021

Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that action will be initiated against the perpetrators of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks and the Treasury bond scam within the next two or three weeks. The people have reposed their utmost confidence in the President and the new Government hoping that all their promises will be met, the Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

Minister Aluthgamage said that unlike the previous Yahapalana Government, action against the perpetrators will not be taken arbitrarily within a short span of two or three days. The Yahapalana Government had an office at Temple Trees headed by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and participants such as Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Patali Champika Ranawaka to fabricate cases to imprison their political opponents. However, the present Government will take action against the culprits in keeping with the laws of the country.

The Minister said the former Yahapalana Government should be held responsible for all the wrongdoings and atrocities during their five-year tenure in office.

The final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) into the Easter Sunday attacks was presented to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by the Chairman of the Commission, Supreme Court Judge Janak de Silva at the Presidential Secretariat on February 1. The first and second interim reports were handed over to the President on December 20, 2019 and March 2, 2020 respectively.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena appointed the Commission on September 22, 2019 to investigate and report on the series of terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday which claimed 270 lives and injured around 500. The Commission has made a series of recommendations based on its findings.

The Commission had recorded evidence from 457 people over 214 days. Among them were members of the political authority and the security services, as well as those affected by the carnage.

Addressing the nation on Independence Day, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa assured that the perpetrators of the Easter Sunday attacks will be severely dealt with according to the recommendations of the Presidential Commission appointed to inquire into the attacks and the previous Parliament’s Sectorial Oversight Committee on National Security.

President Rajapaksa said he had received the final report of the Presidential Commission appointed to inquire into the Easter Sunday attacks and had already given instructions to implement its recommendations. “We will not allow those responsible for designing and enabling this tragedy to escape justice. We will never allow extremism to raise its head again in this country,” he said.

The President said the public has rejected the undue influence that was exerted on law enforcement agencies and the judiciary by politicians in the past. However, the public also expects fair, unbiased and efficient service from the officials who enforce the law. “As such, I have advised the Attorney General’s Department to act swiftly on matters that have caused great concern to the public, such as the Easter Sunday attacks and the Central Bank scam.”

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