• HQ keys yet to be received, complainants yet to give statement on list of missing docs  

The ongoing Police probe into the missing documents at the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Headquarters (HQ) is being held up due to certain issues, such as the Police not receiving the keys to the HQ yet, The Daily Morning learnt.

Following a complaint lodged by the Party’s Acting General Secretary and Opposition Parliamentarian Sarathi Dushmantha Mithrapala, the Police Media Spokesperson, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Crime Range) and attorney Nihal Thalduwa said that the Police has informed the persons whose names have been mentioned in the said complaint to return the keys as soon as possible.

However, when contacted by The Daily Morning yesterday (16), the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Maradana Police Station, Chief Inspector Ishantha Kumara Epalakotuwa, under whose instructions the investigation is being carried out, said that while the Police has informed the relevant parties to hand over the keys of the SLFP HQ, they have yet to hand them over to the Police. He noted that the Maradana Police is carrying on the preliminary investigations, but that it cannot continue the ongoing probe unless the keys are given. He stated further that the parties who lodged the particular complaint have yet to give a statement about the list of missing documents and that therefore, the Police cannot comment on the exact details of the relevant documents at the moment. He noted that both parties must support the Police in carrying on the investigation by providing the necessary information. Epalakotuwa also added that the keys must be given to continue the ongoing probe as otherwise it could further delay the matter.

Since earlier this month (April), entry has been prohibited to the SLFP Head Office until the conclusion of the preliminary investigations into the matter. Mithrapala filed a complaint with the Maradana Police, claiming that several files and a key to a cupboard were missing from the office. Accordingly, the Maradana Police launched an investigation into the complaint and visited the SLFP HQ for preliminary investigations.

Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna, and MP Duminda Dissanayake entered the HQ and held a press conference following the relevant Court order reinstating them in the positions from which they were removed by former Party Chairperson and incumbent Opposition MP Maithripala Sirisena after which the particular documents went ‘missing’.

Several attempts to contact MPs Mithrapala, Alagiyawanna, and Dissanayake proved futile.

Photo Venura Chandramalitha