All VIPs must have been warned before April 21st attacks : Wimal

COLOMBO (News1st): All VIPs must have been made aware of the prior warnings received before the terror attacks on April 21 last year, a ruling party politician has said, after a startling revelation before a presidential commission probing the bombings.

A former deputy police chief, on Tuesday, told investigators that some VIPs were not made aware of the prior warnings by the security personnel as they feared that they would be "scolded" or that the VIPs would "panic".

"Even though my security officer received the letter he did not inform me. Everyone was relaxed," Wimal Weerawansa, a minister told reporters at a media briefing on Wednesday.

He added that the relevant security personnel must have been informed to pass on the message to all VIPs regarding the threat of an attack in the country.

"Those who handled the VIP security at the time must be held responsible," Weerawansa, who was an opposition lawmaker at the time of the bombings remarked.

A minister of the government at that time, however, claimed that the terror attack had been planned to snatch a possible presidential election victory from ruling party candidate Sajith Premadasa.

"They disrupted the Catholic and Muslim voter base with this. That’s what added up to that five percent winning margin," Harin Fernando told a parliamentary election rally of his Samagi Jana Balawegaya party.

Fernando, who last year said his father had informed him not to go to the church on the day of the attacks, rubbished claims of not passing on the information despite being aware of it.

"I figured out that my dad got to know about this from a CID officer who came to visit him in the hospital," he said refuting claims that it was he who informed his father about it.