April 21st attacks: Sirisena says govt. failed to abide by his instructions

COLOMBO (News1st): Former president Maithripala Sirisena has said that the failure of his government to abide by his instructions had led to last year's April 21st attacks. In a testimony at the presidential commission probing the bombings, the former president said that the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had advised ministers by ignoring his instructions. He added that the former prime minister had instructed the central bank and the finance ministry to avoid implementing decisions that were made by the National Economic Council that was headed by the President. The former president told investigators that he was not informed of certain activities that had been politically motivated under the previous administration. This included the summoning of tri-forces commanders to anti-corruption units, producing military intelligence officials to court and remanding them, and summoning the Navy Commander at that time to court. The witness recalled that he had summoned the then law and order minister Sagala Ratnayake, and senior officials of the Criminal Investigation Department, and had warned them to carry out these investigations in an unbiased manner. The former president accused the then director-general of the Commission to Investigate Allegations or Bribery and Corruption Dilrukshi Dias Wicramamasinghe of engaging in politics at Temple Trees during her stint in office. Meanwhile, the former president conceded that weekly intelligence coordination meetings had not taken place regularly during his term in office. He told the commission that the defence secretaries under his administration had shirked their responsibilities. Former president Sirisena said the defence secretaries during his time were removed from office as they lied to him tating that intelligence coordination meetings had taken place weekly.