Minister Basil R denies buying weapons from North Korea

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Professor G. L. Peiris has refuted the alleged purchase of weapons from North Korea.

A statement from the Foreign Ministry noted that the attention of the Foreign Ministry was drawn to a news item appearing on t

he newsfirst.lk website titled “We purchased weapons from North Korea using Black Market Dollars’ – Minister Basil R” dated 31 January 2022.

The Foreign Ministry says Prof. G. L. Peiris had spoken in this regard with his Cabinet colleague, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa who has “categorically denied the comments attributed to him in the said news item”.

Yesterday, News 1st quoted excerpts of an interview published last Sunday (30th January 2022) in the Divayina newspaper, where Minister Basil Rajapakse is quoted as saying that they acquired weapons from North Korea during the civil war using dollars purchased from the black market.

The Sunday Divayina newspaper carried a full-page interview with the Finance Minister and it is filed below :