Kiriella casts aspersions about Minister Ali Sabry’s neutrality

By Saman Indrajith

Chief Opposition Whip and Kandy District SJB MP, Lakshman Kiriella expressed his displeasure with the media’s perceived lack of attention to his statement made at the last sitting day in Parliament. His statement pertained to concerns regarding conflicts of interest arising from Foreign Minister Ali Sabry’s presentations at international forums in relation to the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

Kiriella said that he had been approached by the Catholic Church on Friday morning, urging him to convey to Parliament their reservations about the involvement of Foreign Minister Sabry in matters concerning the Easter Sunday investigations and at international forums relating to the subject. The Church, led by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, had come under criticism from government members for advocating Sabry’s removal from such affairs, Kiriella said.

During his participation in a two-day parliamentary debate on Friday, Kiriella said: “I was contacted this morning by the Church and asked to inform the House that they oppose Foreign Minister Sabry’s involvement in the Easter Sunday probe or with international forums on the matter due to his apparent conflicts of interest.” Sabry had previously appeared for Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 35 legal cases, raising concerns about his impartiality in the Easter Sunday issue. Anura Kumara Dissanayake had also pointed out Sabry’s previous role as counsel for Mohamed Ibrahim, whose sons were involved in the terror attacks.

“Soon after Channel 4 aired its documentary on Easter Sunday, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a statement of denial of any meetings with SIS intelligence Chief Suresh Sallay during the period referred to by the documentary as Sallay was in Malaysia for three years. These are stories that should have been told to children. I have a document which proves that intelligence operatives of the US and China are going all over the world using various passports. It is very usual for senior intelligence officers to have several passports. It is a common practice. Even some of the MPs in this House have more than one passport.

“Channel 4 exposure confirms what was found by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. I call on the President to make use of the information given by Channel 4 to commence investigations. He could also commence investigations into the killing of Lasantha Wickrematunga because the Channel 4 programme provides information about that killing too.

“Sri Lanka today is in dire straits as we could not investigate the charges on human rights violations alleged to have taken place during the last phase of the war against the LTTE. Soon after the war the then UN General Secretary Ban ki-moon came to Lanka and went to meet the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Kandy. There the UN secretary General spoke for the need of an international probe on the allegations. Mahinda Rajapaksa said that there was no need for such an international probe and undertook to conduct an investigation.

As a result of that came the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. The report of the LLRC came, we all including the government and the opposition even the international community accepted that report. But its recommendations were not implemented. So, there is a demand for an international probe on the matters.

Nine generals who had fled this country are now giving evidence against Sri Lanka in international forums. So, there are calls for an international probe on Easter Sunday terror attacks. This means the country is being asked to face two international probes. This situation would not be in favour of Sri Lanka especially in terms of foreign investments and aid to this country,” Kiriella said.