Police have so far failed to record a statement from former President Gotabaya despite a court order

Police have so far failed to record a statement from former President Gotabaya despite a court order.

It transpired before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court that, despite a court order, police have so far failed to record a statement from former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa regarding ongoing investigations into the sum of Rs. 17.8 million recovered by protesters inside the President’s House on July 9.

The court was informed that the IGP’s decision to hand over the probe to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) from the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) had led to a delay in the ongoing investigations into the incident.

Meanwhile, Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage issued an order directing the IGP to show cause as to why investigations pertaining to the recovery of money inside the President’s House were handed over to the CID from SIU.

This information was revealed when a case filed against the convener of the Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF), Wasantha Mudalige, Fr. Jeewantha Peiris, and 71 others for forcibly entering the President’s House on the 9th of July was taken up for inquiry before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court.

Meanwhile, the Magistrate issued an order directing the National Authority for the Protection of Victims of Crime to conduct an inquiry into an alleged incident where SIU Director SSP Wickremasinghe had been threatened by Senior DIG Tennakoon.