Hizbullah gives statement to PCoI Police Unit

• The UGC has told that it did not give permission to register the Sharia university

By Yoshitha Perera 
Former Eastern Province Governor M.L.A.M. Hizbullah yesterday recorded his statement at the Police Unit attached to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) in connection with the Batticaloa Campus also known as the ‘Sharia university’ .   

The PCoI was appointed to investigate acts of corruption and frauds which were alleged to have been committed in State institutions between January 15, 2015 and December 31, 2018.   
Its sources informed Daily Mirror that during the initial investigations the University Grants Commission (UGC) had informed them it had not granted permission to register Batticaloa Campus.   
The statement was recorded on a complaint made by Ven. Thiniyawala Palitha Thera against him about managing a ‘Shariah’ campus in Batticaloa.   
He made a similar complaint against former minister Rishad Bathiudeen saying he had obtained 3,000 acres of land in the Mannar district for his relations.   
During the initial investigations it was also revealed that the lands belonged to the State and those who had been living in those lands had abandoned them during the war.