PCoI Sabeetha gives statement

By Yoshitha Perera 

D.P.A. Jayasinghe & Co., director, actress Sabeetha Perera made a two and a half hour long statement -- to the Police Unit of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on corruption in the current administration -- on the building rented out to the Agriculture Ministry in 2017.   

PCoI sources said she was asked to report to the Police Unit last morning but had requested permission to do so on Monday but had however reported to the police yesterday.   Although the Ministry had signed an agreement with D.P.A. Jayasinghe & Company on April 11, 2016 it did not shift to the building for more than 16 months but had paid monthly rental of Rs.24.6 million. 

It was also revealed that there was no date of termination in the  lease agreement signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and D.P.A.  Jayasinghe Company in 2016 on renting out the building.   

Attorney Tanushka Gunawardena who prepared this agreement  said both parties agreed to not having a termination clause. “Former  ministry secretary B. Wijeratna told me that there was no need for a  termination clause. I was entrusted with the preparation of the  agreement by Upali Jayasinghe, owner of the D.P.A. Jayasinghe Company,”  she said.