Mangala levels charges against Gota over LA residence

30 November 2016 08:13 pm

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera today charged that a house had been rented as the official residence of the Sri Lankan Consul General in Los Angeles in 2013 and a sum of Rs. 27.6 million has been spent for it while it was occupied by former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa's son for more than a year.

Participating in the budget debate in Parliament yesterday he said US Dollars 10,000 had been paid as a deposit for it. Minister Samaraweera also charged that Rs. 2.3 billion had been spent for overseas visits during the Rajapaksa regime between 2012 and 2014.

Following these allegations, JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti proposed that a special select committee be set up to look into the alleged malpractices that have taken place at the Foreign Ministry between 2005 and 2015. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that it would be welcomed by the government. (Yohan Perera)