Missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda’s wife Sandhya today urged MP Arundhika Fernando to come forward and debate her to validate the recent statements made by him and said that his entire statement was false and was intended to mislead the public

Earlier Fernandi said that Mr. Eknaligoda was in hiding in France and that she communicated with him regularly.

“If Arundhika Fernando met him as he says he did, he should have immediately informed the Sri Lankan embassy in France at the time and brought him home. He could have done it easily. As a parliamentarian he has the power to do that but he had not,” she said.

Mrs. Eknaligoda said that when she heard the statement made by Mr. Fernando in parliament last week, she had contacted Mr. Fernando’s mobile phone to verify the information but that his phone was continuously switched off and that she could not reach him.

She said she had got in touch with the French Embassy which had also confirmed that Mr. Eknaligoda was not in France.

She also stated that journalist Manjula Wediwardena who Mr. Fernando alleged had introduced Mr. Eknaligoda to him in France had contacted Mrs. Eknaligoda immediately after the statement was made and informed her that it was not true and that he did not have any information about him.

Mrs. Eknaligoda said that she believed the statement made by Mr. Fernando was meant to ease the controversy surrounding her husband’s disappearance before the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which is expected to take place in Sri Lanka this November.
(Olindhi Jayasundera)