Gammanpila questions Shani Abeysekara’s French visit over Azad Maulana probe

If the CID needed to interview a person based in Switzerland, flying to France using taxpayer money seems highly questionable. He said that the travel arrangement leaves reasonable doubt as to why an investigation targeting someone in one country required a team to base themselves in another

Former Member of Parliament Udaya Gammanpila has questioned the rationale behind a recent official visit to France by Shani Abeysekara, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and his team.   

Addressing the media, Gammanpila raised concerns over why public funds were used to travel to France when the key individual in question, whistleblower Azad Maulana, is reportedly residing in Switzerland.   

Azad Maulana is a former aide to Sri Lankan politician Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (alias Pillayan) whose claims in a 2023 Channel 4 documentary alleged that state intelligence officials and political leaders were complicit in the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks to create chaos and win elections.   

Gammanpila raised suspicions over the logistics of the trip, pointing out that if the CID needed to interview a person based in Switzerland, flying to France using taxpayer money seems highly questionable. He said that the travel arrangement leaves reasonable doubt as to why an investigation targeting someone in one country required a team to base themselves in another.   

Furthermore, Gammanpila said that a previous Presidential Investigation Committee, headed by retired Supreme Court Judge S.I Imaan, had already concluded that Azad Maulana’s controversial statements to Channel 4 were entirely false. The committee had explicitly recommended that Maulana be punished for bringing disrepute to the country. Gammanpila argued that wasting public funds to follow up on claims already officially deemed fabrications by a judicial panel is legally and financially unjustified unless the state first proves the Imaan report’s findings wrong.   

The former MP also challenged the CID’s handling of Maulana, labeling him a wanted criminal with an active warrant. Gammanpila said that the interview took place within the Sri Lankan Embassy in France, which legally constitutes Sri Lankan territory where local police officers retain their full powers of arrest. He questioned why the CID chief opted to merely record a statement and release a wanted suspect instead of executing the arrest warrant.