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Govt. can’t say whether Udayanga guilty or not: Dy. Minister

28 Mar 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Ajith P. Perera said the Government was still not in a position to state whether former Ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga was guilty of the allegations levelled against him by the Ukraine Government that he supplied arms to rebels in Ukraine.

“We cannot yet state whether he is guilty or not because the probe hasn’t yet begun. But his conduct has definitely raised suspicions because he has not handed over his diplomatic passport or had completed the process that has to be carried out by the diplomats whose term of office has ended. In fact, we have been unable to determine his current location,” he said.

The deputy minister said it was not certain whether the former diplomat is still in Russia or in Ukraine but his last known whereabouts place him in Ukraine, where he has been managing a restaurant.

“He is a close relative of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Therefore, the former President and his family too are implicated in the charges that have been made against Mr. Weeratunga,” he said and added that though the extent of his responsibility could not be determined, the detailed charges levelled against Mr. Weeratunga were grave and were offenses under either domestic or international laws.

“The Ukraine government has written to the former government concerning his activities but no response has been made and that is why they have written to us again noting down the list of allegations against Mr. Weeratunga and the types of weapons he has supplied and their numbers,” the deputy minister added.

He said they have not yet sought the assistance of Ukraine or the Russian Governments to continue the probe and added that they were awaiting the return of Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera from China, before appointing a high-level committee to probe the allegations. (Lakna Paranamanna)

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Govt. can’t say whether Udayanga guilty or not: Dy. Minister

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