24 June 2020 04:16 pm Views - 8396
UNP candidate A.S.P. Liyanage today alleged that former Foreign Employment Minister Harin Fernando asked him to perform an illegal activity when he was the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Qatar and told that he would be removed if failed to do it.
Mr.Liyanage who is contesting the General Election from the UNP from Colombo said he also informed the former President about the issue.
“I challenge Mr. Fernando to prove if my allegations are false. He did say that I would be removed from the Ambassadorial post if I failed to carry out his illegal request,” he said speaking at a news briefing
When asked the nature of the ‘illegal’ request, Mr. Liyanage said, “It was a matter related to the Sri Lankan School in Qatar. The Embassy took over the school from a private management and replaced the corrupt officials. The then minister asked me not to do so because the head of the previous management was one of his neighbours.”
“I told the President that I can’t do this and offered to return but the President said there was no need to do so and commended my service,” he said.
Meanwhile, he condemned the statement made by Mr. Fernando over Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and said people should get rid of ‘such’ people from politics. (DSB)