Bribery Commission records statement from Maithripala Sirisena

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption recorded a statement from former MP Maithripala Sirisena today.

The Commission said that the former President was summoned before the commission for an inquiry on an allegation of the former president accepting a bribe for a Presidential pardon for the Royal Park murder convict.

A complaint was been filed with the Bribery Commission in 2022 to investigate whether former President Maithripala Sirisena and/or MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera had received money as a bribe to grant a Presidential pardon to Don Shramantha Jude Anthony Jayamaha, who had been sentenced to death over a murder at the Royal Park apartment in Colombo. 

The complaint was filed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Executive Committee Member Montague Sarachchandra. 

Jayamaha was sentenced to death for the murder of Yvonne Jonsson at the Royal Park condominium complex in Rajagiriya in 2005, after which he was later granted a Presidential pardon by Sirisena in 2019.