Cardinal questions credibility of Ranil’s committee to probe SIS, CNI

Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith questioned the motive behind former President Ranil Wickremesinghe appointing a committee headed by Retired Judge A. N. J. Alwis earlier this year, to look into actions taken by the certain intelligence authorities in the lead up to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombing.

The committee was appointed to investigate the actions of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) and other related authorities, concerning prior intelligence received on the attack, which took place on April 21, 2019.

Cardinal Ranjith told a media briefing that the appointment of a fresh committee by Wickremesinghe was “suspicious”.

"We suspect that the former President appointed the committee headed by Mrs. Alwis to politically victimise officers Shani Abeysekera and Ravi Seneviratne,” he said.

Also, he said former Minister Udaya Gammanpila seemed to be carrying out a contract to manipulate the probe on the Easter Sunday bomb attacks.

“Udaya Gammanpila has been silent all this time, so we question as to why he is coming out with this right now,” the Cardinal added.