Lanka managed Swiss embassy issue diplomatically: Govt.

Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Ramesh Pathirana said today Sri Lanka has managed the incident involving the Swiss embassy employee diplomatically and was careful not to make it an international issue.

He said the Swiss Embassy was cooperating with the investigations related to the controversial complaint made by its employee Francis Garnier Banister on an alleged abduction and sexual harassment on her by a group of unidentified persons.

Responding to the Daily Mirror today at the weekly Cabinet news briefing, Minister Pathirana said the issue had been blown out of proportion but the government would conduct inquiries on the complaint in an extremely transparent manner with no effect on the excellent diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“Sri Lanka has managed the incident diplomatically and was careful not to make it an international issue. Yes, I admit that there are so many contradictions in the statements given by her to the CID at different instances. That makes this case more complicated and suspicious. However, the government would get to the bottom of the controversy and find why she did this,” Minister Pathirana stressed.

The Minister said he was confident that the ongoing legal process on the complaint would reveal before long whether the fabrication of the allegations a work of her own or whether there were any masterminds behind this sordid episode, Minister Pathirana noted. (Sandun A Jayasekera)