SL gov’t probes defence deals

Floating armoury part of probe.

Sirisena Government Probing Defense Ministry’s Shady Deals

By P.K. Balachandran

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government has ordered investigations into the shady deals of the Ministry of Defense under the stewardship of the former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, one of the brothers of defeated Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Stating this at a media briefing here on Wednesday, cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said that the discovery of huge caches of sophisticated arms and ammo from a vessel in Galle and at a conference center in Colombo, has revealed that the Ministry of Defense under Gotabaya Rajapaksa may have been involved in unlawful and questionable dealings with a political dimension.

The Military Spokesman said that the vessel and the arms belong to a Lankan Defense Ministry-owned sea security firm Rakna Lanka Ltf (RALL) involved in anti-piracy operations on the East African coast. The firm is not involved in any unlawful activity on land in Sri Lanka, he added. But the Maithripala Sirisena regime suspects that the weapons might have been used for rigging the hard-fought January 8 Presidential election.

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Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com