His response came after Opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe met the UN Chief in New York on Tuesday and appealed to him to give more time and space for the Sri Lankan Government to work out a political settlement to the “democracy deficit” in the post-war period.

Despite laboratory tests proving that the recently imported 20,000 tons of refined fuel was sub-standard, a senior official in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources ordered that it be released to the market, the Sunday Times learns. The startling disclosure was made as a probe continued into the fuel scam that led to the breakdown of hundreds of vehicles.