News
Criminal probe on SLRC official who allegedly solicited sexual favours
View(s):A criminal investigation has been launched into the allegation against the Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) official who was accused of soliciting sexual favours from a woman in the north , police said.
Police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekara said the police would report to the Kilinochchi magistrate the proceedings of the investigations and would seek the advice of the Attorney General’s (AG) Department on how to proceed.
“Following the directive of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), the police started recording statements from various individuals including the victim. So far no evidence has been forthcoming apart from the victim’s complaint,” he said.
The woman who was one of the beneficiaries of the Indian Housing Project (IHP) in Kilinochchi lodged a complaint with the SLRC regional office last year that one of the officials of the humanitarian agency allegedly solicited sexual favour from her in order to receive installment funding to build her house.
However, an internal investigation by the SLRC found no credible evidence against the technical officer regarding the sexual favour from the woman but it determined that “this kind of allegation had an internal dimension which would be addressed in accordance with the constitution of the SLRCS.”
In October last year as a move to ensure transparency regarding a probe into the allegations, the SLRC forwarded the documents and its internal report to the Ministry of Law and Order which subsequently directed it to the IGP.
Meanwhile the international humanitarian agency said last month that its Red Cross Post Conflict Recovery Programme (RC PCRP) that began operations in 2010 was now coming to an end after constructing 21,125 houses in the northern province.