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Bribery Com: complaint against Ranil out; PM in
The Bribery Commission has thrown out Minister Mangala Samaraweera's allegations against UNP Leader and presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe regarding a multi-million-dollar computer deal, but has decided to proceed with the complaint against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse.

Chairman Ameer Ismail said the commission had decided that Mr. Samaraweera’s allegations had no basis and required no further investigation as Cabinet and Treasury approval had been obtained for the deal worked out when Mr. Wickremesinghe was Prime Minister.

“We will be informing the complainant about the position of our investigation tomorrow,” he said. Meanwhile, the allegations against Prime Minister and UPFA presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse regarding the Helping Hambantota fund are being probed by the commission.

A statement from the complainant UNP parliamentarian Sagala Ratnayake was recorded a few days ago and the commission was now verifying documents before proceeding further, Mr. Ismail said.

Earlier, Mr. Rajapakse obtained a Supreme Court order restraining the CID from investigating allegations relating to the ‘Helping Hambantota ' Fund. Mr. Rajapakse also asked the Bribery Commission to stop investigations in view of the Supreme Court order.

However, Mr. Ismail said that since the complaint to the Bribery Commission was not a part of the particular case referred to the Supreme Court, the commission was not bound by the Supreme Court decision, and had the authority to continue with the case.
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