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INGO head deported for equating State with LTTE

By Chandani Kirinde

The head of an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) was blacklisted and deported after he was found guilty of issuing a certificate at the end of a training programme bearing the emblem of Sri Lanka alongside an LTTE emblem.

Dr.Pep Coll, Medicos Del Mundo-Spain (MDM Spain) head-of-mission, was asked to leave the country before the 31st of last month but after leaving, he had returned to the country on a tourist visa and was deported again, Controller of Immigration and Emigration P.B. Abeykoon said.

“He was given a deadline to leave but he left and returned again before that date expired. We found this out and he was blacklisted and deported,” he said.

Mr. Abeykoon said that nationals of 78 countries are given visas on arrival for 30 days and that it was under this category that the INGO head had re-entered the country.

“He will not be able to enter the country in the future without prior approval,” he added.

This INGO had issued certificates bearing the two emblems to persons who had followed a medial training workshop in Trincomalee two months ago and the certificate also stated that the INGO, along with the Health Ministry, was issuing the certificate.

The issue of the organization using the state symbol with that of the LTTE came up Thursday before the Parliamentary Select Committee probing the workings of NGOs in the country.

Committee Chairman JVP MP Vijitha Herath said only the head of the organization had been changed with a new person appointed in his place and that they were carrying on as usual.

“I understand they were summoned to the Heath Ministry and once they apologized, they were allowed to go back to their usual work,” Mr. Herath said.

A Health Ministry official told the Committee on Thursday that they have proposed that a set of guild lines be drawn up for all INGOs/NGOs under the signature of the Presidential Secretary in order to avoid such incidents in the future.

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