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X-Press Pearl disaster: More than 64,000 emails deleted; CID launches forensic probe
Some 64,706 emails from a total of 75,927 emails that had been exchanged between the container vessel X-Press Pearl, the Colombo Port, and the vessel’s local agent from the time the devastating fire broke out on board the ship had been deleted, according to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The CID told the Colombo Chief Mastarate’s Court that the deletion of such a large number of emails from May 10 and May 21, 2021 necessitated the launch of a wide-ranging forensic audit. The vessel caught fire on May 20, 2021 off the coast of Colombo.
When the vessel’s captain and eight officials from the ship’s local agent were produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court, Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Madhawa Tennakoon stated that the database containing the emails had been accessed many times.
He told the court that the data had been deleted or altered to conceal facts to bring the stricken vessel to the Colombo Port.
DSG Tennakoon said that since it had come to light that the emails had been deliberately deleted, steps would be taken to conduct a thorough forensic audit with the assistance of a qualified local or foreign agency.
Additional Magistrate Keminda Perera ordered the CID to conduct a thorough investigation and file a progress report in court on August 6. He ordered all suspects, who are currently on bail, to be present in court on that date.
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