AG 's Department refutes claims of failing to act on April 21 terrorist attackers

The Attorney General (AG)’s Department has refuted claims that it failed to act upon prior warnings issued by the police on the individuals involved in the Easter Sunday bombings.

The rebuttal comes in the wake of Ven Magalkande Sudantha Thera’s remarks calling for action against former Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya for failing to act on a 300-page police report containing prior warnings which had been submitted on June 07, 2017.

However, the AG’s department claimed that they had only received an incomplete report in 2017 and that a 200-page report had been submitted by the police only after the terrorist bombings, on May 06 this year.

Issuing a press release, the Department said that the incomplete report lacked important details.

"The Terrorist Investigations Division (TID) had sought an open warrant for Mohamed Zahran and had reported certain details on the (now proscribed) National Thowheed Jamath group to the chief magistrate's court in 2018," State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, the AG's Coordinating Officer told Times Online.

"Why didn't the TID seek the advice of the AG when they took legal action against Zahran Hasim and his group?," she queried.

The President’s Special Investigation Committee which had been appointed to probe the terrorist attacks had found that the AG’s Department could not be faulted since they were not made aware of an imminent threat on the incident, the release stated.