Kiriella claims controversial letter did not contain defamatory statements

Leader of the House, Minister Lakshman Kiriella today said that the letter sent by his media unit that is alleged to be defamatory to the President and causing communal disharmony does not contain any such information.

By Sandun Jayawardana

Leader of the House, Minister Lakshman Kiriella today said that the letter sent by his media unit that is alleged to be defamatory to the President and causing communal disharmony does not contain any such information.

Speaking during the adjournment debate on the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, Mr Kiriella said the letter contained a Sinhala translation of an article that had appeared on a news website.

“The letters in question were to be posted to temples in the Kandy district. I did not get an opportunity to read it before, but when I did, I could see that it did not contain any information that can be used to stir up communal tensions. Neither did it sling mud or mention anything that can be considered anti-State. What it did contain, were questions whether those in authority did enough to prevent the April 21 attacks despite receiving prior information,” he claimed.

Mr Kiriella opined that if the police had acted with the same level of intensity in their investigation into prior intelligence warnings of an impending attack as they were now doing with regard to the staff of his media unit, perhaps hundreds of lives lost during the Easter Sunday terror attacks could have been saved.