Minister Kiriella to head four member committee to investigate Minister Ramanayake's allegations of cocaine usage

Leader of the House, Minister Lakshman Kiriella will head a four member committee appointed by the UNP to probe allegations levelled by State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake that there were Ministers and MPs who were cocaine users. 

By Sandun Jayawardena

Leader of the House, Minister Lakshman Kiriella will head a four member committee appointed by the UNP to probe allegations levelled by State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake that there were Ministers and MPs who were cocaine users. 

In response to queries raised by the Opposition, Minister Kiriella told Parliament today (Feb 20) that State Minister Ramanayake's allegations were discussed at length at the UNP's Parliamentary Group meeting today. 

Minister Ramanayake had told the media that as many as 24 Ministers and MPs were cocaine users. 

Accordingly, it was decided to appoint a committee headed by himself to look into the allegations, Minister Kiriella stated. The other members of the committee are Eran Wickramaratne, Ashu Marasinghe and Nissanka Nanayakkara, he added. 

"The investigations conducted by this committee is being conducted by theUNP. If the Speaker wishes to hold his own investigation into the matter, he can do so," Minister Kiriella said, in answer to requests by Opposition MPs to hold a Parliamentary inquiry into Mr Ramanayake's allegations. 

Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri however, stated that the Speaker had not received any written communication from anyone about the allegations and that no 'list' of alleged cocaine using MPs had been submitted to his office. 

Meanwhile, Minister Kiriella also said Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, UNP Leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, UNP Chairman Kabir Hashim or the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had not been officially informed of the allegations, though Minister Ramanayake had made the claims to the media.