MR sends Mangala a letter of demand for Rs 1 Billion

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has sent a letter of demand to Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera, seeking Rs 1 billion in damages over an alleged statement the latter had made to the media,local media reported. Media reports quoting the letter of demand sent from Rajapaksa's lawyer Athula Priyadarshana de Silva, on behalf of his client Mahinda Rajapaksa, states that the allegations made by Minister Samaraweera during a press briefing on May 7 and given wide publicity by the media are slanderous and had caused discredit to his client's reputation. The letter by the lawyer states that comments made by Samaraweera to the media suggests that his client and family had engaged in stealing, their wealth amounts to around US $18 billion and his client has become the first trillionaire in Sri Lanka. It says that the comments made by Samaraweera appear to be a deliberate and malicious attempt to discredit his client. The letter of demand also states that while the damages caused to his client's reputation by the comments cannot be estimated, for legal purposes his client will be seeking a sum of Rs 1 billion as compensation. According to the letter failure to pay the above sum within 21 days will result in legal action against Samaraweera, it adds. The media reported Minister Mangala Samaraweera as saying at the press briefing on May 7 that according to current estimates, it has been revealed that the wealth of the Rajapaksa family may exceed US$ 18 billion, an amount more than a fourth of the country's GDP.