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Email against Sajin: CID called in
View(s):CID detectives have been called in to probe an email allegedly critical of Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, Monitoring MP for the External Affairs Ministry.Detectives have recorded statements from P.M. Amza, former Director General of Economic Affairs, and Prasanna Gamage who was attached to the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) Secretariat. Both officials have been relieved of their responsibilities.
As exclusively revealed in the Sunday Times of September 28, the two career Foreign Service officials were relieved of their responsibilities on instructions from Mr. Vass Gunawardena. The orders were sent from New York where Mr. Vass Gunawardena was a member of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s official entourage to the UN General Assembly sessions.
Allegedly initiated by Mr. Amza, a copy of which has been sent to Mr. Gamage in Kathmandu, the email, it is claimed, has been critical of Mr. Vass Gunawardena’s role as Monitoring MP of the EAM. During circulation, a copy had reached the Monitoring MP through unknown channels.
CID detectives said yesterday they were trying to trace where the email originated. Meanwhile, the External Affairs Ministry has begun asking for statements from senior officials who worked with former High Commissioner in the UK, Chris Nonis on their working relationship with him.
The Government Information Department earlier announced that the President had ordered an inquiry into the alleged physical assault on Mr. Nonis by the Monitoring MP Vass Gunawardena and an undisclosed complaint by Ministry Secretary Kshenuka Senewiratne. But so far there have been no official announcement about the investigation or who is conducting it.