The Sri Lankan diplomat who returned from Japan allegedly with his landlord’s piano, among other items, has ignored for the third time a Foreign Ministry order to face an investigation.

Tilak Attanayake, the ex-Minister Consular for the Sri Lanka Embassy in Tokyo, was ordered by the Foreign Ministry’s Overseas Administration Division to forward a written explanation of his conduct in Japan.

He was also ordered to appear before the Ministry on Thursday last week. Mr. Attanayake, who is a member of the SLFP Lawyers’ Association, chose to ignore the Foreign Ministry summons. The Foreign Ministry had given Mr. Attanayake the Thursday deadline after he had failed to appear for an inquiry on two previous occasions.

According to sources, Mr. Attanayake excused himself on the first occasion, telling ministry officials that he was still working on his written explanation. When he failed to turn up for a second time, he excused himself for “personal reasons.”

When the Sunday Times contacted Mr. Attanayake this week, he said the piano was a “private matter” and that he was not obliged to give the Foreign Ministry any explanation.“The ministry called me to give an explanation, but it’s my choice whether to go and meet them or not,” he said. “These are false allegations made against me.

This is entirely a private matter. I don’t see what the Ministry and the media have to get so excited about. The fact is they are envious because I am a scholar and a lawyer.”

Mr. Attanayake declined to comment further on the matter. The Sunday Times reliably learns that the Sri Lanka Embassy in Tokyo has informed the Foreign Ministry that Mr. Attanayake is trying to come to an amicable settlement with the Japanese landlord.

About five months ago, Mr. Attanayake’s Japanese landlord wrote to the Sri Lanka Embassy in Tokyo, alleging that his former tenant had stolen a piano, an antique clock, a wall painting and other items of furniture in his house.