The government said yesterday that Minister of External Affairs (MEA), Mangala Samaraweera, will be appointing a high level committee to investigate… …allegations against former Lankan Ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga, on selling arms and ammunitions to Ukrainian rebels.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ajith P. Perera, at a media briefing at the ministry said Weeratunga, who is a nephew of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had served eight years as the Ambassador to Russia, the longest an individual had served as an ambassador.
“Minister Samaraweera will be appointing a committee comprising high level officials to investigate the allegations against Weeratunga, the former Ambassador to Russia, on selling arms to Ukranian rebels,” the minister said. He added that the Ukrainian Government had initially informed the Ministry of External Affairs of the matter during the time of the former regime but the Rajapaksa Government had avoided confronting the allegation.
“We got to know about this issue only after the new government was formed. Udayanga Weeratunga, who had been removed from his post as ambassador, has disappeared. The initial communiqué forwarded to the government by the Ukrainian Government was ignored by the Rajapaksa regime. Right now Udayanga Weeratugna is at large,” Minister Perera said.
The minister also said the government was still unaware of where and how Weeratunga procured the weapons that were allegedly to have been sold to the Ukrainian rebels.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Rajitha Senaratne said at the Cabinet media briefing on Tuesday that the government would look into whether the weapons Weeratunga had allegedly sold were procured through the floating armoury.
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