The Sri Lanka Campaign (SLC) has today rejected the accusation that Yasmin Sooka was involved in the complaint against Sir Desmond de Silva.

Sending a petition to the President, a group Sri Lankans including former diplomats Dr. Dayan Jayetilleka and Tamara Kunanayagam said; What was hidden from everyone’s eyes, was that the organization making the complaint to the Bar Standards Board in England against Sir Desmond in the UK was the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, which has listed the co-author of the Darusman Report, Ms Yasmin Sooka, as its Executive Director!

Yasmin Sooka – Executive Director – International Truth & Justice Project – Sri Lanka

Writing to Colombo Telegraph the SLC’s Executive Director Fred Carver said; “that letter contains a number of falsehoods about the Sri Lanka Campaign and Yasmin Sooka”

We publish below the SLC’s letter to CT in full;

Dear Editor,

I notice you’ve carried a letter from a number of academics calling for the release of a number of reports.

That letter contains a number of falsehoods about the Sri Lanka Campaign and Yasmin Sooka.

The allegation that Yasmin Sooka orchestrated the complaint against Sir Desmond de Silva is entirely false. When this allegation first surfaced in the Daily Mirror last month I wrote to them demanding the withdrawal of the allegation and that they publish a correction. That letter is available publicly here.

As it states in that letter, Yasmin Sooka was in no way involved in our decision to bring a complaint against Sir Desmond de Silva and played no part in making the complaint. Indeed she would not even have been aware that we had done so until reading about it in the press.

The allegation that Yasmin Sooka is the executive director of the SLC is also false. I am the Executive Director (although I use the title Campaign Director). Yasmin Sooka is merely one of our 23 advisors; as I explained to the Daily Mirror as Yasmin Sooka has been engaged in other matters of late we have not had occasion or opportunity to call on her advice in some time.

I can also confirm that the Sri Lanka Campaign was in no way involved with the creation or publication of the letter of the 4th of August mentioned in the letter. The reason that the letter of the 4th of August does not mention our name is that this letter was nothing to do with us.

At no point was there any attempt to hide the fact that the Sri Lanka Campaign were making the complaint against Sir Desmond De Silva. Indeed that information would have been readily available from us, from the BSB, from Sir Desmond, and from the first sentence of the article written about the complaint in the Daily FT on the 5th of August.

However we do feel that in the interests of due process we should refrain from commenting on an ongoing investigation and that is why we have limited our comments and our activities on the complaint itself to confirming that we have lodged the complaint.

I would be grateful if you would ensure that if this letter continues to be made visible on your site then it be made clear that these facts contained within the letter are false.

I would also be grateful if you could furnish me with the contact information via which you received this letter, as I wish to contact the publishers of this letter to request that the circulate a correction to all recipients of the original letter.

Kind regards,

Fred Carver