{"id":167552,"date":"2016-09-13T00:40:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T19:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=167552"},"modified":"2016-09-13T00:40:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T19:10:46","slug":"precifac-wants-ex-igp-balasuriya-to-explain-why-weerawansas-party-members-were-given-police-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/precifac-wants-ex-igp-balasuriya-to-explain-why-weerawansas-party-members-were-given-police-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"PRECIFAC Wants Ex-IGP Balasuriya To Explain Why Weerawansa&#8217;s Party Members Were Given Police Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ex-Inspector General of Police <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Mahinda+Balasuriya&amp;x=8&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mahinda Balasuriya<\/span><\/a> who is currently under investigation by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=PRECIFAC&amp;x=8&amp;y=1\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">PRECIFAC<\/span><\/a>) has been asked to explain on what grounds he provided police protection for several party members of Wimal Weerawansa\u2019s National Freedom Front (NFF).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_165884\" style=\"width: 211px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/former-IGP-Mahinda-Balasuriya.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-165884\" class=\" wp-image-165884\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/former-IGP-Mahinda-Balasuriya.jpg\" alt=\"Balasuriya\" width=\"201\" height=\"132\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/former-IGP-Mahinda-Balasuriya.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/former-IGP-Mahinda-Balasuriya-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-165884\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Balasuriya<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Balasuriya served as IGP during Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s term as President and is alleged to have provided police protection for at least seven members of the NFF. According to sources, police protection is not provided for members of political parties who are neither Ministers not Members of Parliament.<\/p>\n<p>However, on Balasuriya\u2019s orders at least seven members were provided with police protection. The members also included NFF\u2019s spokesman Mohammed Muzammil who is currently out on bail for allegedly misappropriating millions of rupees by misusing vehicles that belonged to the Presidential Secretariat during Rajapaksa\u2019s term.<\/p>\n<p>The Presidential Commission has called for explanation from Balasuriya, and has also requested him to provide with documentation if any as to on what grounds he provided these members with protection. \u201cThere was no necessity for police protection, as they did not even have any threats,\u201d sources said.<\/p>\n<p>In July, Balasuriya was also summoned by the CID to record a statement over the assassination of Sunday Leader Founding Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":165884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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