Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa hit out at former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga for what he called "complete fabrications" regarding the MiG deal, which are hateful and insulting to him.

Kumaratunga had said that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had purchased six fighter jets and all six crashed. One of them crashed on its way to Sri Lanka, she claimed.

Rajapaksa, issuing a statement, rejected these claims, adding that the planes had not flown to Sri Lanka. They were dismantled and imported in cargo planes, he added.

Furthermore he said that the Sri Lanka Air Force brought only four MiGs, not six as Kumaratunga claimed. This deal was done in complete transparency there was no siphoned off money to be deposited in any account, Rajapaksa added.

He also indicated that Kumaratunga may have been engaged in "MiG deals" of her own during her tenure as President. She was the one who brought seven MiGs with a private company in Singapore as the third party, and these MiGs were given to Sri Lanka with a guarantee of just two years, Rajapaksa said. Three of them had crashed by 2005. The other four were repaired, he added.

Kumaratunga's comments are insulting not only to him but to the then SLAF commander and other officials.