Former JVP Parliamentarian and Convenor of the Anti-corruption Front Wasantha Samarasinghe said the President and the Prime Minister should tender a public apology for their collective failure to deliver on the January 08 mandate. 

Addressing a press conference in Colombo, Samarasinghe said the government was busy protecting thieves, without catching them.

"The mandate was to arrest the thieves. Instead of delivering on the mandate, they started protecting thieves. The government should be ashamed of their conduct," Samarasinghe said. 

He also added that the removal of Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was not done in good faith. 

"The Attorney General's Department started unearthing evidence with regard to the Bond scam. The ones who were connected to the deal were exposed. It was revealed that the 'footnote gang' which desperately tried to cover up the scam were benefitted by those who were responsible for the bond deal. It was in this context that Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was removed. Rajapakshe too, on the other hand, was responsible for protecting the thieves of the previous administration ," he said. 

"This government has started a new trend. The corrupt politicians, who are responsible for various misdeeds and misappropriations, get away with their wrongdoing by mere resigning from their positions. There is no punishment for them. The case of Ravi Karunanayake was a classic example," he stressed. 

Samarasinghe said his organisation would not only expose the thieves, but would also expose the thieves who protect the thieves.