Law, Order and Southern Development Minister Sagala Ratnayaka has hit out strongly at media reports insinuating he had held a ‘secret meeting’ with former President’s Chief of Staff Gamini Senerath who is currently under investigation for misuse of public funds.

 “This is a baseless and malicious allegation,” the Minister said. “I have no reason to meet a suspect in a corruption case, which involves billions of public money. I have nothing to gain by holding meeting with a person of that caliber.”

In a statement the Minister said further, “It is widely known that a small clique affiliated with the top-brass leaders of the previous government were involved in large scale bribery and corruption cases.”

“Their corrupt practices pushed over 6.2 million people to come forward on January 08, 2015, in a bid to topple the Rajapaksa government. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who gave leadership to these progressive forces, played prominent roles in this 'silent revolution'.”

“The government of good governance and its ministers came to power with the promise of investigating into these cases of large-scale corruption and bringing the culprits to book. I, as the Minister of Law and Order, have a special responsibility in this regard and I must state that I am committed and determined to fulfill that responsibility.”

“Despite many challenges and obstacles, the Sri Lanka Police, the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID), and the Police Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) and I, as the Minister, endeavour to deliver results, in this regard.”

“It is in this context that a section of media, including some online publications and social media pages, have published news items indicating that former President's Chief of Staff Gamini Senarath, who is suspected to have embezzled Rs. 4 billion of public money, had a secret meeting with me.”

“This a baseless and malicious allegation. I have no reason to meet a suspect in a corruption case which involves billions of public money. I have nothing to gain by holding meeting with a person of that "calibre."”

“Therefore, I categorically deny this malicious allegation with the contempt it deserves. I am of the firm belief that a handful of bankrupt political elements with hidden agendas are behind this propaganda campaign."