Former General Secretary of the UNP and Parliamentarian Tissa Attanayake was arrested by the police today (2).

Speaking to media a short while ago, Police Media spokesman ASP Ajith Rohana said that Attanayake was arrested on the grounds that the former UNP General Secretary presented a false document to the media while claiming it was a ‘secret agreement’ between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

In the document, the Police Media Spokesman said, the signatures of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had been forged. The arrest had been made by the Criminal investigations Department (CID) upon initial inquiries it conducted into the matter. 

Attanayake made a revelation to media after he crossed over from the UNP to support former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, prior to the Presidential Election.

However, both Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe flatly denied the allegation and claimed that the signatures in the document Attanayake presented were forged.

The United National Party (UNP) lodged a complaint with the Bribery Commission in this regard and requested to conduct an immediate inquiry into the matter.

Attanayake is to be produced before court this evening.

(Hasitha Ayeshmantha)