The Catholic Church has rejected claims that it requested the Government to appoint former Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Director Shani Abeysekara or former senior police officer Ravi Seneviratne to specific positions.
Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday (17), Catholic Church spokesperson Rev. Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando said the Church and His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith had never asked for any particular individual to be appointed to a post.
He was responding to a question from journalists regarding a statement made by Minister Bimal Rathnayake in Parliament.
“We completely reject the statement made by Minister Bimal. At no point did the Catholic Church name individuals and request appointments for them,” Fr. Fernando said.
He explained that, since the election campaign period, the Church had only called for the reinstatement of the original investigative team that handled the Easter Sunday attacks probe from its inception during the Yahapalana administration.
Fr. Fernando noted that after former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to power, the original investigation team was removed from the CID and Shani Abeysekara was imprisoned. He said the Church’s position had always been that the original team was best placed to continue the investigations from where they had been halted.
He further alleged that certain groups were repeatedly reviving what he described as false claims on social media in an attempt to undermine the Easter Sunday attacks investigation.
Responding to questions regarding reports that properties belonging to businessman Mohammed Ibrahim, the father of two Easter Sunday suicide bombers, had been released, Fr. Fernando said Ibrahim had been charged and prosecuted during the previous administration.
He pointed out that Ibrahim was granted bail by the courts in 2022, during the tenure of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration, while the case was still being heard.
“Granting bail is not the same as acquittal. The case is still being heard before the courts,” he said.
Fr. Fernando also clarified that the property recently released was not owned by Ibrahim but by one of his brothers. He said the court had ordered the release of the property following a request made by the brother.
He maintained that claims circulating on social media suggesting Ibrahim had been fully exonerated or that the Government had released his assets were baseless and amounted to an affront to the judiciary.
