Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila today claimed that Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka was behind an attempt to discredit him by having him arrested on trumped-up charges of forging documents.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Gammanpila said that a ‘fabricated claim’ has been made against him, alleging that he forged documents to cheat an Australian named Brian Shaddick of his shares in a company.

Gammanpila claimed that the said company went bankrupt in 2005 and therefore this story cannot be true in any way. He also claimed that Shaddick has a personal grudge on him which made him come out with such an allegation.

The claim against Gamanpila was first made during the recent election campaign. A police investigation was also initiated on this.