Minister of Regional Development Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka today said that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's claims regarding the present government's borrowings are false and misleading.

Rajapaksa had recently claimed that this government has borrowed more than what he had borrowed for major development work.

Fonseka, speaking at a special press conference today, said that Rajapaksa was speaking only about the major loans his government had taken. Rajapaksa has also taken foreign loans of lesser scale which he has not included in his calculations, Fonseka maintained. The government was repaying the debts and interests of numerous such loans, Fonseka added.

Meanwhile, Fonseka also said that the Rajapaksa's cronies transferred huge amounts of money borrowed for mega projects for their personal use. For example, the six lane Southern Highway was reduced to four lanes and the rest of the money just disappeared, he claimed, adding that estimating the amounts of public money stolen in this manner is not an easy task.