Former Minister of Education and UPFA Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardena yesterday (6) urged the Bribery Commission to 'hasten up' the investigation against him.

The UPFA Parliamentarian made the request yesterday as a response to the complaint lodged by General Secretary of Ceylon Teachers’ Services Union Mahinda Jayasinghe.

In his complaint, Jayasinghe claimed that 'tender frauds' were recorded during the 'Mahindyodaya' Labouratory project, which was conducted by the former regime and while Gunawardena was the Minister of Education. The government initiated a program to construct 1000 Mahindodaya Laboratories in the schools named as ‘Secondary Schools’ under the new classification of schools when Gunawardena was the Education Minister.

However, after the complaint was lodged, the Former Minister handed over a letter of request to the Secretary of the Bribery Commission requesting to quickly launch an investigation looking into the charges filed against him.

Speaking to media from the premises of the Bribery Commission, Bandula Gunawardena flatly denied all charges filed against him while adding that this was the biggest insult so far against him.

In his statement, Gunawardena lashed out at the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) saying that they are 'branding' people 'guilty' even before an investigation is launched. He added that this is another 'political agenda' of the JVP.

(Hasitha Ayeshmantha)