Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake filed a complaint at the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption against former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Ramanayake told media that he filed the complaint against siphoning of funds received for Tsunami relief. He added that since Rajapaksa was the Prime Minister at the time of the incident, he does not enjoy the immunity accorded to the executive president.

The Deputy Minister also pointed out that UNP MP Kabir Hashim had seeked judicial remedy in 2005. Former Chief Justice Sarath N Silva recently tendered a public apology for the ruling he gave in the ‘Helping Hambantota’ case in 2005, Ramanayake also recalled.

In October 2014, Silva confessed to BBC Sinhala Service that he had delivered a judgment favorable to President Rajapaksa in response to a petition filed by him and the judgment could be dubious. Rajapaksa had filed a fundamental rights petition in the court saying that there was an attempt to arrest and remand him in response to a complaint made by Hashim.

Ramanayake pointed out that it was high time that this case was investigated once again.