By Shyam Nuwan Ganewatte

June 11, 2018, 12:47 pm

It has been revealed that State Minister of International Trade, Sujeewa Senasinghe accepted three cheques to the tune of Rs. 3 million from W. M. Mendis & Company, belonging to Arjun Aloysius, after the 2015 general election.

The last parliamentary election was held on August 17, 2015.

The first cheque for one million rupees, issued from W. M. Mendis Company’a Bank of Ceylon account, to Senasinghe was dated August 24, 2015. The cheque was cashed by Ministerial Security Division (MSD) Sub Inspector E. G. Priyantha Vipula Sampath at the BOC Lake View branch and the money handed over to one of Senasinghe’s aides. Sampath was questioned by the CID on May 28, 2018. The second cheque also for one million rupees, issued on Nov. 12, 2015 from the same account was cashed by Ministerial Security Division (MSD) PC BR Gunasena. The cheque was given to him by Amal Ravindranath Dias, one of the persons who handled Senasinghe’s election campaign. Gunasena was questioned by the CID on May 30, 2018.

The third one-million-rupee cheque was issued on March 31, 2016 from the same account and cashed by Ministerial Security Division (MSD) Sergeant Ranjith Lal Jayasena. The cheque was given to him by Amal Ravindranath Dias. Jayasena was questioned by the CID on May 30, 2018.

Dias was also questioned by the CID on June 05, 2018 for accepting Rs. 2 million by way of encashed cheques, on Nov. 13, 2015 and April 05, 2016. Dias has insisted, like Senasinghe, that the money was spent on the election campaign and that he is not aware who gave the cheques. However, there was no election at that time, and the CID has instructed him to return for a statement on June 06, 2018. He has said that he can’t come on June 06 as he has a prior engagement on June 06. When CID officials went to his residence on June 06 to ask him to come the following day, there was no one at home, and he did not answer his phone on June 07 morning.