Lanka ponders future course of action CID officer on the run in Swiss care
Posted on December 11th, 2019
By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy Island
December 11, 2019, 8:24 pm
The government would soon decide on a future course of action in respect of controversial Inspector Nishantha Silva taking refuge in Switzerland.
Authoritative sources told The Island that the alleged abduction of a local employee of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo close on the heels of Silva, his wife and three children leaving the country on Nov 24 had distracted the government.
Silva was attached to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and entrusted with handling several high profile cases, including a spate of abductions, blamed on the Navy.
Sources said that Sri Lanka was now in a position to raise the police officer’s matter following investigations into the abduction of Senior Migration Officer (SMO) Garnier Banister Francis (formerly named Sriyalatha Perera).
The final decision could be delayed due to the complexity of the case, a senior government official said.
Well informed sources said that disciplinary action could be initiated against Inspector Silva as he had left the country in violation of the Establishment Code.
The Swiss Embassy, in a brief statement, issued on November 29, 2019, denied having received a request from the Sri Lankan government for the extradition of IP Silva attached to the CID.
The CID has questioned the embassy employee for nearly 20 hours since last Sunday, (08).
Swiss Ambassador Hanspeter Mock was rushed to Bern for urgent consultations. Foreign Ministry consulted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was in New Delhi regarding the Swiss move to deploy an air ambulance for the embassy employee’s transfer. The government took up strong position that the accuser couldn’t be allowed to leave the country without following immigration formalities.
The case will be taken up today (Dec 12) before the Fort Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne.
Well informed sources said that the embassy employee had made statements that contradicted Swiss Ambassador Mock’s complaint as well as the subsequent written complaint to the police on Nov 27 and Nov 29, respectively.
Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told The Island yesterday that the incident involving local employee of Swiss had been discussed at the Cabinet meeting chaired by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday, at the Presidential Secretariat. The minister said they were of the view that interested parties had staged what he called abduction drama to cover up Nishantha Silva’s episode and also embarrass the new government.