Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has dismissed what he termed as “absurd” allegations raised by Channel 4 in its latest video on the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka.
Rajapaksa said that the latest Channel 4 video is simply being used to attack the Rajapaksas.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa dismissed the claim that the Easter Sunday attack was carried out to make him President.
He also went on to say that he maintained a close relationship with the Catholic Church.
“Despite the politically motivated accusations being made against me by certain individuals, I have personally done everything possible to help the Roman Catholic community when I held government office,” he said in a statement.
He also dismissed claims that Military Intelligence chief Major General Suresh Salley was a Rajapaksa loyalist.
The former President said that he had no contacts with Major General Suresh Salley after leaving the position of Defence Secretary in 2015 and until he was elected President in 2019.
Fromer spokesman of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP), Azad Maulana, appeared before Channel 4 and alleged the Sri Lankan military intelligence met the Easter Sunday bombers before the attacks in 2019.
In the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, aired on the British television station, Maulana alleged that the meeting took place in the East and that he was also present.
Maulana alleged the meeting took place between Easter Sunday bomber Zahran Hashim and head of the State Intelligence Service Suresh Sallay.
The former TMVP spokesman, who has now sought asylum overseas, has shared the information with the UN and the EU as well as other diplomatic missions.