The Hon. Aravinda Senarath

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, although Hon. Chanaka did not mention a name, he referred to a statement I made about the Hambantota MP. Let me be very clear. I worked at Weeraketiya Primary School. About 200 metres from there, near Weeraketiya town, there is a large property belonging to the Carlton estate of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa. No one resides on that land. I have now received a message from a police officer.

¶ 02 At present, two police officers have been transferred to the Middeniya Police and to the Tissamaharama Police. One of those officers’ main duty all along was just to watch that coconut land. Hon. Chanaka, I am not lying. I am not a coconut plucker. I am not someone who does such work. I am an educated person who held a government job. My criticism is only of your words. We do not lie; we speak of what we saw with our own eyes. The coconuts in his coconut estate were harvested, the cultivation protected, the nuts plucked, counted and sold — by security personnel.

¶ 03 Further, I must remind you of another matter. An employee of the RDA for many years used those lands to take care of the coconut cultivation. Therefore, these are not false allegations. If necessary, I am ready to provide names and prove this to you on site.