The case related to the allegation that it was illegal to hand over three elephants under the custody of the Wildlife Department to an external party based on an order given by Mr. Maithripala Sirisena when he was the President was called at the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court today (26).
There, the Police Special Investigation Division informed the court that the file in the Presidential Palace related to this incident was missing.
The case was called before Magistrate Thilina Gamage.
There, Director of Police Special Investigation Division, Senior Superintendent of Police Mr. Wickramasinghe reported to the court that he had received a statement from former President Maithripala Sirisena regarding this incident.
There, the former president said that he could not give a statement without consulting the original file regarding the related incident.
Also in this regard, the Police Special Investigation Division said that it had obtained statements from the former Additional Secretary to the President, Mr. Kingsley Fernando.
However, the Additional Secretary to the President has stated that the original file is not currently in the Presidential Secretariat and it has been misplaced.
Here, Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage ordered the investigating officers to formally investigate without saving the body and report the facts to the court by obtaining statements from the relevant persons saying that there are no original files.