No letter of demand from Fonseka - Leader

Sunday Leader newspapers said that Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka has not handed over the much published letter of demand to their office. Under the exclusive tag the Sunday Leader, on December 13 led with an interview of Fonseka who claimed that Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had allegedly ordered the surrendering LTTE members to be shot. The implication was that the Security Forces had committed war crimes in the last few days of the conflict.

Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya categorically denied the allegation against the Army. Political observers say that Fonseka has irrevocably damaged his candidature through this article in the Sunday Leader newspaper.

Fonseka's supporters soon felt the damage it caused and sent a correction to this lead story. They then said that a letter of demand has been sent to the newspaper.

The Sunday Leader management said that no such letter has been received by them or their lawyers. "We only hear about this so called letter of demand from newspapers."