Detectives now after top State officials:

Wele Suda’s mystery deepens as CID grills Duminda Silva

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

The mystery that took an entire country by surprise with the arrest of the most wanted notorious drug kingpin Wele Sudha deepens as officials went to the extent of interrogating a powerful and favourite of the former regime MP Duminda Silva who was given state patronage to carry out his nefarious activities.

Duminda Silva with his coterie of security personnel

Wele Suda

The probe had to be broadened as the findings of the MP’s statement were not second to the statements made by Wele Sudha himself.

The Parliamentarian who has a history of controversy related to a shooting incident that killed former SLFP strongman Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and an alleged scandalous affair with popular model cum actress Anarkali Akarsha, was questioned for almost three days by the Criminal Investigation Department sleuths over his latest issue, a money laundering case.

The CID summoned the parliamentarian on Tuesday morning started recording a statement that lasted up to Thursday making it one of the longest statements recorded from a single person and creating a 60 page report out of the gathered information. On each day he was questioned for almost six hours and 30 minute breaks were given for lunch and tea in each session.

The parliamentarian who arrived at the infamous fourth floor of the CID office in Fort accompanied by two of his attorneys from day one had been questioned privately by several experienced detectives of the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police.

Investigators who grilled narcotics trafficker Gampola Vidanalage Samantha alias Wele Sudha, began recording a statement from the parliamentarian after wele sudha implicated Duminda Silva’s name to find out about his alleged involvement in the case as claimed by Wele Sudha.

Interpol arrested Sudha while attempting to leave Pakistan and was handed over to a special CID team which brought him back to Sri Lanka on January 14. The story did not end there. The general thinking among the public was that with the arrest of drug kingpin Wele Sudha, the heroin menace would be over in Sri Lanka but each and every sordid detail he divulged on interrogation made the case more complicated and controversial.

It dawned on CID officers that the arrest of Wele Sudha was just the tip of the iceberg, which gave the signal that the Sri Lankan narcotics problem ran much deeper with sharks of the industry and those who have covered up and sheltered his trade were to come out.

Two weeks ago, officials of the Criminal Investigation Department revealed that six persons were directly involved with his trade. They included a Colombo District Parliamentarian, a former IGP, two Police Sub Inspectors and a Police Sergeant and renowned drug dealer in Maradana.

Mahinda Balasuriya

SSP Ajith Rohana

Suspicion surrounded the fact as to who would be the politician who is alleged to have received money from the infamous narcotics dealer. Police could not do much but to move on with the investigation when ‘Wele Sudha’ clearly implicated the name of MP Duminda Silva for having received a commission of Rs.2.5 million a month.

Also the name of one time Police Chief and former Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order, Mahinda Balasuriya was mentioned by a third party summoned to record a statement regarding ‘Wele Sudha’s’ case.

Inquiries against this official had however been stalled for awhile as the police got to know about his sudden departure from the country a couple of weeks ago.

To delve into the case and to find out whether Wele Sudha had really made valuable intimations, police decided to summon MP Silva to get his version of the story. Although the contents of the interrogation has not been made public by police officials, the crux of the questioning has been revealed to the media by the police spokesman, SSP Ajith Rohana last week.

According to him the motive behind the questioning of MP Silva was to find out whether he had really received such large sums of money as claimed by the drug trafficker.

To do this the CID needed to check his bank accounts and transactions for the past few months. Having MP Silva’s passport impounded to prevent him from leaving the country in an unexpected moment while investigations were in progress, detectives sought a Court Order to check all his bank accounts.

Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra

Duminda Silva

They found that almost 80 accounts maintained in private and state banks as well as in financial institutions have to be subjected to thorough checking to learn about any illicit transactions.

To do this they had to first question nearly 30 officials which included bank and financial officials as well as state officials in various sectors. Having checked about 60% of these accounts, the CID decided to question Duminda Silva.

While his attorneys were asked to wait at the intelligence office lobby, Mr. Silva was privately questioned at an interrogation room about various issues and matters pertaining to his earnings, income generation, private trade and businesses, money transaction, expenses as well as money donated to charitable organisations.

MP Duminda Silva is popular with many youth in the urban lower middle class for his generous donations.

He is popular for his philanthropic acts of donating large sums of money to set up sports and personal fitness gymnasiums for deprived youth and distribution of sports material and sportswear.

His donations to temples and many places with religious interest were given ample publicity.

The CID was concerned about these donations not because they were meant for a worthy cause but to understand his source of income to make such extravagant donations.

He was intensely interrogated on these issues where the authorities are said to have gathered a substantial amount of important details.

Bulk of heroin raided recently by the STF

However, by the end of the third day speculation was rife that the MP would be arrested following the completion of the recording of the statement. Yet denying this police spokesman, Ajith Rohana said that there was no intention to arrest him until the authorities finalise assessing and studying the information and evidence gathered from his lengthy statement.

They will tie up the loose ends and match the details with the points mentioned in Wele Sudha’s statement before filing any legal action. Besides the officials may have to send extracts of the investigation to the Attorney General’s Department and also to inform the Speaker if they intend to take a member of of the house into custody.

But most importantly by Friday evening the CID learned that several top state officials were linked to the case as revealed by MP Silva’s statement. These officers will be subjected to close scrutiny from now on under the watchful eyes of the detectives. The CID on Friday appointed three special teams to investigate the information revealed in the Colombo District Parliamentarian’s statement. These teams will be headed by an Assistant Superintendent of Police and will be directly answerable to the Deputy Inspector General in charge of the CID. Upon the facts which came to light from the politician’s statement, detectives will re-interrogate Samantha, who is being detained at the CID office. Officials last month sought an order to detain him for three months for investigation purposes.

The police have so far recorded 75 statements from various individuals including state and bank officials. If all the evidence was proved, tough legal action will be taken against each and every person connected to this case.

The suspects will be tried against the Money Laundering Act, drug trafficking and aiding abetting for such activities under the Dangerous Drugs Act, the police said.