Chief Of Defence Staff Ravindra Wijegunaratne Soon To Give Statement To CID To After 'Assurance Of Non-arrest'

September 23, 2018

​Chief of Defenc​e Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne is expected to give a statement to the CID soon, following an assurance from the Police that he will not be arrested. 

The assurance has been made following President Maithripala Sirisena's intervenetion to thwart Police from arresting Wijegunaratne for shielding Cgandana Hettiarachchi alias Navy Sampath, the main suspect of the abductions and killings of eleven youth. 

The Chief of Defence Staff who flew out of the country just hours before giving a statement to the CID has now returned to the country. His office previously said Wijegunaratne left for Mexico to attend the country's national day on behalf of President Sirisena. 

However, the date of Wijegunaratne's appearance before the CID is still a closely guarded secret. 

The CID earlier informed court that there was substantial evidence against Wijegunaratne to suggest that he helped the former Navy officer to flee to Malaysia to avoid Police arrest. 

It was revealed that the suspect had also received Rs. 500000 from a Navy account to flee to Malaysia. 

Admiral Wijegunaratne is the most senior serving military officer  in the country.