Former State Intelligence Service (SIS) Director SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena has committed a serious negligence of duty by not informing him about the foreign intelligence report received on April 4, 2019, regarding a possible terror attack, former President Maithripala Sirisena stated.
Testifying before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to probe into Easter Sunday Attacks on Wednesday (14), former President Maithripala Sirisena pointed out that he had personally instructed the former SIS Director to inform him of the intelligence regarding possible threats to National Security. “I had instructed former SIS Director Nilantha Jayawardena to inform me of intelligence information with regard to the underworld, drug trafficking and other threats to National Security,” the former President added.
“ I had received number of calls from former SIS Director in the period of April 4, 2019 and April 16, 2019, after receiving the foreign intelligence report, but the SIS Director had never informed me about the intelligence”, the former President added.
The Commission referred former President’s attention to phone call records which have been taken on April 21,2019, prior to the attack. According to the above phone call records, the former SIS Director had given two calls to the former President at around 7.59 a.m and 8.01 a.m on the day of the attacks.After checking those phone call records, former President stated that he had received a call from former SIS Director after the Easter attacks.
Testifying before the Commission, former SIS Director Nilantha Jayawardena had earlier stated that he had tried to contact the former President in the morning on the day of the attack through the phone exchange at the President’s Paget Road residence.
