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| Thursday, 22 July 2004 |
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Politics | |
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| UNF bigwigs involved in police promotions Recent Police promotions which led to controversy have been decided by the Secretary of the Police Commission on the recommendation of political bigwigs of the former UNF regime, informed sources said. During the previous regime the Secretary of the Commission had been summoned by its political leaders from time to time and most activities of the commission had been performed by him on their advice and recommendations without the knowledge of the other members of the Commission, it has been revealed. All Police promotions granted by the President recently had been recommended by the National Police Commission. Out of them, four policemen had received promotions on the advice of political powers of the UNF regime. The third person to receive promotion in this manner was ASP R. A. P. R. Perera. He is presently under interdiction pending action in High Court on charges of bribery. He has been promoted as a Superintendent of Police. The interview board that recommended his promotion consisted of a former Secretary K. A. S. Gunasekera, DIG Randeni Warnasuriya and DIG Victor Perera. Sumith Edirisinghe, one officer who received a promotion is an accused in several human rights cases filed in connection with a series of killings during the period of terror. Some cases are yet to be concluded and promotions cannot be granted for the accused in such cases. Moreover, this person had been on no-pay leave for three years. A report is obtained from the IGP before granting Police promotions and the IGP's report had said that these human rights cases had still not been completed. Meanwhile, Policemen against whom there are cases pending are not even summoned for interviews, let alone promoted. Another person who received a recent Police promotion had also been on three years no pay leave. He had not scored any marks at the interview. But, the Secretary of the Police Commission Bandu Wijewardena had granted promotions to them on the advice of UNF bigwigs, alleged officers not granted promotions. The President has received many complaints regarding these allegations. She had written to the Chairman of the Police Commission pointing out that the good name of the Police and the Police Commission could be safeguarded if an investigation is made. The President's letter had been handed over to the Commission Chairman Ranjit Abeysuriya, PC, yesterday. Meanwhile, following these revelations the Secretary of the Police Commission is alleged to have gone into hiding after closing his office. Attempts made during the last few days to locate the Secretary had failed, reports added. |
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