No distortion of former President’s interview – BBC journalist

BBC Journalist Shirley Upul Kumara rejected allegations that his interview with former President Maithripala Sirisena had been distorted.

It was revealed before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing Easter Sunday attacks that the former President Maithripala Sirisena had told the BBC Sinhala Service that intelligence sources had revealed that a powerful member of the previous government had secretly sent off former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran who is accused of the Central Bank bond scam, the night before his arrest.

This was revealed when an interview between BBC Journalist Shirley Upul Kumara and former President Maithripala Sirisena was replayed before the PCoI.

The BBC Sinhala Service recorded this interview with former President Maithripala Sirisena on July 14, before the 2020 General Election.

BBC Sinhala service journalist Shirley Upul Kumara told the Presidential Commission that the interview with former President Maithripala Sirisena, who said he could not take responsibility for the April 21 terrorist attacks, had not been edited to distort the views of the conversation in any way. Former President Maithripala Sirisena testifying before the PCoI earlier said that the interview had been edited to distort the meaning.

(Source: Daily News – By Subhashini Senanayake and Dilshan Tharaka)