Incumbent govt’s corruption led to the no-confidence motion: MR

Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa states it is the ‘blatant lies, corruption and persecution of the opponents’ by the current government that resulted in the no-confidence motion (NCM) against Premier Ranil Wickramasinghe.

Issuing a statement, Mr. Rajapakse has pointed out that it is probably for the first time in the history of the Westminster parliamentary tradition that such a large number of Parliamentarians have signed a no-confidence motion but has added that it is hardly a surprise, due to the ‘unethical conduct’ of the government.

Former President Mahinda Rajapakse has also gone on to respond to a claim made by the Prime Minister last week, in which he had alleged that a sum of Rs. 28 billion that was obtained by the Highways Ministry and remains unaccounted for, must have been exploited by Mahinda Rajapakse for his helicopter rides and to provide free meals to the public.

In his statement the former President has further noted on Premier’s allegations against him, that this short-term National Savings Bank (NSB) loan was used to pay Rs. 6.5 billion as the local component of 22 foreign funded projects which included the Outer Circular Highway and the United Kingdom (UK) Steel Bridge project etc.

Adding further former President emphasized that, “Some Rs. 14 billion of it was spent on road broadning and improvement, another Rs. 4 billion on maintenance and repair of bridges and the final Rs. 3.7 billion on Maganeguma rural road projects. The prime minister was not speaking the truth when he said that this Rs. 28 billion had been used for purposes other than building roads,”