‘Pindapatha’ Collecting Funds to Pay Fines Imposed on Lalith & Anusha  Stopped

A group of monks went on ‘Pindapata’ in Colombo and Kiribathgoda to collect money to pay the fines imposed on former presidential secretary Lalith Weeratunga and Anusha Palpita,  two convicts found guilty of misappropriating Rs.600 million belonging to the TRC and using it to distribute ‘’sil redi’ in support of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

But Lalith and Anusha  had refused to accept money collected in this manner.  Hence,  the joint opposition sponsored ‘Pindapatha’ programme was stopped. The duo had requested that the monies collected so far be used for some welfare work. Earlier, the JO claimed that close to Rs.1 million had been collected during the ‘Pindapata’ held in Colombo with the participation of more than 300 Buddhist monks.

When asked about the total amount collected during the two days, JO MPs Sisira Jayakody, Bandula Gunawardane and Gamini Lokuge said,  the Ven. Medagoda Abhyatissa Thera was handling the monies as the Treasurer and that only he knew about the amount collected. But Thera said the monies collected was yet to be counted.

The Thero further said thus “ we decided to use whatever was collected to build a house for a war hero who will be selected during the next few weeks. We will not waste even a cent because the monies were offered by our devotees’’.