Former Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakekara said that many people are forgetting today the era when the country was bankrupt and people were dying in queues without medicines, fuel and essential goods.
He further stated that the current government has started taking revenge on him today, just as it took revenge on former President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The former minister said this while addressing journalists when he arrived there to give a statement following the summons of the Commission for the Prevention of Bribery or Corruption.
Expressing further views, he said:
”Today, I was summoned by the Bribery Commission. When the country was in a serious shortage of dollars, when the country was in a state of collapse, we took responsibility together with Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe to rebuild the country’s economy. We did not just take responsibility, we fulfilled that responsibility. The country’s dollar reserves were built up and this country was made a livable country again. At that time, people were in queues without dollars, oil, gas, and medicine in the country. But now many people do not remember that time.
Usually, in this country, high-paying jobs can be obtained only after passing the Advanced Level. That is how you get your degree. Otherwise, people from ordinary families in the village who do not even have an Advanced Level cannot get such high-paying jobs. But we have taken steps to send our innocent poor youth from villages all over Sri Lanka to Israel for high salaries.
That is why I have come today to question the fact that we took steps to send them to Israel. President Ranil Wickremesinghe took revenge on him for saving the country and saving the lives of the people of the country. After that, he has started taking revenge on me.
I think these kinds of things are done to fulfill the needs of the government. Sometimes some women, both in public and in private, want to take revenge on people like us. Ranil Wickremesinghe is number one. Then question Manusha Nanayakkara. Then cause some trouble. We are ready to face them.
The Bribery Commission summoned me, we issued letters for that summons and went to the law as required. That law was violated and yesterday in court I publicly announced that I would come here today and give a statement. I made the statement in open court. Our lawyers sent a letter and asked for the time to come today. Despite that, they went to my house yesterday evening and searched it. They searched my house when I was the only one at home and created a serious situation. This clearly shows that this is malicious revenge.
Today, the youth of the country are living abroad and earning a good salary. Parents can buy medicine and vehicles. We are happy about that. The people of the country are doing well today. If there is any irregularity, they can go straight to the police and file a complaint and be arrested. These are not such things. Is the method used wrong, that is what they are looking for.
We have proven our rightness before. But we have to face legal investigations again and again. We respect that system. Because we were the ones who created the Prevention of Bribery and Corruption Act in 20203, so that fraud and corruption would not happen. We raised our hands to that act. That act was created so that corruption and fraud would not happen. Today we are here to give full support for that.
My brother had been accused before. My brother had made a mistake. He had acted in accordance with the law in that regard. It was about obtaining money. There is no matter of financial fraud here.
A media person who asked a question asked who the woman mentioned above was. The Minister replied as follows:
”I saw that yesterday there was a post on social media that a certain woman, an unknown but powerful woman, wanted to take revenge on a man. I don’t know what or who was posted on social media.”