PM asks Swiss Embassy to allow access to allegedly detained employee

Saturday, 30 November 2019 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

PM says only third-person reports of incident so far
Police examining CCTV cameras in area where incident took place
Preliminary report was expected by last evening

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday that the Swiss Embassy has so far failed to allow access to the employee who was allegedly detained and threatened by a group of unidentified persons last Monday, and this was slowing the investigations.

“So far we have third-person reports on what happened, so it is difficult for the investigators to piece together how the incident took place,” the Prime Minister told reporters at the event where Vasudeva Nanayakkara assumed duties as State Minister for Water Supply.

He said the Police have begun to check the CCTV cameras in the area where the incident took place and were to give a preliminary report by last evening.

The Prime Minister reiterated the call to the Swiss Embassy to grant access to the victim so that Police can expedite the investigations. “The investigations will continue either way,” he said.

The Swiss authorities have called for a full investigation into the incident, where a female employee of the embassy was detained against her will on the street and threatened at length by unidentified men in order to force her to disclose embassy-related information.

The Government said it has taken serious note of the alleged criminal incident, and Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Germany, who is concurrently accredited to Switzerland, Karunasena Hettiarachchi will be meeting with the Swiss authorities to provide an update on the investigation, shortly.