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Industry and Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons and Cooperative Development, Skills Development and Vocational Training Minister Rishad Bathiudeen speaking at the press conference yesterday
Denying any personal or political links with the terror-accused Colombo Traders’ Association (CTA) Chairman Y.M. Ibrahim, who is now in detention, Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen stressed that Ibrahim did not officially work for him.
“I had no personal connections with Ibrahim. He neither worked for me as a political coordinator nor had any of my Ministry vehicles been given to him for use,” said Minister Rishad Bathiudeen yesterday at the Ministry in Colombo 3. Addressing a special press conference to respond to allegations made against him in the aftermath of 21 April terror attacks, Minister Bathiudeen rejected outright that a house belonging to his sister was rented out to terrorists.
“My sister has been living in Canada for the last four years. What kind of renting business do you think she could be doing in Sri Lanka? I totally reject this allegation too. I also reject all the allegations made by Parliamentarian S.B. Dissanayake about me on 25 April. None of them are true. They are trying to take revenge on me for not backing them during last year’s political coup. This is just playing cheap politics, and my party ACMC and I refuse to play low politics.”
“None of my political or ministerial advisers are connected to the terrorist organisation National Tawheed Jamaat (NTJ). My brothers and I do not have any links with NTJ whatsoever. There is also the allegation that I used my political influence to get some terror suspects released, which I reject, too. As a growing political party, we fully support all the official investigations that are currently on and ready to give any assistance. At this critical time, I urge you all as media personnel to follow media norms and ethics without blindly reporting what people say for political gain. Such reporting is highly damaging to me and ACMC.
“Media also reports that the Industrial Development Board (IDB) under me has given empty cartridges to the Shangri-La suicide bomber’s metal company through the influence of a powerful Government politician. As per procedure, neither I nor the Ministry Secretary have the power to approve these requests, and only IDB officials and experts have the authority to accept and reject. More than 200 companies make these requests and they are just one company that applied and qualified. The IDB has no capacity to monitor all these companies on a daily basis.”
On 24 April, making a statement in Parliament, Minister Bathiudeen said that the arrested CTA Chairman Ibrahim met him with a CTA delegation to resolve trade issues.
“Any Industry and Commerce Minister meets business and trade representatives for trade issues and business development. As the Trade Minister, I, too, meet business and trade representatives on a regular basis. I met Y.M. Ibrahim in June 2017 along with his CTA representatives at my Ministry office to solve the supply issues that they officially submitted to me,” he said. On 1 June 2017, officially meeting Minister Bathiudeen, the CTA said that the prohibited market practice of mixing imported and domestically milled rice could be overcome with a simple move instead of resorting to punitive official raids. CTA added that maximum retail prices (MRPs) imposed by the Government have become an impediment, hampering Lankan consumer well-being rather than improving it.
