Sri Lanka briefs Swiss Ambassador on progress of investigation

The Ministry of Foreign Relations stated that the timeline of the alleged criminal incident against a local staff member of the Swiss Embassy, as presented by the Embassy, does not correspond with the actual movements of the alleged victim on the relevant date.

The Ministry, issuing a statement, states that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) launched an investigation on the matter despite not being able to interview the alleged victim through law enforcement officials.

The investigations have found that the sequence of events and timeline of the alleged incident, as presented by the Swiss Mission on behalf of the alleged victim, did not correspond with the actual movements of the victim on that date according to witness interviews and technical evidence, including Uber records, CCTV footage, telephone records, and the GPS data, stated the Ministry.

Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Relations and Secretary of Defense and relevant officials have, this evening (01), briefed the Ambassador for Switzerland in Sri Lanka and the Deputy Chief of Mission on the results of the investigation.

Stating that further investigations, including interview of the alleged victim by law enforcement officials, must be carried out on the matter, the Ministry stated that the alleged victim must be presented for a medical examination by a Judicial Medical Officer in Sri Lanka as the victim had also claimed that she had sustained injuries during the events.

Full statement issued by the Ministry:

The Government of Sri Lanka, having taken serious note of the alleged criminal incident concerning a locally recruited staff member of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo, on Monday, 25 November 2019, immediately ordered a thorough investigation into this matter.

This evening (1 December 2019) Secretary/Foreign Relations Ravinatha Aryasinha together with Secretary/Defence Major General (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne and relevant officials met with the Ambassador for Switzerland in Sri Lanka Hanspeter Mock and the Deputy Chief of Mission, and briefed them on the results of the investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police.

While the Embassy had not presented the alleged victim to be interviewed by the law enforcement officials despite their request to do so, based on the information provided by the Swiss Mission on Friday 29 November 2019, the investigation was nevertheless conducted. The Ambassador was presented with clear evidence that the sequence of events and timeline of the alleged incident, as formally presented by the Swiss Mission on behalf of the alleged victim to the CID, did not in any way correspond with the actual movements of the alleged victim on that date, as borne out by witness interviews and technical evidence,  including Uber records, CCTV footage, telephone records and the GPS data.

In light of the incontrovertible evidence presented by the law enforcement authorities to the Swiss Mission, it was underlined that further investigations would need to be continued to ascertain the actual facts surrounding this allegation, for which the alleged victim will have to be interviewed by the law enforcement authorities. Given that the alleged victim had also claimed that she had sustained injuries during the alleged abduction, it was noted that she should be presented for a medical examination by a Judicial Medical Officer in Sri Lanka.

The Embassy has been requested to cooperate fully with the Government of Sri Lanka to establish the veracity of the claims relating to this alleged incident.

Ministry of Foreign Relations

Colombo