‘Ulterior motive’ of Swiss embassy incident is to upset int’l community - Govt

The Government of Sri Lanka today said it believes the incident involving a staff member of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo is an attempt to “bring Sri Lanka to disrepute” and assured that a “very impartial investigation” will be carried out if the alleged victim comes forward. 

“We have clearly indicated that the government is ready to cooperate with any party related to this particular incident and unfortunately there is no complaint, there is no evidence and there is even no circumstantial evidence.” 

“The government has reassured the safety of the alleged victim and also we have requested them to come forward and make a statement for which they are not complying with,” co-Cabinet Spokesman Minister Ramesh Pathirana told reporters in Colombo. 

He said that they want to reassure the international community and also any party related to this particular incident and that they want their cooperation to ensure that there is an inquiry which is very transparent.

“We believe that this is an attempt to bring Sri Lanka to disrepute. So we ensure that we carry out a very impartial investigation to ensure that all the stakeholders are happy at the end of the day,” he said.

“We requested them to come forward and make a complaint at least and to provide evidence.” He stated that an investigation can be carried out only if they whatever come forward and provide whatever evidence they have. 

“We have requested several times. We have requested the embassy and also this particular person is not known to anybody. We haven’t seen, nobody has seen her so there is no evidence.”

Asked whether the embassy staff member in question has left the country, he said: “As far as I know she has not fled the country, she is still in the country.”

Responding to another question, the minister said that the government does not want to overly complicate this matter and disgruntle the international community, which he claims is the “ulterior motive” behind the incident. 

“We don’t want to probe into this unnecessarily and to upset the international community. This is the ulterior motive behind this whole issue we believe.” 

“They want to antagonize the Sri Lankan government partly. So we don’t want to get into that trap,” he said.