Cardinal Ranjith clarifies financial support to Easter attack victims; ready to provide verification

The Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith states that he has all the documents on how the funds received for victims of Easter Sunday terror attack was spent.

Responding to the allegations levelled by former President Maithripala Sirisena, Cardinal Ranjith emphasized that the statement made by the former President regarding the relevant funds is completely baseless.

“The statement made by former President Sirisena is completely hateful and inappropriate. He has a duty to ask the concerned parties what happened before making such remarks”, Cardinal Ranjith said.

“Following the Easter attacks, we requested assistance from both international and domestic parties to address the needs of the affected individuals. These requirements were varied, including medical treatment in private hospitals for specialized care, and educational support for orphaned children. They required assistance from us in different areas.”

“I cannot just tell the exact amount…around Rs 500 million that we collected…but we have the data for verification. We prepare and maintain audited reports from bank accounts. Of the Rs. 500 million, approximately Rs. 460 million have been distributed to those victims”, he added.

“It is very unfortunate that if he [former President Sirisena] had inquired us before making such a statement, he could have obtained the necessary information. His comment appears to be made impulsively without analyzing the facts”, Cardinal Ranjith said further.

Meanwhile, in response to a question raised by a Journalist, Cardinal Ranjith expressed: “We don’t know whether anyone has misled the former President. There is politics here. On the other hand, we know that his party is divided now. So, in this situation, he must be under mental stress. Therefore, we don’t have any issue with him making all these allegations, because our conscience is clear.”

On Thursday (20), former President Maithripala Sirisena alleged that Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has not distributed any of the funds or financial aid received to assist the victims of the Easter Sunday terror attacks. 

Speaking to the media in Polonnaruwa, the former President also claimed that most of the court cases against him were filed under the influence of Cardinal Ranjith.

Commenting further, Sirisena said: “What happened to the funds received by the Cardinal from Catholic organisations, other countries of the world, top Sri Lankan businessmen and several other parties following the Easter attacks?… It is good if the Cardinal submits a list of individuals who received this money, and about what happened to this money. Not a single cent of those funds has been given to the victims.”

“Even though I paid money from the government when I was president, now I have been sued to pay compensation on my own. That is the situation right now”, he added.