JO urges local inquiry into Aussie reports

The joint opposition today requested President Maithripala Sirisena to call for a local investigation regarding the news reports in the Australian media involving the name of President Sirisena over a bribery investigation conducted on a company there. Addressing a media briefing, joint opposition member MP Wimalaweera Dissanayake said it was not good for the country when the president is being accused of such an act and it was necessary to call for an impartial investigation in to the matter. “The foreign reports claimed the president was involved in a bribery scandal with an Australian company, the Snowy Mountains Engineering Company (SMEC) for the construction of a dam in Sri Lanka in 2009, while he was acting as the Minister of Agriculture,” he added.