Former top Sri Lankan politician arrested

A former top Sri Lankan politician was arrested on Monday over allegations he extorted money from a businessman.

Former legislator Sajin Vass Gunawardena was arrested by the police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and was remanded till July 5th.

The former Foreign Ministry monitoring legislator was also arrested by the CID in May last year over another case.

He was arrested over allegations then of misusing vehicles belonging to the Presidential Secretariat.

But in September last year he was granted bail by the Colombo High Court. It was later reported that he was going to be used as a state witness.

Last month Sajin Vass Gunawardena said that he was being forced to remain silent on some baseless allegations raised against him.

He claimed the police had not filed a new complaint on him and yet the public were being misled through false reports.

Sajin Vass Gunawardena felt at the time there was an organised campaign launched against him by individuals with vested interests.

He said he was ready to face any investigation and, if found guilty, be imprisoned.

(APD)