The six-member Ministerial Committee appointed to study the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) that probed the Easter Sunday attacks is scheduled to hand over its report to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa tomorrow (April 5).
The Committee has already concluded its investigations and compiled its report which is due to be handed over to the President tomorrow, Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga who is also a member of the Committee told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
The Minister said since various views were expressed on the final report submitted by the PCoI President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a six-member Ministerial Committee headed by Minister Chamal Rajapaksa with a wide-ranging mandate to carefully study it and make its recommendations.
Minister Ranatunga said the Committee studied the reports submitted by the PCoI, the Special Parliamentary Select Committee that probed the Easter Sunday attacks and the Parliament Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security.
After studying these three Committee reports, the Committee compiled a comprehensive report to be submitted to the President recommending the steps that need to be taken in this regard.
Earlier, the Committee sought an extension of 14 days to submit its findings considering the sensitivities and complexities of the issue. The Committee was scheduled to submit its report on March 15. However, they wanted to study the PCoI recommendations in depth due to the sensitivities and complexities before arriving at a final conclusion.
Co-Cabinet Spokesman and Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila told the Sunday Observer that the main focus of the Committee was to evaluate the practicability of the implementation of the recommendations by the PCoI and the Parliament Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security.
Minister Gammanpila said that at present all 87 volumes of the PCoI report have been handed over to the Attorney General. Therefore, it is entirely up to the AG to decide on the legal action and there will be no political interference.
The PCoI presented its final report to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on February 1. The Commission had recorded evidence from 457 people including former President Maithripala Sirisena, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Defence Ministry Secretaries, top level security and intelligence service personnel, as well as those affected by the deadly attacks.
The six-member Committee headed by Minister Chamal Rajapaksa comprises Ministers Johnston Fernando, Udaya Gammanpila, Ramesh Pathirana, Prasanna Ranatunga and Rohitha Abeygunawardana.