The National People’s Power (NPP) said that the blacklisting of retired Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha was illegal.

Speaking at a press conference held at the JVP Headoffice last morning (22), NPP member Harshana Nanayakkara said Mr. Thuyacontha had been blacklisted by the Air Force without providing any legal document.

He said that the National People’s Power recently decided to form a collective of retired tri-forces personnel. 

“No party has been able to do this in the past. This is being made as a force across the districts. Mr.Thuyacontha is leading this. He is one of the people who risked his life as a fighter pilot throughout the war and was awarded the ‘Vikramaveera’ and ‘Vibhushana’ titles. For his dedication, he was awarded the highest rank of Air Vice Marshal and retired amidst all the honours,”

“If someone is being punished, they should be given the reasons as to why they are being punished. Was Mr. Thuyacontha told why he was blacklisted? He does not even know what the charge is. He has been blacklisted by an invalid document,” he said.

“Thuyacontha blacklisted to maintain internal administrative affairs”

Director (Media) of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), Group Captain Dushan Wijesinghe said that the decision to blacklist Thuyacontha was taken with the aim of maintaining the internal administrative affairs without any political interruption.

Speaking to the media, he said that Thuyacontha cannot enter any of the SLAF camps and enjoy the facilities given by the SLAF. 

“Any retired officer of the SLAF can engage in active politics. But, the situation is very different when it comes to this matter. This officer enjoys all the facilities given by the SLAF. He can enter any SLAF camps as a result of this facilitation of privileges. Therefore, it will create a problem in the internal administration of the SLAF if this officer tries to influence our serving members after entering the camps,” he said.

Veteran actress Sanoja Bibile said that she had nothing to do with the brothel that was operated at the address ‘Hansavila’, no: 144, Sumangala Road, Asgiriya in Kandy.

Ms.Bibile said this in response to the article titled ‘Statement to be recorded from Sanoja over brothel raided in Kandy!’ published on Sri Lanka Mirror website.

She said that the property in question belonged to four people including her mother and siblings. However, in April 2022, it had been rented out to an individual by the name A.G. Samantha Asela Kumara.

At the time of the raid conducted by the police, Samantha Asela Kumara was the occupant of the house. 

She said that the property was rented out on April 11 last year with the consent of her mother and siblings.

The lease contract is shown below.

Ms.Bibile also said that the electricity bill of the rented out property was not in her name but in the name of her mother D.R. Nalini Padmavathi Bibile.

The electricity bill is shown below.

We regret any inconvenience caused to Sanoja Bibile due to the previous article published by Sri Lanka Mirror.

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Statement to be recorded from Sanoja over brothel raided in Kandy!

The Ministry of Finance has received the first tranche of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF)  form the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Accordingly, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Mahinda Siriwardena confirmed that USD 333 million was received by the Ministry today (23).

He stated this during a meeting held in this regard with President Ranil Wickremesinghe  and the Heads of media institutions.