Former Cooperatives and Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando arrived at the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) of Police last morning to record a statement regarding the alleged import of a consignment of rice without Cabinet approval by the previous government. The FCID is conducting an investigation into the import of 222,717 metric tonnes of rice for Lanka Sathosa without Cabinet approval.
A FCID spokesman told the Daily News that they questioned the United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Kurunegala District Parliamentarian for more than five hours regarding the above complaint.
Johnston Fernando had recently been summoned to the President Commission of Inquiry (CoI) over the same incident.
In addition to the above investigations, the police is currently investigating into an incident where documents were destroyed in a fire which broke out at the Cooperatives and Internal Trade Ministry building during his tenure as the minister and the Bribery Commission has filed five cases against Fernando over the failure to declare his assets accumulated during the years 2010 and 2014.
Another allegation over the alleged use of Rs.160 million for the election campaign which was obtained from a Malaysian businessman under the guise of improving Rugby has also been made against former Minister Johnston Fernando.
Johnston Fernando was arrested by the FCID during a previous occasion in connection with the alleged misappropriations at Sathosa that took place under his watch and later released on bail.
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