President Maithripala Sirisena has denied media reports claiming that he was informed of a possible terror plot during a meeting with senior police officers on April 08.
Media reports have publish the statements made by the national intelligence chief, testifying before the Parliamentary Select Committee appointed to look into and report on the Easter Sunday terror attacks which took place in the country on April 21.
According to these reports the National Security Council had not convened a meeting since February 2019.
However, issuing a statement today (30) the President’s Media Division said that the discussions taking place within the national security council over the past year were being unofficially published in the media and due to this reason steps were taken to establish the National Security Committee, composed of a different structure to the security council.
The PMD says that this national security committee had continuously convened meetings every 2 weeks over the past couple of days and that on certain occasions the President had convened the meeting every week.
The statement also confirmed that the President had called monthly meeting with senior police officers including the IGP on April 08, 2019.
During this discussion which had lasted for over 2 hours, none of the officers present had informed the President that information has been received regarding such a terror plot, the PMD said.
Meanwhile it also said that neither the Defence Secretary nor the IGP nor any other official had proceeded to inform the President regarding any information received from a friendly nation about the possibility of the attacks on April 21.
Therefore the President denies as “completely untrue” the local and foreign media reports claiming that the President had been notified about the incident in advance.