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Mahinda a trillionaire says Mangala
07 May, 2015
The Government today accused former president Mahinda Rajapakse of having assets running into the trillions which he had allegedly acquired when he was in power.
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that intelligence agencies had gathered information related to Rajapakse?s assets during investigations conducted following the January 8 polls.
?We have usually heard of millionaires and billionaires. But we believe Rajapakse is a trillionaire,? he said.
Rajapakse was defeated by current President Maithripala Sirisena during a Presidential Election held in January and has since been the focus of a corruption probe by the new Sri Lankan government.
Samaraweera noted that the January election was democratic and contrary to earlier fears that an Arab style revolution had been planned to overthrow the former regime.
Meanwhile Samaraweera also noted that constitutional reforms recently passed by the local parliament did not meet the full expectations of the public.
He said that initially the proposal was to fully abolish the executive presidential system. However following some objections, constitutional reforms were implemented limiting the Presidential powers instead of fully abolishing it.
Samaraweera further said that following the next parliamentary elections, the ruling United National Party hopes to introduce more constitutional reforms with the support of the entire parliament. (Colombo Gazette)
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