The Hindu : Front Page : Fonseka detained for ‘military offences’

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Tuesday, Feb 09, 2010
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Fonseka detained for ‘military offences’

B. Muralidhar Reddy

“He plotted a coup to overthrow Rajapaksa”

— PHOTO: AP

Sarath Fonseka speaks to the relatives of his supporters, who were arrested earlier, in Colombo on Monday.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s former Army Chief and Opposition presidential candidate, General Sarath Fonseka, was detained by a team of investigators late on Monday night for “certain fraudulent acts and military offences” from the ‘safe house’ he had been living in since he lost the January 26 election.

Three days after the poll outcome, the government accused the commander-turned-politician of plotting a coup to overthrow President Mahinda Rajapaksa and assassinate his family members. In what is regarded as one of the biggest shake-ups in the post-independence history of the island nation, the President, in recent days, ordered a reshuffle of the top brass of the military and at least 30 supporters of the retired General have been either detained or taken for questioning.

Military spokesman Prasad Samarasingha confirmed that the retired General was taken into custody for “certain fraudulent acts” and “committing military offences” for which, he said, there was some evidence and investigations were in progress.

The spokesman said Gen. Fonseka’s Media Secretary, who was a Captain in the Army but discharged for certain offences, would also be questioned for his role in the alleged plot.

Senior officials in the government said Gen. Fonseka was also charged with creating divisions in the Army by getting some senior officers to involve themselves in political activities against the government.

A section of the media has quoted an unnamed military official as saying that the recent military reshuffle went beyond the 1962 shake-up following a coup attempt by volunteer officers against the late Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

Lakshman Hullagulle, Director-General of the Media Centre for National Security, said Gen. Fonseka, during his tenure as Army Chief and then as Chief of the Defence Staff, had worked with the Opposition against the President.

A few of his aides present at the safe house told this correspondent that around 10 p.m. men who identified themselves as officials of various investigating agencies drove the General away in a vehicle. “We have no idea where he has been taken and on what charges.”

Since the raid on his election office a few days ago and the subsequent arrest and detention of two dozen of his supporters, the imminent arrest of the former Army Chief had been in the air.

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