Former Sri Lanka minister arrested over fake document

A leading Sri Lankan politician was arrested here Monday based on a complaint lodged by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, police said.

Former health minister Tissa Attanayake was apprehended over a document which he had made public before the Jan 8 presidential election, alleging a secret deal between newly-elected President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, Xinhua quoted police spokesperson Ajith Rohana as saying.

Attanayake had displayed the document at election rallies held in support of former president Mahinda Rajapakse, which also showed signatures purported to be that of Wickremesinghe and Sirisena.

Once the general secretary of the former opposition United National Party which is now the ruling party, Attanayake had claimed that Wickremesinghe and Sirisena had reached an agreement even before they decided to work together at the presidential vote.

Rohana said Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had filed a complaint last month, saying the signatures on the documents were forged and had urged for a probe.

Wickremesinghe and Sirisena had strongly denied the existence of such a document and accused Attanayake of forging their signatures.

Sirisena defeated Rajapakse in the January presidential poll and since then has launched a crackdown on alleged corrupt deals of the former government.