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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clumsyhulk" data-source="post: 30901898" data-attributes="member: 586988"><p><h2>Controversies</h2><h3><span style="color: rgb(247, 218, 100)"><span style="font-size: 22px">1997 assault allegations</span></span></h3><p>[SPOILER]In mid-March 1997, just before the local council elections, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_National_Party" target="_blank">United National Party</a> (UNP) candidate Sudeera Yapa lodged a complaint with the Kandy Police alleging assault. According to Yapa, while he and a supporter were hanging posters outside the UNP office, Ratwatte arrived in a silver-coloured Toyota, fired shots into the air, and allowed his bodyguard to assault the two. Yapa further claimed he was struck on the head with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuckle-duster" target="_blank">knuckle-duster</a>. Despite the complaint, the Kandy Police reportedly took no action.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-5" target="_blank">[5]</a>  [/SPOILER]</p><p></p><h3><span style="color: rgb(247, 218, 100)"><span style="font-size: 22px">Murder of Joel Pera</span></span></h3><p>[SPOILER]In May 1997, Ratwatte was named by eyewitnesses as being present at the scene of the killing of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea" target="_blank">Papua New Guinea</a> rugby player Joel Pera outside the Carlton Club in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kollupitiya" target="_blank">Kollupitiya</a>, Colombo.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-6" target="_blank">[6]</a> Media reports at the time criticised police inaction in locating him for nearly a month, citing his status as the son of government minister Anuruddha Ratwatte. The case drew attention in the Sri Lankan Parliament and led to diplomatic concerns from Papua New Guinea.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-7" target="_blank">[7]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-8" target="_blank">[8]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-9" target="_blank">[9]</a></p><p></p><p>Ratwatte and two other suspects were later discharged from the case on the advice of the Attorney General. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumar_Ponnambalam" target="_blank">Kumar Ponnambalam</a>, a politician and lawyer representing the Pera family, criticized the police investigation, specifically pointing out that no "Paraffin test" or other modern forensic test was used to determine if Ratwatte had recently used a firearm.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-10" target="_blank">[10]</a> Ponnambalam stated that although the case could theoretically be reopened, the lack of police support made a private prosecution unlikely to succeed.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-11" target="_blank">[11]</a> Ponnambalam was himself later assasinated in January 2000.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-12" target="_blank">[12]</a>  [/SPOILER]</p><p></p><h3><span style="color: rgb(247, 218, 100)"><span style="font-size: 22px">1999 election violence allegations</span></span></h3><p>[SPOILER]During the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sri_Lankan_presidential_election" target="_blank">presidential election in December 1999</a>, the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) reported that Lohan Ratwatte, son of then–Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte, was involved in intimidating voters and opposition polling agents in Wattegama and surrounding areas of the Patadumbara electorate in the Central Province. According to CMEV, ruling <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Alliance_(Sri_Lanka)" target="_blank">People’s Alliance</a> (PA) supporters engaged in widespread violence, ballot rigging, and attacks against opposition members and election monitors in parts of Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, and Matale districts. Including the subsequent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Sri_Lankan_parliamentary_election" target="_blank">parliamentary election in 2000</a>, Ratwatte has been implicated in election-related violence across multiple polls, often in connection with his father.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-13" target="_blank">[13]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-14" target="_blank">[14]</a>  [/SPOILER]</p><p></p><h3><span style="color: rgb(247, 218, 100)"><span style="font-size: 22px">Assassination of Kumar Ponnambalam</span></span></h3><p>[SPOILER]In a confidential police report submitted by SSP Bandula Wickramasinghe to then-President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrika_Kumaratunga" target="_blank">Chandrika Kumaratunga</a> and later published in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sunday_Leader" target="_blank">The Sunday Leader</a> newspaper, the assassination of lawyer and politician Kumar Ponnambalam on 5 January 2000 was organized by Baddegana Sanjeewa, a member of the Presidential Security Division. The report implicated Lohan Ratwatte and his brother <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahendra_Ratwatte" target="_blank">Mahendra Ratwatte</a> in the killing, stating that Mahendra had instigated the murder and that they had allegedly harbored an underworld criminal named Dhammika Perera, who was wanted for 17 murders. Sanjeewa was later shot dead in November 2001, allegedly by Dhammika Perera. While some of the individuals implicated in the murder were subsequently killed, to this day, no individual has been prosecuted or convicted for Ponnambalam's assassination.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-15" target="_blank">[15]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-16" target="_blank">[16]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-17" target="_blank">[17]</a>  [/SPOILER]</p><p></p><h3></h3></blockquote><p></p>

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