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Message: <blockquote data-quote="monson" data-source="post: 28704648" data-attributes="member: 30005">By OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENTMonday March 20, 2023 1:35 pmECONOMYNEXT – President Ranil Wickremesinghe bowed to the influential Bar Association of Sri Lanka and rejected Public Security minister’s nominee for the new police chief, a source close to the president said.Tiran Alles had lobbied furiously to make controversial senior Deputy Inspector General Deshabandu Tennakoon as successor to Chandana Wickramaratna who is due to retire later this week.“The President said no to Deshabandu and is most likely to extend the tenure of Wickramaratna by at least another year,” the source involved in the process said.The Bar Association in a letter to Wickremesinghe last week urged him not to appoint any officer facing criminal charges or facing fundamental rights allegations, a clear reference to Tennakoon who faces multiple cases and even a court order for his arrest.The president was reportedly irked when he saw inspired media reports claiming that he had nominated Tennakoon’s name to the Constitutional Council last week.“It is partly this media campaign that backfired on both Alles and Tennakoon,” the source said noting that it was newspapers of Alles which had suggested that his favourite Senior DIG was getting the top job.Wickramaratna for his part had told the president in what was a farewell call that he wanted to spend his retirement travelling and site-seeing with his family and did not ask for any service extension.The police headquarters on Friday drafted a charge sheet against Tennakoon for trying to criminally misappropriate 17.85 million rupees which was found abandoned at the President’s House soon after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled in July.The Colombo Magistrate had repeatedly asked why the money was not deposited with court and wanted action against police officers for trying to hand over the money to Alles at the behest of Tennakoon. The draft charge sheet was based on what transpired in court.The police chief is not the disciplinary authority over senior officers. However, recommendations to arrest Tennakoon for a string of cases going back to the May 9 violence at Galle Face had been blocked at the Public Security ministry, it is reliably learnt.Police headquarters last week sent a draft charge sheet to initiate disciplinary action against him in the absence of criminal proceedings. (COLOMBO, March 20, 2023)- <a href="https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-decides-against-controversial-cop-115909/" target="_blank">https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-decides-against-controversial-cop-115909/</a></blockquote>

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