Rajith responds to Vidyaratne’s land racket accusations
Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure – Samantha Vidyarathna has charged that former governor – Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon has illegally acquired 18 acres of land belonging to the Department of Wildlife and Forest Conservation.
Speaking during a media briefing held yesterday (Jan. 09), Vidyarathna said several complaints had been received from several parties over the illegal acquisition of land in the Bogahapelessa Forest Reserve and an unlawful electricity project in the area.
He revealed that it had been found that a group had obtained 5,482 acres of land.
“According to the project report, the land had been obtained by an individual identifying himself as K.T. Ranjith. We launched a probe to find this individual. It was found that he had used a fake NIC number for this purpose,” he said.
Noting that the fake NIC number had an extra digit, Vidyaratne added that the original NIC belonged to Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, a former governor and former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Director General for Community Affairs.
Responding, Mr. Tennakoon, in a Facebook post, has said that Vidyaratne had levelled the aforementioned claims to tarnish his reputation and he has already sought legal measures in this regard.
