In 2007, Mevan was serving at the CID, whose director at the time was Sisira Mendis, today the head of the national intelligence service. The then Rajapaksa regime found Lasantha a big headache for them. Gotabhaya wanted to take revenge from him for having exposed corruption by the Rajapaksas through the newspaper. The CID was tasked with gathering information that could be used for that.
Digging up Lasantha’s information, Mevan found that ‘The Sunday Leader’ owed nearly Rs. three million to its printing paper supplier, which was around two months overdue. He informed both Mahinda and Gotabhaya about that.
Delighted by the news, Gotabhaya said this could be used as an excuse to arrest Lasantha, and ordered that the supplier be summoned. Mevan went to meet the supplier and questioned him. If the supplier did not complain, the police had no duty to perform there. Lasantha’s non-payment of the due would have been a matter for the Fraud Bureau, not the CID. But, those did not matter for Mevan, as the want was of Gotabhaya.
The supplier told Mevan that there had been delays in the payments previously too, but that he knew that he would definitely get the payments. Mevan threatened him and took him to the CID. Under duress, he lodged a complaint against Lasantha.
Based on that, Lasantha made submissions to courts and obtained a search warrant. In the meantime, Lasantha got to know about this conspiracy, and immediately paid the due to the supplier.
Mevan went to the newspaper office with his search warrant and with a team of officers to arrest Lasantha. Showing his police powers and that of the Rajapaksas, Mevan told Lasantha that he had come to arrest him. When asked for the reason, Mevan boastingly said about the payments due to the printing paper supplier. When Lasantha showed him the bills to prove that he has made all the dues, Mevan tried to hide his shame by using the search warrant and trying to search the place. Being a lawyer, Lasantha objected, and Mevan had to go back empty handed.
In business, dealings for credit is a normal thing. So are delays in payments too. However, that was how Mevan worked to appease the Rajapaksas by threatening a businessman, forced him to lodge a complaint and misled the courts. His only ability is to satisfy his bosses. Even today, politicians in both the ruling and opposition sides who are under investigation by the CID want Mevan appointed as its director, so that they could cover up the investigations against them.
However, all DIGs in one voice say that the best person for the job is SSP Shani Abeysekara. They know the history of Mevan and oppose him as the CID director. However, IGP Jayasundara has sent the name of Mevan only to the police commission. We know that there are persons in the commission who work outside the authority of its chairman to serve the wants of others. We are keeping a watch on the commission’s decision.
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