President Maithripala Sirisena has said that the INTERPOL has issued a Red Notice for the arrest of absconding former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran for the second time after hearing an appeal.

He said that Mahendran has appealed to the INTERPOL against the Red Notice issued earlier and a judge was appointed to hear the appeal. After completion of investigations, the appeal submitted by Mahendran was rejected by the judge, the President’s Media Division (PMD) reported.

Disclosing this at the meeting with the heads of media institutions, editors of newspapers and directors electronic media institutions at the President’s House today (06), the President has said that subsequently, a second Red Notice was issued by the INTERPOL.

According to the PMD, President Sirisena has pointed out that some politicians question as to why he could not arrest Arjuna Mahendran as the minister in charge of police now and said that he cannot arrest Mahendran because he is not in Sri Lanka. The President has said that he had requested for the assistance of the Prime Minister of Singapore to arrest Mahendran, who is a national of Singapore. He has further said, the whereabouts of Mahendran is not known and he has no information whether he is in Singapore or hiding elsewhere.

Answering a question the President has said that he was unaware if somebody else in Sri Lanka was trying to safeguard Arjuna Mahendran, the PMS stated.

Former Governor of Central Bank Arjuna Mahendran is wanted in Sri Lanka in connection with the Central Bank bond issue in which large scale fraud had been committed, the PMD said.