Swiss Embassy incident planned to discredit me and govt. - President

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said Thursday the alleged kidnapping of a Swiss embassy staffer which triggered a diplomatic spat between Colombo and Bern had been concocted to discredit his election victory.

A Sri Lankan national working for the Swiss mission in Colombo was arrested for allegedly falsely claiming she had been abducted and sexually assaulted by unidentified attackers on Nov 25.

The alleged abduction happened a day after a Sri Lankan police inspector investigating cases involving the Rajapaksa family sought asylum in Switzerland.

Foreign news media reported that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told Colombo-based foreign correspondents Thursday that he was the real “victim” of the saga.

“In this case, the victim is me because immediately after my election, this story came up,” he said, giving details of the Swiss embassy staffer’s movements on the day she claimed she was held against her will.

“It is very clear it is a planned thing to discredit me and the government.”

Rajapaksa said he did not believe the Swiss embassy itself had any role in making the allegations, and insisted he did not want anyone to create tensions between the two countries.

Switzerland on Monday criticised the embassy worker’s arrest and “lack of due process in the case”, and asked for evidence that she had faked her claims.

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis also spoke to his Sri Lankan counterpart Dinesh Gunawardena about the case, the foreign ministry said this week.

President Rajapaksa explained the events that had since transpired. Swiss Ambassador was quite right to have taken up the issue with the Sri Lankan Government, especially as this concerns a Sri Lankan citizen.

However, evidence established through technical clearly proves that this allegation is a mere fabrication, stated President’s Media Division.

Reportedly, this has been communicated to Ambassador Mock, who had accepted the evidence as legitimate. 

As it has transpired that the said employee had not been truthful, it is only fair for the Ambassador to distance himself from the matter, noted President.

President further noted that he too was summoned by the CID many times over the past few years and that he too obliged as that is the law of the land. 

This employee on the request of the embassy had been allowed to have a lawyer present, which is not a privilege usually given when being questioned by the CID, further pointed out the President’s Media Division.

-With excerpts from agencies