The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating the Easter Sunday attacks was told yesterday (13), that a former Additional Director at the Department of Social Services had ignored due protocol when giving the ‘Hira Foundation’, certification of its previous registrations.
The Hira Foundation is heavily linked to former Eastern Province Governor M.L.A. Hizbullah, and has come under severe scrutiny since the Easter Sunday terror attacks of last year.
During the proceedings of the Presidential Commission, which is probing the massacre, it was revealed that there are also other discrepancies in the ‘Hira Foundation’ registration.
The PCoI resumed its proceedings yesterday under the stipulated health and safety protocols following a hiatus since 27th of last month.
The focus of the Commission fell on the ‘Hira Foundation’ which is identified as a social service organization.
The first to give evidence yesterday was Social Services Officer Dhammika Wasalabandara from the Department of Social Services.
He told the Commissions that a file at the Department of Social Services indicates that the ‘Hira Foundation’ was registered on the 9th of September in 1993. He, however, noted that he had observed there is an unusual difference between the registration number of several social services organizations and that of the ‘Hira Foundation’ registered during that time.
He added that the address on the ‘Hira Foundation’ registration certificate and the one given to the Department of Social Services are contradictory.
The State Counsel then asked the witness if the Social Services Department has an application submitted by the ‘Hira Foundation’ seeking registration as a social services organization.
He responded that the Department does not have a document as such and there are no other files at the Department which confirm the registration of the ‘Hira Foundation’.
In 1999, the powers of registering NGOs were taken away from the Social Services Department and were given to the National Secretariat, he added.
Though that was the case, the witness said the ‘Hira Foundation’ had made a request on the 21st of July 2011 from the Social Services Department for a certification of its former registration.
He revealed that though the Department did not have any powers pertaining to NGOs, an Additional Director there named H.M.M. Zamir had issued a certificate, confirming the previous registration of ‘Hira Foundation’.
Next up, giving evidence was former Additional Director of the Social Services Department H.M.M. Zamir whose name was mentioned by the previous witness.
In response to the questions raised by the Commission, Zamir said, in 1999, the powers of registering NGOs were taken away from the Department of Social Services and given to the National Secretariat for Non-Governmental Organizations.
