Opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake was arrested on Tuesday for alleged interference with judiciary, police said, days after the discovery of controversial telephone conversations, video clips and CDs from his residence.
The arrest came following a directive by the Attorney General to the police's Colombo Crime Division to arrest Ramanayake following the revelations in his taped conversations with a few judges.
Ramanayake's private conversations with key investigators and judges which he himself had recorded came to light last week when he was arrested for possessing an unlicensed weapon.
Later, the police said over 1000 recordings of Ramanayake's telephone conversations were found with incriminating evidence on his attempt to influence judgements against political opponents between 2005 and 2019.
Attorney General's office said Ramanayake was to be arrested for offences committed in terms of article 111C (2) of the Constitution for interference with the functions of the judges.
The Judicial authorities were bracing to record statements from the judges who had been heard having discussed court cases with Ramanayake.
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The UNP announced earlier in the day that Ramanayake's party membership had been temporarily suspended. We did suspend his membership pending the working committee approval," UNP general secretary Akila Kariywasam said.
The government has called for an extensive probes on Ramanayake tapes claiming that they bore evidence to the previous government's witch hunt against them when in opposition.
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