A financial disagreement between Ven. Muruttetuwe Ananda Thero and a Colombo Municipal Councilor has surfaced over the sale of a V8 SUV after the latter is believed to have broken a pledge to give the monk the money from the sale.
Colombo Municipal Councilor Priyanka Jayasekara has stated that Muruttetuwe Ananda Thero started a business venture with her and, because that business incurred losses, she sold the V8 SUV of the monk to cover the losses.
The allegation against her was that she duped the monk and sold the V8 belonging to the monk.
While answering queries posed by the Hiru TV channel on the issue, she said that this vehicle was not registered under the name of Murutthettuwe Ananda Thero.
She said that she would not have been able to sell the vehicle if it had been registered under Ven Muruttetuwe Ananda Thero’s name. She threw a challenge to prove that the ownership of the vehicle was under Murutthettuve Ananda Thero.
She also said that Murutthettuwe Ananda Thero still does not have any documents to show the vehicle was in his possession. She further added that she was involved in a business with Ven Thero.
The Ven, Thero, wanted her to join the business in order to save the jobs of 75 people who were on the brink of losing their jobs. She also revealed that she used the money for the business.
Priyanka Jayasekara said that this incident took place in the year 2017 and that she cultivated an affinity with the monk on the basis of an invitation to pool some funds to organise a festival on the occasion of the release of Ven. Thero’s biography into the public domain.
She said that she built a Siddha Huniyam Devalaya in memory of her deceased mother in the temple belonging to the Ven. Muruththwetuwe Thero, and doing any injustice to her is a sin that can be punished by the gods.
Although she tendered her resignation from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), they did not allow her. They were of the view that such a decision should not be taken on a matter such as this.
