By Gagani Weerakoon

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered officials to call explanations from the Sports Ministry Secretary for allegedly having downplayed the report on the National Olympics Committee.

The PM recently ordered an investigation into the activities of the National Olympic Committee (NOC), specifically directing officials that the complete report should include NOC activities and operations carried out over the past five years.

The official were ordered to investigate why the NOC sent 46 officials to the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics for a contingent of a mere 9 athletes from the country.

Several media reports claimed Ministry Secretary Dr. D.M.R.B. Dissanayake of having exonerated the NOC of charges and apparently this has angered Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the report is still pending.

This has prompted him to call explanations from the Secretary stipulating the grounds on which he attempted to clear the NOC of allegations to this effect at a time that the investigation ordered by the Premier was still pending.

A senior official at the Prime Minister’s Office said the Prime Minister does not act directly at secretarial levels and had hence, not called for a verbal explanation from Dissanayake.

While noting that the previous report on the NOC’s role in Rio de Janeiro was called after senior government consultants had pointed out to the PM that their performances were not satisfactory, the PM’s official said the Prime Minister will take a decision about the Ministry Secretary in relation to his conduct after his return from Singapore.

Courtesy:Ceylon Today