323 containers probe intensifies as Udaya Gammanpila submits 17 documents to Parliament and questions delays, Customs and inspection gaps.
The 323 containers controversy returned to Parliament today (06) as Pure Sinhala Heritage party leader and Attorney at Law Udaya Gammanpila appeared before the Parliamentary Select Committee appointed to investigate their release without inspection.
Gammanpila, who arrived in Parliament to present facts before the committee, later addressed the media and said he had submitted 17 documents relating to the matter.
“A Parliamentary Select Committee has been appointed to investigate and report on the release of 323 containers without inspection. Pursuant to a notice issued to me to give evidence before that Select Committee, I went to give evidence today. There, I submitted 17 documents and drew the attention of the Select Committee to the fact that, at first glance, a massive fraud appears to have occurred here, that there is no active cooperation from the government machinery in this regard, and that the investigative agencies are acting indifferently in conducting this investigation,” Gammanpila said.
He said the Pure Sinhala Heritage party had made the original complaint to the Bribery Commission. He also stated that the party had provided the list of containers to the Criminal Investigation Department.
“However, it has been over 15 months since this fraud occurred, and nearly a year since we complained, but there has been no progress whatsoever in this matter. Therefore, we brought that to the attention of the Select Committee,” he said.
Gammanpila further said that reports submitted by officials appeared to place responsibility on political leaders, including the President, Minister Wimal Rathnayake, and Deputy Minister Janitha Kodithuwakku.
“Against such a backdrop, I specifically raised this matter because the Select Committee had decided not to summon the President and other ministers. However, I see that as an injustice done to them. Because the responsibility for this now rests on their shoulders. Officials say they acted only according to the instructions given,” he said.
He also referred to the report of the investigation committee appointed by the Treasury, saying it had specifically noted that Customs was not providing the information requested.
“Even when asked for the criteria by which these 323 containers were selected, it was not provided. When asked whether these importers had previous offenses, that too was not provided. So, the conduct of Customs, as well as the conduct of the Bribery Commission and the Criminal Investigation Department, indicates that there is something to hide,” Gammanpila said.
When a journalist asked under whose chairmanship the committee was being conducted, Gammanpila replied: “The Chairman of the Select Committee is the Minister of Justice and Attorney at Law Harshana Nanayakkara.”
Asked who else had come to give evidence, Gammanpila said Mr. Nagananda Kodithuwakku had also been summoned along with him.
“However, because my evidence took a long time, he did not get an opportunity to give evidence,” he said.
When asked whether he would participate further and whether the process would continue, Gammanpila said the committee meets weekly.
“The committee informed me that I would be summoned again if necessary,” he said.
A journalist then referred to his earlier comment that summoning the President and ministers would amount to doing justice to them.
Gammanpila responded: “I have no authority to advise the committee; I am merely a witness. However, I said as a witness’s statement, not as a proposal or a recommendation, that an injustice is being done to the President, Minister Wimal Rathnayake, and Minister Janitha Seneviratne, because officials have now placed the responsibility on them. So, they should have an opportunity to clear their names.”
When asked whether it had so far been revealed anywhere what was actually inside the containers, Gammanpila referred to what he said was the list of containers provided to him.
“I pointed out that according to the list of containers provided to me, the 188th container is one imported from Thailand. It states that clay was imported. However, on June 5, 2025, MP Arjuna Ramanadan stated in Parliament that a container from Thailand contained weapons, and that those weapons belonged to the LTTE organization and were brought to Sri Lanka but could not be brought in,” he said.
Gammanpila said MP Arjuna Ramanadan’s suspicion could have been dismissed if there was not a single container imported from Thailand on the list.
“But there is one here, container number 188 from Thailand. If so, MP Arjuna Ramanadan’s suspicion is justified,” he said.
He also questioned a statement made by the Defence Secretary to the media, saying the Defence Secretary had claimed: “I am certain that there were no weapons inside these containers.”
Gammanpila challenged that position.
“I questioned: How can you be certain that there were no weapons inside a container that was released without inspection, without inspecting it? You cannot be certain. Only a clairvoyant like Anjanan Deveetha could say what was inside without inspecting it. Therefore, we drew the attention of the Select Committee to the fact that there is a serious issue here,” he said.
Asked about the current level of the investigations, especially given the time that had passed, Gammanpila said delay itself was damaging the possibility of finding the truth.
“Another matter I raised is that the more investigations are delayed, the more the opportunity to discover the truth is lost. Because if the goods imported in these containers were raw materials, if they were cloth, they would have been sewn into clothes, sold, and people would have worn them out,” he said.
He added that if clay had been imported, clay products could already have been made, sold, or disposed of.
“The longer the delay, the harder it is to find the truth. It is only if there are people who think that discovering the truth is dangerous that investigations by both the Criminal Investigation Department and the Bribery Commission would stagnate like this,” Gammanpila said.
