Previously I was a teacher ... a media chief --- I and husband went to CHOGM at our own expenses to bring investments to our country -- Gihani

Previously I was a teacher ... a media chief ---

I and husband went to CHOGM at our own expenses to bring investments to our country -- Gihani

Who is this person called Gihani Weerasingha? At one time a teacher and later a temporary business manageress. Finally, ended up as an actress. How did an actress creep into the Commonwealth conference?

Gihani has spoken about this to a newspaper in this manner: "I served as a teacher with Cambridge qualifications at Lyceum International school and later as a teacher in a number of other schools.

Subsequently, I operated as a Spoken English teacher from home and conducted classes at ACBT institute. After all that I served as a media chief of a leading radio channel. There I held that position for about 4 years. With the change in government of 2015, I left that media because of of political reasons. It was after that I was invited to take part in acting. After that I took part in a number of teledramas. Later on I did a production called Anya. I play its main role. That drama was produced based on the life-story of journalists and the power of the pen.

These days I happen to be the 'bite' ... 'bite' of cyber space. Gihani Weerasingha ... several names have been linked to Gihani in the internet and Facebook. One such name is 'President's Financial Advisor'. The other name is 'Investment Apostle'. Yet another name is being created. I think that those two names have now come to the stage in a negative tone as 'Sudubola Akka'. I am being identified these days with such nicknames. I am therefore the hit-character in the social media. Even at this moment of speaking (26) ... it's been 72 hours ... I am being abused once and again.

The only thing that I have to say is this. I fight to prevent another woman who comes up from time to time in social media as a  star and then equally goes down  and not to exploit me as a political or social scapegoat so that no other woman would undergo the injustice that happened to me. It was injustice that happened to me. I am free from guilt. On this occasion I am 'patta' innocent.  But false allegations have been aimed at me. I have been made a prostitute in cyber space. In the same the leader of the country was made a playboy. It is better if I commit suicide. But I would not do it ... because I would fight so that something like this would not happen to another woman.

I attended the Commonwealth Investment Promotion session and it was because I and my husband released photographs and video tapes of what happened on the London tour to the internet I had to face an incident like this. We released these photographs and video clips to the internet as there was no secret or obscenity attached in those. We possess total rights for it. Two rupavahini channels had previously taken a video in our private accounts and had broadcast it as Breaking News in their channel. You can see how Sri Lankan news is being planted. This is the procedure of the Sri Lankan media. The true incident is far from truth.

A financial session is held parallel to the 2018 Commonwealth leaders' conference. Government institutions, private institutions and private entrepreneurs participate in it. Those things happen in in this conference which is held every year. This is a business forum as such.

I participated from the Sri Lanka European Business Council. My husband functions as the president of that institution. I mentioned previously that my earlier vocation was as business manageress in the field of media. I had a satisfactory inter-personal connection. I even had a good marketing network. With that skill my husband is given a position as vice-president -- public relations. After that four persons including me (a group of 6 persons) set off for England with our personal expenses on an invitation of two investors who were stationed there. The requirement of the investors was to forward tenders and to apply for business projects. What they want is to discuss the matter with the President. Because of this they invite us there and thus we participate in this financial session. Then we attend this session at our own expenses. We manage to get our visas within a short time as in five days. We obtain our visas by forwarding our invitation card to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Now at this point it is wrong. It is the President's Secretariat that gets involved in securing the visas. If the financial session was not there, we would not be able to get our visas. If there was an investment there, as an institution we would be able to get a commission. That then is the incident in simplified for

The President attends three meetings. One meeting is with the business community in that country ... addressing business communities in other countries and the business community who have come from this community. It is a photograph that is captured there that has caught the virus and ends up as a 'story' in the social media. Everybody there, not only with the President but have taken photographs with ministers too. Those photographs too are sent to the media. At that time we stayed at the same hotel where the President was staying. But at our own expenses. Our expenses in this respect was borned by the investors there who had invited us. In the meantime minister Dilan, minister Lakshman and some ministers who were there too visited that hotel for the purpose of meeting the President. We actually do not know what the reason was. When they see us they are happy. A group of Sri Lankan Muslim youth come there to the city of London to have dinner. It was there that we were having a casual chat with the ministers. Then one person there said that 'today is minister Dilan's birthday'. At that point the minister's birthday was celebrated. It was those photographs that had been published in the websites. 

To cap it all, in the end rumours went round connecting me with names of ministers. That is where it  started. What I ask is whether it is something to make a 'story?' We have already proved that those mud-slinging actions are just false. We did not go at the expense of the government. We have all necessary evidence. When they keep on slinging mud and everyone begins to realise little by little what the truth is, what they then began to say was that I am a 'suradoothikawa' of investors.

Here I wish to tell something special. Taking the identity card what I ask first of all is that what they said is whether I went on government funds. That could not be done and then they try to sling mud in a political angle. That also fails. Then they up a point saying that I have been given two positions; investment 'suradoothikawa' and financial advisor. Now that too is fading away. What is the profit they gained by this? That's all what I want to know.

Discussion -- Dinesh Withana (Divaina)

- The collection of photographs she has focused attention on -