Ex-IGP Found Guilty Of Abusing Power: Fake UNP Letter Condemning Panel’s Judgment Goes Viral

Several social media accounts have been sharing a letter, purportedly issued by the United National Party (UNP), condemning the recent judgment passed by a special parliamentary committee that found suspended inspector general of police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon guilty of misconduct and serious abuse of power during his tenure.

The viral letter, bearing the letterhead of the UNP, stated in Sinhala that the party’s leader and former Sri Lankan President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, along with fellow members, deemed the judgment to be arbitrary and wrong. The letter stated in Sinhala, “Even during the darkest times in history, [Tennakoon] protected and worked with leaders like Ranil Wickremesinghe to make our motherland a clean and uncorrupt place. He worked beyond what was expected of him and was close to the citizens. Forgetting that history in a mere moment shows our lack of gratitude and cowardice. [Former] President Wickremesinghe will make a statement about this soon.”

The letter was purportedly signed by the chairperson of the UNP, Vajira Abeywardena.

We found the letter on Facebook and X here, here, and here.

Panel Recommends Removal

Tennakoon was undergoing a special constitutional inquiry for the past few months under Section 6 of the Removal of Officers (Procedure) Act, No. 5 of 2002, which was mainly related to a shooting incident in front of the W15 hotel in Weligama on December 31, 2023, where an officer of the Colombo Crimes Division was shot and killed. The inquiry by the three-member committee was completed on July 21, 2025, declaring Tennakoon guilty and recommending his removal from the post of IGP. The historic judgment — Tennakoon is the first head of the department in its 159-year history to face impeachment, according to reports — was announced in parliament by the Speaker. The full report of the committee can be found here.  

An impeachment vote has been scheduled for August 5, and is expected to pass in the 225-member parliament, where President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government holds a two-thirds majority. Due to the high-profile nature of this matter, we decided to check whether this letter is indeed true.

Fact Check/Verification

We first checked the social media accounts and website of the UNP, its leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Deshabandu Tennakoon, and Vajira Abeywardena, chairperson of the UNP, to check whether they had issued such a letter condemning the decision of the special committee. We did not come across any such letter. We then did a reverse image search to check whether the letter had been published by any reliable news source, which, again, yielded zero results.

Upon further checking the social media accounts of the UNP and Abeywardena, we came across two statements issued by their verified Facebook accounts. The statement on the UNP’s account said that the letter was fake and that the UNP has not issued it.

“This letter has been fabricated using the UNP letterhead, and no such document has been issued by me or the UNP. We will be taking legal action against this,” read the post by Abeywardena, which further confirmed that the viral letter is fabricated.

Conclusion

The UNP and its chairperson, Vajira Abeywardena, have clarified that the viral letter condemning the recent judgment passed by a special parliamentary committee that found suspended IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon guilty of abuse of power, was fake.

Our Sources

Facebook account of the United National Party
Facebook account of Vajira Abeywardena