Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith Bought Over By DPL Post To Niece

Serious doubts have been cast on Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and his political agendas to support Mahinda Rajapaksa at the upcoming elections with the revelation that his niece has been given a political appointment to the Sri Lanka embassy in Paris.

Ruwani Cooray, niece of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has not passed the foreign service examination nor been recruited to the foreign service through any accepted procedure. However she has been appointed as the second secretary to the Sri Lanka Embassy in France.

Ruwani does not have any relevant qualifications for this appointment other than her relationship to the Cardinal. Earlier Ruwani Cooray was posted to the Sri Lanka Mission in Manila, Philippines on the request of the Cardinal. With the significant role played by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith to ensure the visit of his Holiness the Pope to Sri Lanka his niece has now been given a more opulent posting in Paris.

“The visit of the Pope has been a key political gimmick of the Rajapaksa candidacy which hopes to swing many catholic votes it had lost during the years due to the anti- minority, extremists elements within its ranks. Cardinal Malcom Ranjith who is a close confidant of Gotabaya Rajapaksa has assured the government that he will deliver on the promise of the Pope’s visit despite the Pope’s very clear policy that he will not visit a country within two months of an election being declared.” a member of Cardinal Ranjith’s inner circles told Colombo Telegraph.