Mystery deepens around Noel's death - Udayanga Weeratunga Saga

From Ceylon Today

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan

The mysterious 'death due to vehicle accident' of Noel Ranaweera, the unmarried 37 year-old translator and assistant secretary at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Moscow, has been the silent cry of anguish for his mother and family ever since the Lankan embassy informed them about his death on 11 June 2014. Warned of something 'fishy' in the death last year, the family had been contacting several media people to expose the story but no one in the media reported it due to fear of the man who is suspected by the family is in some way tied in with Noel's death, Udayanga Weeratunga, the powerful ambassador – a political appointee of the former government.

Hitherto talking of the mystery surrounding Noel's death behind closed doors as it were, the family, having heard of the former ambassador's alleged involvement in arms deals with Ukrainian terrorists, gathered courage last month to go public with their burning issue in a bid to unearth the mystery behind his death and get at the answers relating to how it happened, why it happened and what really happened in Russia that took away their sibling's life.
The death notice issued by Udayanga Weeratunga, who is entitled to issue such a notice, has not been sent to the local Registrar of Births and Deaths.

Weeratunga undersigned the death notice issued in Moscow, attaching his seal to it which reads: District Registrar/Addl. District Registrar , in addition to his official Ambassador's seal. According to officials at the Foreign Ministry, a copy of the death notice has to be sent to the family, a copy to the Foreign Ministry and to the local registrar of deaths which has not been done.
When the bereaved family made inquiries of the foreign ministry recently, the officials had said that the death certificate has to be endorsed by the local registrar of deaths and when that is done a registration number will be inserted on the right corner of the certificate. They had told the relatives that such a number was not on the death notice, adding that it was now too late to process the matter further.

A close relation told "Ceylon Today" that they had gone to the FM and were told there that the notice was not a legitimate document as it had not been issued to the registrar through the FM which is authorized to issue such notice when a ministry employee dies overseas."

She also said, the worst factor in the death was that he had worked at Udyanga Weeratunga's restaurant in Moscow since 2002 .
The mother said, Noel held a diploma in hospitality obtained from an institute in Negombo. Being in the hotel trade, Noel had been introduced by his friend to the ambassador.He then left for Russia and worked there in the ambassador's hotel. In 2002, Noel had opened a current account with Weeratunga in a private bank in Kadawatha. The family says however that not a penny has been deposited in that account to date.

Over the past 15 years of his residence in Russia, Noel had come home on only two occasions. "He speaks to us and we had also arranged a marriage proposal for him and he was supposed to see her this August," the relative said. She also said, he was hesitant to get married but it was their duty to do the needful for him.About four years back Noel had said that he will be getting his citizenship and that he would not be able to come home on holiday until then.
Noel came home for the Commonwealth Meeting (CHOGM) in 2013 and had been moving around with local and Russian officials. "During his visit he came home and told us that 'Weeratunga Sir' made him an airline agent, that he owns a plane and has lots of money with him and not to worry."

However, after his death on 11 June 2014,,Weeratunga had been talking to Noel's family for more than three hours on a daily basis talking of all kinds of things but not about his death and how it occurred.
"The day the body arrived, on 15 June, we wanted to go to the airport in Katunayake, but he said there was no need for it and we remained at home. At that point too we said we wanted an inquest to be held but the ambassador said 'no need'. He was surrounded by so many men at our house on the day that the body arrived. He was there the whole day and went away in the evenings, until Noel was buried on June 18. Apparenly Weeratunga had given Noel's mother Rs 118,000.00 saying that his friends had collected that money.

"Where is his 15 years of earnings? Ever since Weeratunga took office as the ambassador, Noel had been his assistant secretary and translator at the Sri Lanka embassy in Moscow. Where is his salary. Did he withdraw the money or was his salary deposited each month in the ambassador's joint bank account with Noel. These mysteries can only be unearthed by the foreign ministry, relatives said.

Weeratunga had on the day of burial handed over the death certificate but the family was not in the mood to examine it.
The death certificate specifies the cause of the death as being caused by "Traumatic Blunt Injuries to the chest following a vehicle accident" and it is stated that the death was immediately notified to his only good friend Paragoda Gamage Sanath Kumara Dias, Shepkina, Moscow,Rusissia.

But as soon as the family heard of Noel's death through the ex- ambassador,Noel's sister had called Sanath without notifying him about Noel's death. The sister had asked Sanath how Noel was doing in Russia to which Sanath had replied that ' I have not met him for some time'.

"On the death certificate it is mentioned that Sanath was immediately notified about the death and we were shocked when he told us that he had never heard from Noel. All these factors indicate that Noel had been mixed up in some major problem."
Weeratunga had returned to Noel's family his national identity card, a black suitcase in which there was a mobile phone, laptop and an ipad. The relative said, Weeratunga had also taken away Noel's passport saying that he had some formalities to process with it. The relative also said, the numbers in the mobile phone had been deleted. "We have no one to contact in Russia to findout what really happened," she lamented.

Noel had been saying that he was living in a rented room but after Weeratunga became the ambassador, he told his mother that he had moved to the ambassador's house and lives in the upper floor of his house. "He was very faithful to the ambassador. When we asked him about the joint bank account he said,"sir is very trustworthy and he has given me a good life".

One would however wonder why an ambassador houses his translator at his residence. Why will he have a joint bank account with that translator who works in his office?
Noel's mother Josephine Nona lodged a complaint with the Attanagalla Police on March 22 alleging foul play in the death and thereafter, on an order by the Attanagalla Magistrate, M.Y.M. Irshadeen, the body was exhumed and further inquiries are being carried out. "We have reasonable doubts and the police and the foreign ministry should be able to expose what really happened to Noel as he is an employee of the Foreign ministry," the relative said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith P. Perera told Ceylon Today that the investigation into Weertunga's allegedly illegal arms dealing is going on and the authorities were still not actively looking for him. "We get to that step after the investigation is concluded" he said.
On Noel's mysterious death the deputy minister said, the matter is now with the police and not under the FM's jurisdiction. He also said, the incident did not happen in the embassy premises and it's up to the Police to deal with it.