Swiss Embassy employee Ganiya Bannister Francis pleaded guilty to making a false claim that she had been abducted and sexually harassed in 2019 and she was sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment suspended for five years by the Colombo High Court.
The verdict of the case filed against her for allegedly providing false information to embarrass the Government was delivered on Friday, July 14 by the Colombo High Court.
The fabricated story of Ganiya, who worked at the Swiss Embassy as a Visa Officer was taken by the diplomatic community in Colombo as “evidence of harassment of Tamils by the Government”.
When police summoned her to record evidence, Ganiya was given refuge in the Swiss Embassy premises and when she was called by the police for investigations into the allegation, she was accompanied not only by the lawyers appointed by the Embassy, but also by senior diplomats of the Embassy. Ganiya was in custody on reasonable suspicion of committing offences under Sections 120 and 190 of the Penal Code, which could justify a criminal charge of “disaffection towards the Government”, and “fabricating false evidence for the purpose of being used in any stage of a judicial proceeding”, in her alleged abduction claim.