Tilak Marapana is new Foreign Affairs Minister

Development Assignment Minister, President’s Counsel Tilak Marapana was yesterday sworn in as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs by President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat.

He was a former Attorney General who retired prematurely with the change of government in 1994 and thereafter moved to the unofficial bar enjoying an extensive and lucrative practice when he was appointed the Minister of Defence in the 2001 UNP Government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. On the death of UNP front-liner Gamini Atukorale, Mr. Marapana was appointed Minister of Highways, Transport and Civil Aviation.

After the 2015 general elections, Mr. Marapana was appointed the Minister of Law and Order but he resigned from his portfolio on November 9, 2015 consequent to a speech he made in Parliament explaining the use of firearms stored in a ship chartered by Avant Garde and over allegations that he might interfere in the ongoing investigations being carried out on the company.

In May this year, Mr. Marapana was once again appointed to the Cabinet as the Minister of Development Assignments, a new ministry set up to monitor all ongoing development projects both foreign and local.

Last week, former Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake resigned from his portfolio following the controversy over the disclosure of a lease and purchase of a luxury apartment in Colombo.

He was a former Attorney General who retired prematurely with the change of government in 1994 and thereafter moved to the unofficial bar enjoying an extensive and lucrative practice when he was appointed the Minister of Defence in the 2001 UNP Government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe