Cabraal hits back at explosive New York Times report

June 28, 2018 (LBO) - Former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Ajith Nivard Cabral has recently released a statement on social media that is highly critical of the explosive New York Times report which suggested Chinese influence with regard to Sri Lanka's 2015 Presidential election. The statement is reproduced below: "The New York Times article dated 25 June 2018 titled "How China got Sri Lanka to cough up a Port" written by Maria Abi-Habib is a gross misrepresentation of facts as well as a piece of journalism which has violated the truth in a shocking manner. This is probably the type of propaganda under the veil of journalism that President Donald Trump has been regularly referring to as "Fake" news or reports. I was interviewed by this NYT correspondent Maria Abi- Habib on 10th May 2018, and I countered almost every one of her string of allegations and pre-conceived notions in an hour long interview, with irrefutable facts and figures. Not surprisingly, Maria Abi-Habib has chosen to ignore all my responses relating to the Chinese loans and projects, as well as Sri Lanka's debt position under President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which would have materially changed her flawed "findings" and highly suspect "conclusions". Her stance therefore undoubtedly confirms she was on a mission to provide a pre-determined and completely one-sided view point which is detrimental to both China and Sri Lanka in general, and Presidents Xi Jingping and Mahinda Rajapaksa, in particular. I will submit a detailed reply to this shockingly imbalanced article which is not worthy of being published in a newspaper such as the New York Times, and expose it's subjectivity in a few days."