The instruction came after MP Prasanna Ranatunga had informed media institutions that JO leader Dinesh Gunawardena would hold a media briefing at the parliamentary complex this afternoon (25) to explain their stand on the cancellation of the transmission license of CSN and the COPE report into the bond issue.

Coming to know about it, Rajapaksa has told Ranatunga not to hold the media briefing until he arrived there.

Rajapaksa arrived in the parliamentary complex around 2.00 pm and told them not make any public statement with regard to the COPE issue and allow the government to settle the matter.

Even Gunawardena was surprised by his stand, a JO MP told Sri Lanka Mirror.

Arjun Aloysius, the son-in-law of Mahendran, stands accused of having earned an undue profit from the bond issue, and he is a close friend of MP Namal Rajapaksa.