No evidence for Arthur C Clarke child sex allegations: Sri Lanka

March 23, 2008 (AFP) - Sri Lankan authorities said Sunday that the British-born sci-fi writer Arthur C.

Clarke had been cleared of decade-old paedophile allegations before his death last week.





Clarke was buried Saturday in Colombo, where he had lived since 1956.



Obituary writers have resurrected the 1998 accusations that he had sex with young boys in his adopted country Sri Lanka.

But the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) chief, Jagath Wellawatte, said there was no case against the writer, who captured the world's imagination with "2001: A Space Odyssey" and visions of extra-terrestrial civilisations.

"We had no case against Clarke and no one had come forward to say they were abused by him," Wellawatte told AFP.

The agency was established under new child protection laws enacted after the allegations against Clarke surfaced.

"We have not had any formal complaint or testimony from anyone saying they were abused by Sir Arthur," said NCPA investigator W.

T.D. Wijesena. "We cannot go on the basis of rumours.





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The forerunner to the NCPA, the Presidential Task Force on the Prevention of Child Abuse, had in 1998 initiated an investigation into Clarke's conduct with the help