Colombo, April 21 (IANS): The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday opposed a decision to summon the country's anti-graft chief over her move to question former president Mahinda Rajapakse for bribery allegations.

Parliament Speaker Chamal Rajapakse, who is also a brother of Rajapakse, summoned director-general of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, Dilrukshi Wickramasinghe, on Monday after a group of opposition parliamentarians staged a protest in parliament over allegations of bribery against Rajapakse, Xinhua news agency reported.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith Perera said the decision by the parliament speaker to summon the commission chief was completely unacceptable as the anti-graft body functioned independently.

The opposition protest continued overnight with over 70 parliamentarians refusing to leave the parliament building.

The former president's spokesman, Rohan Weliwita, said that despite media reports that Rajapakse had been summoned over allegations that he had bribed a former member of the ruling United National Party to join him before the January presidential elections by offering him a ministerial post, such a move was not illegal as he was the president at that time.

Meanwhile, 113 opposition parliamentarians, all Rajapakse's supporters, signed a petition on Tuesday against commission chief Wickremasinghe.

The parliamentarians contended that the commission had overstepped its mandate by summoning the former president and his brother, Gotabaya Rajapakse, who was also the defence secretary during Rajapakse's decade-long tenure in office.

Gotabaya Rajapakse has been summoned to appear before the commission on Wednesday.