Don’t go astray, we have Francs
Political analysts say that the annual reports of Swiss banks between 2002 and 2010 have indicated an increase in the number of monies deposited in the Swiss banks by Sri Lankans. The period in question is when some Sri Lankan earned large sums of monies by scamming tsunami funds and through large-scale military procurements.
Sri Lanka had received a large sum of foreign exchange in 2005 following the tsunami that hit the country in the last week of December 2004. A bulk of the monies received by the country was direct foreign assistance without any prior conditions. The media has reported that 30% of the foreign exchange received has been subjected to corruption and fraud. The biggest scam among them was the depositing of over Rs. 80 million received at the time by then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in one of his personal bank accounts. The case that was known at the time, as “Helping Hambantota” was later stopped.
Political analysts say that the annual reports of Swiss banks between 2002 and 2010 have indicated an increase in the number of monies deposited in the Swiss banks by Sri Lankans. The period in question is when some Sri Lankan earned large sums of monies by scamming tsunami funds and through large-scale military procurements.
Thursday, 05 July 2012
Sri Lanka had received a large sum of foreign exchange in 2005 following the tsunami that hit the country in the last week of December 2004. A bulk of the monies received by the country was direct foreign assistance without any prior conditions. The media has reported that 30% of the foreign exchange received has been subjected to corruption and fraud. The biggest scam among them was the depositing of over Rs. 80 million received at the time by then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in one of his personal bank accounts. The case that was known at the time, as “Helping Hambantota” was later stopped.
During the 2002-2010 period, the largest number of deposits by Sri Lankans in Swiss banks had been in 2005. According to the Swiss Central Bank, the amount is over 170 million Swiss Franc. The second larges deposit in the Swiss banks by Sri Lankan had been in 2007. Over 120 million Swiss Franc had been deposited in the Swiss banks at the time. In 2007, Sri Lanka purchased six MiG 27 aircraft from Russia.
The Bribery Commission has even received a complaint of the alleged corruption involving Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in the procurement of the MiG aircraft.
The third larges deposit by Sri Lankans had been in 2010 with another stock amounting to over 120 million Swiss Franc. In 2010 the government entered into an agreement with China to build the Hambantota Port, which is alleged to have been rife of corruption.
The Sri Lankan government in 2008 had purchased over 60 armed personnel carriers from Czech Republic and over 100 million Swiss Francs had been deposited in Swiss banks that year.
