Cooperatives Ministry building caught fire or set on fire? Details    Created On Wednesday, 31 July 2013 11:13  Category: General There is strong suspicion regarding the fire that had erupted in the Cooperatives and Internal Trade Ministry building at Vauxhall Street in Colombo in the early hours of this morning. The cause of the blaze is yet to be determined, but ministry employees suspect it was set on fire on purpose to destroy evidence to hide some wrongdoing. After the COPE report exposed the loss-incurring state entities and the political apointments that had caused them to lose money, incidents of this nature could occur with the intention of sending state enteprises to the guillotine, they observe. The fire caused extensive damages to the ministry’s media unit and the office of the CWE chairman. VIDEO: FIRE AT MINISTRY OF COOPERATIVES BUILDING DOUSED July 31, 2013  A fire that broke out on the 7th floor of the Ministry of Cooperatives and Trade building at Vauxhall Street early today has been doused. No injuries were reported due to the fire. Manamendra takes bribes to get UNP slots Details    Created On Wednesday, 31 July 2013 09:54  Category: General Leader of the Nawa Sihala Urumaya, Sarath Manamendra has reportedly requested for Rs. 1 million from Mawjood Hajjiar from the Akurana area assuring him a slot in the UNP’s nominations list for the Central Provincial Council election. When the Muslim national had agreed to make the payment for a slot in the nominations list, Manamendra had requested the UNP leadership to allocate his party a slot in the UNP’s nominations list for the Central Provincial Council election. The UNP nominations committee has said that it was difficult to allocate a slot for a Muslim national when the committee was finding it difficult to accommodate even Azath Sally. However, the UNP nominations committee has said that a slot could however be made for the Nawa Sihala Urumaya to field a Sinhala candidate. An angry Manamendra has said that he had been supportive of the UNP and if the party now treated him in such a manner, he would have to criticize the party in public. Interestingly, Mawjood Hajjiyar who had agreed to pay Rs. 1 million to Manamendra is a friend of Azath Sally. Sally had explained to Mawjood Hajjiyar that even he was finding it difficult to get a slot in the UNP nominations list and asked him not to fall to the schemes of various manipulators. The UNP nominations committee has paid a lot of attention to the fact that Muslims fielded in the UNP list could be defeated if a Muslim from outside the party is given nominations.