Police officers who raided illegal casino did not carry out duties - PM

Tuesday, 26 November 2013 

Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne has said that the 23 police officers from the Police Organized Crimes Division, who raided the Casino at the Salaka building in Town Hall, were transferred on the basis that they were not carrying out their duties in a satisfactory manner.

The Premier has said that they were not transferred on the basis of any influence.

This statement was made in response to a question posed by JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake whether the transfers were connected to the raid.

Jayaratne has said the transfers were approved by the IGP on October 20, 2013 but effective from November 4, 2013.

Referring to an allegation made by Dissanayake that a person named Hula was the one who was behind these transfers resulting from the raid, the Premier has said there was no trace of any such person.

Land theft by fmr. elections chief

Tuesday, 26 November 2013 

A theft of a land committed by 

former elections commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake who tried to earn public sympathy by claiming that he was under severe stress due to political interferences during elections, has come to light.

During the period he was the elections chief when Chandrika Kumaratunga was the president, he had acquired a 123.4 perch land at Lady McCallum Drive located within the city limits of Nuwara Eliya previously owned by the National Housing Department. He had paid only Rs. 30,000, or Rs. 243.11 per perch, for this very valuable land.

This fraud had been committed on 16 June 1995. At a nominal payment for the land, he had retained 18.4 perches and sold the rest, 105 perches, to The Finance Company of Ceylinco Group for Rs. 5.2 million.

He has thus earned a big profit with least effort. It is very disgusting that Dayananda Dissanayake has swindled public properties while misleading the people by talking about work-related stress.
Amila Gunaratne