Lucky crooks

Editorial-March 16, 2015, 7:20 pm 

A 13-year-old girl was hauled up by the Thebuwana police before the Kalutara Magistrate in September 2010. What was her crime? She had stolen Rs. 5.00—yes, five rupees—from a kiosk! She was enlarged on bail. She said she had taken the money because she was starving. We asked in these columns why the police and the Rajapaksa government did not act so swiftly against criminals including murderers, drug dealers and those who robbed the public purse. The police, true to form, defended their action against the poor girl. The then Opposition said the police swung into action only when the poor happened to be on the wrong side of the law and well-to-do lawbreakers with political connections went scot free.

In 2013, another 13-year-old schoolgirl was arrested and arraigned on charges of stealing a few coconuts from her neighbour and bailed out. The police said the offence she committed had warranted her arrest! We asked again editorially why such high octane performance was conspicuous by its absence on the part of the police when the lawbreakers happened to be wealthy and politically connected. The then Opposition flogged the issue hard, asking why children were being arrested for minor offences while big-time offenders were moving about freely and carrying out their illegal operations with impunity; an embarrassed President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered an investigation into the incident.

Those who let out howls of protests then—and rightly so—against law being selectively enforced against the poor are ensconced in power today. But, the prominent members of the previous regime they vowed to prosecute for corruption, the plunder of public wealth and various other offences are still at large. It has been a case of all bark and no bite!

Worse, current Governor of the Central Bank Arjuna Mahendran stands accused of his involvement in a mega bond scandal. In a country where schoolgoing children are arrested for stealing five rupees or a few coconuts no arrests have been made in respect of a nine-billion-rupee racket!

Where are the champions of transparency and accountability? Curiously, the NGO activists, lawyers and other anti-corruption activists are silent on the Central Bank scandal. They conduct protests and numerous workshops to raise public awareness of good governance. Their silence on this issue is deafening. The CID which is ordered to investigate even forged birth certificates has not been called in to probe the shady bond deal!

If this is good governance or yahapalanaya according to the new government, the country will be a much better place without it!

Kudu circus over?

All the hype about revelations made by notorious drug dealer Wele Sudha in custody has fizzled out. The police no longer give ball-by-ball commentaries on what transpires in interrogation sessions. Why? They have apparently opened up a can of worms for their political masters.

Using what drug kingpins or kudu rajas reveal under interrogation as political propaganda could be counterproductive. For, politicians regardless of their party affiliations usually benefit from the largesse of such criminals who cultivate those who matter. Wele Sudha, like other drug barons is believed to have looked after many more politicians, police officers et al than those who have been named and shamed.

It may be recalled that Kudu Nauffer, who is now behind bars for his crimes including drug dealing and the assassination of High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya, once sponsored a judicial officers’ function as this newspaper revealed. He had paid for the food and beverages served at that event! The organisers thereof may not have been aware that a drug dealer was footing the bill, but that is how criminals operate; they use various fronts. We also reported that a serving IGP (T. E. Anandaraja) had been a special guest at a party thrown by a drug czar named Augustus Jesudasan at a Colombo hotel in 2003. Another drug baron, Samoon Mohammed Shyam, who lived like Great Gatsby, threatened to sue this newspaper for exposing illegal operations. He claimed we had defamed him! But, arrested with 23 kilos of heroin in 2003 at his Ward Place residence, where he had entertained powerful politicians among others, he was sentenced to death four years later. In 2013, the then Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne issued a letter, on behalf of one of his contacts, requesting priority clearance of a container which was later found to contain 131 kilos of heroin. Thus, one may see the labyrinthine nature of the drug Mafia network with its tentacles spread all over the country.

Let the police be urged to resume their daily commentaries on Wele Sudha’s revelations. People’s right to information should be respected. All those including politicians who have benefited from that criminal’s princely scale munificence must be named and prosecuted.