‘Something is rotten’
Thursday, 26 May 2016
Deputy Minister of Social Empowerment and Welfare Ranjan Ramanayake received a rude shock during a VIP homecoming at the Hilton Colombo on 13 May. As the film star politician went from table to table greeting people at the reception, he suddenly caught the eye of a person he had no intention of being accidentally pictured with.
Ramanayake did an about-face, but he was not quick enough for Nissanka Senadhipathi, the controversial Chairman of Avant-Garde Maritime Services, the shadowy security firm under investigation for money laundering and weapons smuggling. Senadhipathi rounded on Ramanayake to say ‘no hard feelings’ about the UNP MP’s sustained attacks on corruption, and specifically Avant-Garde and its Chairman. “You’re only doing your job,” Senadhipathi said, patting the Deputy Minister on the shoulder before Ramanayake moved swiftly away.
Rakitha Rajapakshe, son of Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, married Lakna Adikari this month. The wedding was held at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo and the homecoming was at Hilton Colombo. VIPs in the Government and Opposition were invited to both ceremonies. Both were opulent affairs.
Ten years ago, Rakitha Rajapakshe, then an adolescent, reportedly accompanied his parents on a trip to the US. Photographs of this trip were exposed by Field Marshall and MP Sarath Fonseka, to highlight the connection between the Justice Minister and Senadhipathi, who appeared to have accompanied the Rajapakshe family on the tour.
The ‘other’ Minister
In November 2015, Law and Order Minister Tilak Marapana was forced to resign his Cabinet portfolio after he declared Avant-Garde had been his client at one point, and then proceeded to defend the company in Parliament against serious corruption, weapons smuggling and money laundering charges levelled against it by State law enforcement authorities.
During the same debate on 6 November 2015, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe also launched into a passionate defence of Avant-Garde, saying he agreed with the Attorney General’s conclusion that there was no case to be filed against the security company, and claiming to have prevented the arrest of former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in connection with the case.
Both Ministers were taken to task at the next Cabinet meeting and flayed by the Opposition and the media for their positions, but only one resigned. The other has continued to hold office as the Minister in charge of Justice in Sri Lanka, at a time when the Government is under heavy fire for delaying corruption probes and prosecutions against powerful sections of the former regime and allegedly making ‘compromises’ with notoriously corrupt individuals and entities.
A case in point was the appointment of former Telecom Regulatory Commission (TRC) Director General Anusha Palpita as Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs this week. Palpita and the former TRC Chairman and Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga have been indicted in the Colombo High Court on charges of misappropriating TRC funds to the tune of Rs. 600 million to finance former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s sil redhi distribution campaign ahead of the January 2015 presidential election.
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Thursday, 26 May 2016
The appointment of ex-TRC Director General Anusha Palpitato high bureaucratic office in the Home Affairs Ministry and tolerance of senior officials publicly hobnobbing with sinister and notorious corporate entities like the Avant-Garde Chairman smacks of the new administration’s disdain for its own Yahapalanaya slogan and reinforces growing perceptions of Government complicity in stalling or delaying corruption cases against powerful sections of the ex-regime
Deputy Minister of Social Empowerment and Welfare Ranjan Ramanayake received a rude shock during a VIP homecoming at the Hilton Colombo on 13 May. As the film star politician went from table to table greeting people at the reception, he suddenly caught the eye of a person he had no intention of being accidentally pictured with. Ramanayake did an about-face, but he was not quick enough for Nissanka Senadhipathi, the controversial Chairman of Avant-Garde Maritime Services, the shadowy security firm under investigation for money laundering and weapons smuggling. Senadhipathi rounded on Ramanayake to say ‘no hard feelings’ about the UNP MP’s sustained attacks on corruption, and specifically Avant-Garde and its Chairman. “You’re only doing your job,” Senadhipathi said, patting the Deputy Minister on the shoulder before Ramanayake moved swiftly away.
Rakitha Rajapakshe, son of Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, married Lakna Adikari this month. The wedding was held at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo and the homecoming was at Hilton Colombo. VIPs in the Government and Opposition were invited to both ceremonies. Both were opulent affairs.
Ten years ago, Rakitha Rajapakshe, then an adolescent, reportedly accompanied his parents on a trip to the US. Photographs of this trip were exposed by Field Marshall and MP Sarath Fonseka, to highlight the connection between the Justice Minister and Senadhipathi, who appeared to have accompanied the Rajapakshe family on the tour.
The ‘other’ Minister
In November 2015, Law and Order Minister Tilak Marapana was forced to resign his Cabinet portfolio after he declared Avant-Garde had been his client at one point, and then proceeded to defend the company in Parliament against serious corruption, weapons smuggling and money laundering charges levelled against it by State law enforcement authorities.
During the same debate on 6 November 2015, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe also launched into a passionate defence of Avant-Garde, saying he agreed with the Attorney General’s conclusion that there was no case to be filed against the security company, and claiming to have prevented the arrest of former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in connection with the case.
Both Ministers were taken to task at the next Cabinet meeting and flayed by the Opposition and the media for their positions, but only one resigned. The other has continued to hold office as the Minister in charge of Justice in Sri Lanka, at a time when the Government is under heavy fire for delaying corruption probes and prosecutions against powerful sections of the former regime and allegedly making ‘compromises’ with notoriously corrupt individuals and entities.
A case in point was the appointment of former Telecom Regulatory Commission (TRC) Director General Anusha Palpita as Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs this week. Palpita and the former TRC Chairman and Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga have been indicted in the Colombo High Court on charges of misappropriating TRC funds to the tune of Rs. 600 million to finance former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s sil redhi distribution campaign ahead of the January 2015 presidential election.
READ MORE
