Lucky crooks!
Editorial-January 13, 2017, 8:54 pm
Some prominent members of the Rajapaksa Cabinet, blamed for the theft of public funds and various crooked deals, are currently ministers of the yahapalana government. Their corruption and ill-gotten wealth have not been probed. They have got the best of both worlds. Lucky crooks! The CID, the FCID and the anti-graft commission are pursuing only those who have banded themselves as the Joint Opposition (JO).
Yahapalana ministers also hear cases against JO members at media briefings and deliver judgments, so to speak. They consider any suspect who is not a member of the ruling coalition guilty until proven innocent!
Former Minister and National Freedom Front Leader Wimal Weerawansa, MP has been arrested and remanded for misusing 40 state vehicles while in power. If he is given a fair trial and the very serious charge against him is proved beyond a reasonable doubt, deterrent punishment must be meted out. Anyone who abuses public property deserve to be thrown behind bars. But, that task must be left entirely to the judiciary. Government politicians must exercise control over their restless tongues. They themselves are no paragons of virtue as is public knowledge. They should be mindful of the fact that a change of government which is bound to happen sooner or later will see many of them being arraigned on charges of abusing state properly, bribery, corruption and other such illegal activities.
There has emerged evidence of a mega coal racket which has not only caused an enormous loss to the state but also increased the cost of electricity according to Chairman of the Lanka Coal Company (LCC) Maithri Gunaratne. People are made to pay more for electricity so that politicians and bureaucrats can line their pockets by purchasing coal at higher prices!
The LCC chief has revealed, as we reported yesterday, that the culprits have gone scot free, and thanks to the Attorney General’s Department which has been reduced to a mere appendage of the government in power the coal tender has been awarded to a company under a cloud. The Supreme Court itself has said the questionable deal shocked its conscience. Worryingly, no action has been taken against those responsible for the questionable deal. It behoves the government to ensure that either the CID or the FCID will launch a probe into the controversial coal tender. If any such allegation had been made against a JO member, he would have been arrested in next to no time.
The JHU, which is a constituent of the yahapalana coalition, has declared that some government ministers received kickbacks to the tune of USD 100 mn from the Hambantota Port deal. This damning allegation has gone unprobed. An investigation is called for.
Police arrest people suspected of casing the joint; even those who urinate in public places are not spared. The long arm of the law conducts ‘special operations’ to take into custody schoolboys who scale the walls of girls’ schools during the big match season and mercilessly beat undergraduates for holding protests that cause tailbacks. But, those involved in the mega Central Bank bond scams are still at large because of their political connections. Some of them are seen in the exalted company of government leaders.
Weerawansa is alleged to have caused a loss of Rs. 90 mn to the state. The bond scams have cost the state coffers billions of rupees. It looks as if the government thought millions to be bigger than billions!
The only way the government can convince the public that its action against Weerawansa is not politically motivated is to probe the others who are alleged to have committed the same offence as he. They are Deputy Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanne, who was Weerawansa’s deputy under the Rajapaksa government and UNP National List MP Ashu Marasinghe, who was the Chairman of the State Engineering Corporation at that time. They cannot remain above the law simply because they have switched their allegiance to the ruling coalition.
