Investments and our Public Service

Wednesday, 17 May 2017

About 1,600 miles to the East of Colombo is a small island called Singapore. In size, it is only about 720 sq. kms. (Sri Lanka is 65,000). Its population is 5.5 million compared to Sri Lanka’s 20 plus million. These are about the only areas where we have a lead; in terms of GDP, Singapore is about $ 295 billion while we are a modest $ 82 billion (app). Where per capita income is concerned, Singapore is among the richest countries, commanding a per capita income of $ 53,000, while we in Sri Lanka have a per capita income of only $ 3,870 (app)

Investments and our Public Service.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

SRI LANKA: PARADISE THREATENED; 11.1% GDP CONTRIBUTION BY TOURISM

Photo credit: Newsin.Asia.

Rohantha N.A. Athukorala.-16/05/2017

Over the weekend I was honoured to listen to my teacher from Harvard, Professor Matt Andrew’s lecture to the Masters in tourism students of Colombo University. He voiced that if not for the tourism industry Sri Lanka would have faced a serious financial crisis and he emphasised the importance of this industry for the future of Sri Lanka. This is so true given that exports and FDIs have not performed as per expectations in the last two years.

Professor Andrews went on to explain how way back in 2009 the industry was registering $ 50 odd per visitor with the total earnings at just $ 500 million. Today, this industry with or without strong marketing is poised to deliver a $ 4 billion and per visit earnings of $ 200 million, which is a commendable performance by the sector in the backdrop of negative performances in export earnings and Foreign Direct Investments.

A point to note is that the global pool of exports and FDIs are very large but Sri Lanka has failed to attract them even with all the positivity the current Government has created globally. It’s something we need further research on to understand the cause.

11.1% of GDP

If we do a deep dive, Sri Lanka has registered 11.1% of GDP contribution from tourism to the national economy as at 2014 with the world average being at 9.8% whilst the Asia Pacific performance is at 9.2%. The industry employs 135,930 people and indirectly 183,506 as at 2015 whilst it can become 25% of GDP, which is the sheer power of this industry in the country but sadly we see a gap in policy for making this interesting industry really unleash its true potential.

Whilst the numbers can be strong, from a qualitative point the tourism industry has the potential to correct the regional inequality and hence improve the overall quality of life which many are wondering why policymakers are not understanding.

What policymakers need to understand is that real estate might be a driver of the economy today but the reality is that it is not a tradable commodity unless someone moves the apartment purchased for tourism or we call it service apartments as a concept. Hence it’s time that Sri Lanka looks at the future and moves to implementation of policy rather than being wrapped up in the political economy that is at play, with many questioning the alleged corruption in the public sector and the ethos of the Yahapalanaya Government.

What is going wrong?

It’s time that Sri Lanka does a deep dive and understand what is ailing this country. We have a nonmarketable balance sheet. The 85 billion dollar economy has debt of around 75% of the economy; 95% of the earnings are used to pay the loans it has taken. The competitiveness of the country has slipped from the 90s to 113 in the last year even though we had strong perception on 8 January 2015 that Sri Lanka would be a tiger nation in the years to come.

The share of voice of the Central Bank bond scandal has reached a proportion that even a child of 10 years is talking about the issue despite not knowing what it means. Many of us from the private sector who agreed to serve the public sector for two years have moved back to the private sector as we were being used to legitimise corruption by the politicians in power that we did not give into.

I have personally agreed not to hold office in the public sector as the helm of the Government are not interested in retaining talent or correcting the system given the political economy at play. To be honest I emphasise with them. But the reality is that if Sri Lanka proceeds in this manner, GDP growth will come down to 3% by the end of the year is the view of professional analyst. The question is, where do we go from here?

Cry of the private sector

In this background, the marketing budget of the pivotal growth industry of Sri Lanka, the tourism industry, swelled to almost Rs. 4 billion as at 2015 whilst the country continued debating if destination tourism marketing would help the domestic leisure business. There was a lot of rhetoric but what we saw was Sri Lanka flirted with this concept.

In the post-2009 era, the general notion was ‘peace will bring in the tourists to the country.’ During this period, Sri Lanka saw an absence of professional marketing without the services of a global advertising agency, PR agency or a digital marketing partner. The campaigns that were implemented were selected on a sole supplier basis and many of the authorities who implemented have been summoned to FCID. To date, Sri Lanka has failed to make payment to top media companies like Bloomberg and CNN, to name a few.

Serving the Government

In 2015 when the new Government came to play, the industry once again saw a strong private-public working model but the developments in the last one year, especially the calling off of the ‘creative pitch’ by the top seven global advertising agencies just two days before proposals were to be submitted, once again surprised the industry. In fact some quarters of the private sector have lost faith and have now embarked on company-wise micro marketing programmes.

Whilst the visitor numbers are poised to touch 2.2 million visitors to Sri Lanka, the absence of a focused destination marketing strategy has led to a fuzzy imagery globally. This in turn has impacted the quality of tourism that the country attracts. But sadly the status quo is that as we speak there is not much headway on making the new Sri Lanka tourism strategy hit the market place.

Implication to Sri Lanka

While the private sector has been driving brand-related demand generation activities in Sri Lanka, there is yet merit on macro destination marketing. I guess Sri Lanka needs to first do the basics such as appointing a global advertising agency, PR agency in the key market, and in today’s world a strong digital partner who has a creative fair. It is only then that we can develop destination marketing campaigns.

(The thoughts shared are the writer’s own ideas and not the views of the organisations he serves in the public or private sector. He is a former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Export Development Board, Sri Lanka Tourism and retail giant Lanka Sathosa.)

(Courtesy of Daily FT; edited version)

Can Sri Lanka be the 30th State of India?

by Victor Cherubim-May 16, 2017

( May 16, 2017, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Prime Minister Modi in his address during his recent visit to Sri Lanka at the UN Vesak Day Celebrations stated: “whether it is on land or in the waters of the Indian Ocean, the security of our societies is indivisible”

UPFP MP Udaya Gammanpila echoed the silent sentiments of many in Sri Lanka and questioned Modi’s authority to make such decisions for Sri Lanka. He is quoted in the press as stating: “that his speech and actions only confirmed that Modi has partially acquired Sri Lanka as a province of India”. He went further and said “Modi indirectly says that our actions affect the security of India, and therefore we cannot do as we please. Is this not a threat towards our independence?”

The Hanuma Bridge has not even been conceived, or is there a blueprint for construction, in circulation? But rightly or wrongly, it is already a bone of contention.

The fear psychosis

What Modi said and what perhaps, he meant, may have been taken out of context. But if there is a fear that Sri Lanka is at risk to be swallowed by India, then it is a sad day that our High Commissioner in New Delhi did not raise this concern before the official invitation or even after as Mr. Modi could have done “due diligence.”

On the other hand, if Mr.Modi wanted to raise the issue of making Sri Lanka, a sovereign state as an appendage of India, at the whim and fancy of a more powerful and larger neighbour, the matter could have either been treated with derision or diplomatically handled.

Let us imagine for argument that Sri Lanka could be added as the 30th State of the Republic of India at some distant future, what action are we talking in Sri Lanka to safeguard our integrity, our independence? The viable solution to this vexed question is that we in Sri Lanka have preserved our sovereignty and our freedom as a small island in the Indian Ocean over 2500 years or more and we are able to defend ourselves as we have done one way or another in the past. Shall we say, “have no fear Ravanna is here, or better still, our Mahinda is here?”

For a moment, may we also consider why would India want to be saddled with Sri Lanka, with all the “hum drum” of our varied activities and problems with added burden of debt? Is India so desperate to acquire Sri Lanka now or later?

The new world order

Whilst the world is witnessing a new phenomenon of isolationism, protectionism, “America First”, or “India First”, there appears to be a vacuum which has been created and is being filled by mutual cooperation, globalism and international understanding among nations.

We see this in the role Sri Lanka is playing as a friend of both India and China, not through default, but through necessity. As a result it is able to talk to both China and India on equal terms, without aspersions, but openly.

Who knows why Modi came to Sri Lanka days before the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) in Beijing?

Could Sri Lanka have acted as an honest broker to diplomatically sound Beijing about the $57 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a key part of the “New Silk Road”? This corridor runs through disputed Kashmir, which India has quite naturally rebuffed.

Sri Lanka has eyes to see, but will she be heard in Beijing?

What is seen by the outside and what is commented on, is not what is seen diplomatically from the inside?

“Wars begin in the minds of men and it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be built.” This is part of the UN Charter. It is well know but more easily said, than done.

It is not size of a nation or the voice of a people that matters today in global politics. It is quiet diplomacy.

The BRI (Belt & Road Initiative) would see 60% of the global population and around a third of the global GDP which will be linked through a network of Chinese Bank (AIIB) $100 billion fund, bank rolled into ports, railways, roads, energy power grids and industrial parks that will make once a camel road, as the new development powerhouse of the 21st Century. The aim of this move is to ward off the thought of conflict in the resolution of national and international dispute and turn to development infrastructure as the new diplomatic tool of survival over the forty or more years of the foreseeable future. Could it be the Marshall Plan of Asia and Africa?

India re-orients its policy on the Sri Lankan ethnic question

Modi with Tamil National Alliance leaders, headed by R.Sampanthan

India appears to be in the process of re-shaping and re-orienting its policy on the Sri Lankan ethnic question once again. This was evident during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to Sri Lanka from May 11 to 12, writes P.K.Balachandran in www.southasianmonitor.com

By Editor on May 16, 2017

Modi found time for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a group of Sri Lankan Tamil parties, only at the fag end of his visit. The appointment was given only at the eleventh hour, and the meeting which took place at the airport lounge just before Modi’s departure, lasted just 15 minutes.

This sharply contrasted with his engagement with the Indian Origin Tamil (IOT) estate workers and their leaders in the Central Highlands of the country. He opened a hospital for them, addressed a mammoth public meeting and had talks with their leaders.

Modi’s visit showed that India’s emphasis has noticeably shifted from the Sri Lankan Tamils’ issue to issues of the Indian Origin Tamils (IOT) – ie. from the indigenous Tamils of Sri Lanka to Tamils who were taken from India to Sri Lanka by the British to work in British-run coffee, tea and rubber plantations between 1823 and 1939.

Frustration With Sri Lankan Tamils

India’s shift is rooted in two factors: Its 34-year experience in trying to solve the Sri Lankan Tamil question has not yielded results. In fact, the involvement has taken a heavy toll in terms of money and lives. India lost 1,500 soldiers and a former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in trying to bring the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels to accept the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987.

India’s efforts to get political power devolved to the Tamils through the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 failed also because of Colombo’s obduracy. Even after the successful conclusion of its military campaign against the Tamil Tiger militants in 2009, Colombo has been reneging on its promise to devolve power to the Tamils forgetting that India helped it fight the Tigers on the understanding that after the war, power will be devolved to the Tamils to bring the curtain down on the ethnic  question.

To this day, eight years after the end of the war, the India-Sri Lanka accord remains unimplemented in its essentials. India’s frustration with Colombo only increased when the latter failed to honor its solemn pledges to the international community on post-conflict reconciliation measures including devolution of power to the Tamils.

From Political To Economic

In the meanwhile, India had changed its foreign policy orientation from the political to the economic. New Delhi is now more interested in promoting trade and investment rather than securing for various communities their political and economic rights.

Apart from an economic self interest characteristic of a developing nation, New Delhi also believes that economic engagement with other countries will strengthen its ties with those countries and give it political clout.

New Delhi also believes that marginalized and depressed communities will be able to enhance their political power if they get economically empowered. Economic engagement with India through trade, investment and India-funded development projects will lead to economic empowerment, which will eventually lead to political empowerment.

Pursuing this line, India had tried to get the Sri Lankan Tamils to use the economic opportunities provided by India after the end of the war. Trade and investment exhibitions were held in the Tamil-dominated Northern Province and railways were restored. But the Sri Lankan Tamils showed no interest in using the opportunities. Their leaders and opinion makers actually spurned these efforts saying that they expected India to do only one thing – get them a political solution which it promised 34 years ago.

Political Solution A Far Cry

But there is little that India can do to bring about a political solution as events from 1987 show. Even the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987, which was backed by a military threat, did not work. India could only force Colombo to sign an Accord but it could not force it to implement it.  As the saying goes: “You can take the horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink.”

As on date, while the Tamils are continuing to spurn India’s offer of help to improve their economy, at least a section of the leadership of the majority Sinhalese community in South Sri Lanka, is open to accepting India’s plans to boost trade and investment in mutual interest.

The government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is certainly interested. Even a staunch opponent of the government and a Sinhalese nationalist leader, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is interested, as was evident during his meeting with Modi on May 11.

Therefore, India sees openings for itself in the Sinhalese South, rather than the Tamil North. India is keen on having a hold on the Colombo and Trincomalee ports – the former because 70%  of that port’s business is with India, and the latter because it has strategic value in the light of India’s plan to keep the Bay of Bengal as an Indian lake safe from Chinese intrusions.

Renewed Ties With Indian Origin Tamils

India is looking to re-build its ties with the Indian Origin Tamils (IOT) in the plantations. The IOT community is about 1,500,000 strong. In colonial times the welfare of the IOT was partly the government of India’s responsibility and the latter had posted an Agent in Kandy. To this day, there is an Indian diplomat posted in Kandy as an Assistant High Commissioner.

After India and Sri Lanka got independence in 1947-48, the Sri Lankan government denied citizenship to the IOT and wanted them to get back to India. But India would not take them as it felt that overseas Indians should become citizens of their host countries. This resulted in the IOT remaining “stateless” for years. The problem was partially solved in the 1960s when the Sirima-Shastri pact gave some Indian and some Sri Lankan citizenship, leaving a residual category as “stateless”. Eventually, thanks to the foresight and political bargaining skills of the IOT leader, S.Thondaman, all IOT got Sri Lankan citizenship.

However, the IOT remained the most backward of the main communities in Sri Lanka. They continued to live in crowded estate ‘Line Rooms’, had little education and economic opportunities. They had no land to build their houses and government welfare schemes were denied to them because they were supposedly looked after by the plantation companies they worked for.

The government of India, which had previously had some scholarship schemes for the IOT, stepped up its aid. After the war, a project to build 4,000 houses for them was started. And on May 12, Prime Minister Modi announced the decision to build 10,000 more. The IOT leaders have asked for a total of 20,000 which in all likelihood, New Delhi will give.

Modi and the government of India are pleased that the IOT and their leaders are themselves seeking development assistance from India, unlike the leaders and opinion makers of the Tamil North who not only do not want such assistance but mock at it as an unwanted gift.

The IOT, besides being of recent Indian origin, are also part of the Indian Diaspora in contrast to the indigenous Sri Lankan Tamils who are not. Successive Indian governments have interacted with and fostered relations with the Indian Diaspora through the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). IOT are part of it and as such their leaders have had opportunities to attend GOPIO conferences, interact with top Indian leaders and businessmen and present papers on their condition and aspirations.

Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka this time round is a clear indication that henceforth India will focus on the Indian Origin Tamils and the Sinhalese majority in the south with only a marginal involvement with the issues of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

(The featured image at the top shows shows Indian Prime Minister Narndra Modi with leaders of Indian Origin Tamils)

 

India re-orients its policy on the Sri Lankan ethnic question added by Editor on May 16, 2017
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MiG-27s bought at inflated prices

Rajapaksa govt.’s controversial MiG deal – Part I

By C. A. Chandraprema-May 16, 2017, 8:17 pm 

In 2006, reports appeared in the print media about alleged irregularities in the purchase of four MiG-27s from Ukraine and the overhaul of four other MiG aircraft which were already in the possession of the Air Force. Since the change of government in January 2015, the new government has shown an interest in investigating the so-called ‘MiG deal’ and we have seen occasional reports in the media about the progress of the investigation. Back in 2006, the two most important allegations about this transaction centred around the difference in the price of the MiG-27s bought in 2000 and 2006, and the manner in which the payment was made. In 2000, the first four MiG-27 aircraft along with the accompanying ground equipment and spares had been bought at a total price of USD 8 million (or two million USD per package).

MiG-27s bought at inflated prices.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Political Predators Mistakenly Called The Joint Opposition

“The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.” ~Bertrand Russell

MAY 17, 2017

When the carcass of our polity is sprawled across the landscape of the country, when the carcass is well beyond recognition, when its heart has stopped beating, its nerves ceased to twitch and its blood has hardened so much so that it’s no redder, but eerily crimson, we know that the predators have done the job. Fortunately we have not arrived at that burial ground as yet. The heart of Sri Lanka’s polity is still beating; its nervous system is intact and its blood still redder than ever. The Joint Opposition that is parading our streets and feeding a starving media with delusional tidbits of political character-assassination is made up of the Rajapaksa family and other parliamentarians who contested the last General Election on the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) ticket. They were the ones who opposed Maithripala Sirisena’s Presidential bid on January 8, 2015. They were the ones who backed Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bid for an unprecedented third term Presidency.

What is the common tie between the Rajapaksas and these other political hoods who have opted to stand behind Mahinda Rajapaksa and his blatantly deep corrupt practices? I have written about this before and have no hesitation in writing again and again, even to the utter boredom of the reader. They are the comrades-in-arms (or more aptly, comrades-in-‘alms’) of the Rajapaksas when they had the coffer-keys. Make no mistake. It’s all about the money. From power they got the keys to coffers and after that it was always money, money, money. With that money they entertained their friends; with that money they had unlimited luxuries; with that money they acquired cars and houses and girlfriends and boyfriends. All decipherable signs of moral decay were present; all tangible results of avarice were in evidence; all nuanced cryptograms of sloganeering were abundant. Yet the majority in the country refused to see. They refused to look at them, for they did not want to see what lay beneath the veneer.

It is quite natural for any victim of any crime or misdemeanor to confront the truth. That is a human condition and we find that in abundance in everyday lives of many men and women. For what reason or excuse, I’m not qualified to reason out. Yet its corrosive presence, one simply cannot dispute. This is the gullibility political sharks of a yester-regime exploited to the hilt. The gullibility of the masses was shown when the Rajapaksas declared that they were ready to go to the ‘electric chair’ to safeguard the ‘honor’ of the brave soldiers who fell on the battlefield. The phony patriotism of Rajapaksa and his henchmen is exposed as nothing but phony. But patriotism, if craftily sloganeered and presented as justifiable and gut-wrenching as the Rajapaksa cronies were capable of portraying, it is really dreadful. It has been recorded in many an international fora and has been debated whether the subject of patriotism defined in a narrow context of local politics is valid and whether that patriotism offers a blanket assurance of insulation from the international audience seeking justice and fairness to all people living in the world, as a majority or a minority. Such nuanced arguments are a way beyond these pathetic, uninformed merchants of corruption and nepotism.

The May Day show has understandably given Mahinda Rajapaksa and his cohorts a false sense of hope; it has given them a massive ego-push that the crowd that gathered on the Galle face green came on their own volition. If one is offered a bottle of arak and a packet of rice and curry and free transport, of course, who is going to refuse that on a national holiday? The enormous wealth that the last regime made via various deals is coming out now. In 1960 and 1970 the United National Party (UNP) managed to gather massive crowds for their May Day rallies. On both occasions the UNP lost at the Elections. This delusional madness of the Rajapaksas and their supporters would eventually have its infectious effect claiming not only their immediate staff and cohorts, but will trickle down to the broad masses that rally around him and his failed policies of phony patriotism and groundless and unproven love for them.

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Gunning down Narcotics Rangajeewa: result of a conspiracy of the Police top brass ? -Poojitha disobeys Sagala’s orders and suppresses investigations

(Lanka-e-News -16.May.2017, 6.15AM) In connection with the murder of a police officer and causing serious injuries to two  others of the anti Narcotics bureau on 9 th  May following a  shooting incident  on Moratuwa Road , Piliyandala , grave suspicions have arisen that it was a consequence of  the illicit connections existing between the gunmen  and those within  the anti narcotics bureau , based on reports reaching our Lanka e news inside information division.

The main reason supporting this view  is the publication of false media reports  distorting the true picture regarding  this incident by the anti narcotics bureau , and despite the minister of law and order Sagala Ratnayake naming DIG Latheef to be entrusted with the task of probing  into this and furnish a report  , the IGP still  dilly dallying without delegating those duties to Latheef , even at the time of publication of the report .Latheef is well reputed as a rare police officer who executes his duties efficiently and impartially.Besides , Latheef being the chief of the STF ,he is equipped with all the resources to conduct a thorough investigation  into this. 

Even  after the minister instructed the IGP to provide  him with a comprehensive report  within 3 days , that is before the 13 th pertaining to the unprepared raid conducted by the anti narcotics bureau team   , the IGP even on the 13 th the date of the deadline had not entrusted Latheef with the task nor instructed the CID to investigate. Besides , the Anti Narcotics Bureau is still continuing with the probe. 

It is very evident from this , the IGP and  DIG Kamal Silva in charge of Anti Narcotics Bureau are together seeking to suppress this investigation.

Background of the incident.

It is very clear this attack was based on a plan to murder most notorious  IP Neomal Rangajeewa who has been  in the Anti Narcotics Bureau for donkey’s years. Rangajeewa is a notorious wheeler dealer putting through illicit deals in association with drug dealers . However , he is so crafty that using the unscrupulous media coolies ( now in plenty in SL) creates the impression to the outside he has performed heroic feats , and therefore a ‘great hero’, falsely  though .He has been collecting colossal amounts of money from the drug dealers , and the higher ups too have been  getting  their shares  through him.

Rangajeewa is a millionaire who owns 5 super luxury homes and vehicles which the police itself has detected.  Among his vehicles are : A truck that transports containers at Colombo Port , a Caterpillar he gives on hire, a Backhoe and many more. It is obvious just an IP cannot amass  this amount of assets out of his salary and rewards from Anti Narcotics raids. Owing to this reason alone , from the time of IGP Ilangakoon , over 15 complaints have been receieved against him.

Rangajewa had the ability to seize  drugs  at any time . If  the anti narcotics bureau following its raid is unable to report the necessary quantity seized to the higher ups , Rangajeewa negotiates with  a drug dealer , and produces a quantity as having been  seized. What is specially  noteworthy is  , he always produced the addicts with the  heroin , but  not the dealers with the  heroin .

Kamal Silva is the longest serving Director  in the Anti Narcotics Bureau. Even after he received his promotion as DIG , he continued in the Anti Narcotics bureau despite the fact  , he ought to have been transferred to another division based on police procedure .Yet he was kept back at the Anti Narcotics division . In addition ,  nobody was even appointed to fill  the vacancy  of Director   that arose following his promotion . That is, Kamal was acting as Director too. Poojitha who was also  a director of the Bureau one time , knew  what huge  amounts of bribes and kickbacks  can be earned while being in that position.

By all these maneuvers and moves  it is very clearly proved  IGP Poojitha is implicated in the drug dealings by keeping back Kamal Silva as Director Narcotics Bureau  even after his promotion  .

Lanka e news on 13 th of March exposed  that when Kamal Silva opened a 4 storied luxury hotel on 11 th March at Elakande road  clandestinely , the media spokesman, lawyer Ajith Rohana nicknamed ‘parrot’ secretly participated in the opening .

The supervisor of the hotel built out of illicit earnings  of drug dealers is unbelievably an officer of the anti narcotics bureau itself by the name of S.I Mahinda . Kamal Silva has even got Mahinda a land and built a house in the vicinity of the hotel for him so  that the latter can look after the affairs of his hotel .

How did a police officer amass so much wealth to build a four storied hotel ? (Read Lanka e news report dated 14 th March captioned IGP and Anti narcotics chief permit mastermind behind massive cocaine smuggling operation to give the slip ! -How did Anti Narcotics chief build 4 story hotel? ). 

Based on all these exposures ,it is crystal clear from the chief of Narcotics Bureau Kamal Silva down to Rangajeewa there is a group within the Bureau engaged in large scale drug dealings and collecting kickbacks from drug magnates with the consent and concurrence of the IGP. We have been exposing these corrupt and illicit activities for over a decade .

Rangajeewa of course who has been posing as a  great ‘hero’ had helped himself, and helped  the Anti Nacotics Bureau higher ups through massive kickbacks collected from drug barons.

Hiddent truth vs. what is revealed ….

The story related now by Anti Narcotics Bureau chiefs that two officers and  Rangajeewa  went to conduct a raid on the 9 th is an absolute lie. That ‘outing’ was not to conduct a raid. Factually they went for a drug deal. This is borne out by the fact that when they go on a raid ,three officers along with the driver do not go on such a mission.In any event  Rangajeewa did not know they were headed for  death and disaster in this outing.

The decoy in this so called raid was 'Nasar' .The latter himself has a putrid record . He was several years ago arrested with 8 kilos of heroin in Puttalam and it was Rangajeewa and his group that arrested him. The suspect was severely beaten following the arrest with handcuffs on , and his arms tied round a coconut tree.

When Nassar was being fetched to Colombo , the vehicle in which the group was travelling pumped fuel in Puttalam . It was Nasar’s credit card that was used for that. Nasar was later produced  in court  by Rangajeewa’s assistant Ruwan Kumara. Based on the written records the time difference between Nasar’s arrival in Colombo and the time his credit card was used to fill fuel was 15 mins.

Nasar was acquitted on the grounds that Colombo cannot be reached within 15 mins. starting  from Puttalam. This was in fact based on a deal struck between Kamal Silva and group with the accused. 

Thereafter , Nasar was carrying on his heroin business again without hindrance  at top gear , and it is Kamal Silva and group that obstructed the other officers whenever Nasar was to be arrested. This was  when same Nasar served as a decoy for Rangajeewa on the 9th .Nasar is a bosom pal of IP Wjesekera who is in turn a favorite subordinate of  Kamal Silva of  the same narcotics division. If Nasar betrays Rangajeewa , it is obvious  Wijesekera followed by the IGP Poojitha will all be exposed. 

On the 9 th night ,Rangajeewa and two police officers following the trail instructed by a decoy , had parked the Alto  vehicle of Rangajeewa on Moratuwa road , Pliyandala in the vicinity of People’s bank and Commercial bank .Another Alto vehicle was also parked close by. The group that was coming to meet had called by phone  had told to take the vehicle a little forward and reverse it in order to identify it. 

Accordingly , just as Rangajeewa’s vehicle was moved to and fro ,two individuals who came on a motor cycle fired with their T56 guns at the group in the  car at once .Following the spray of bullets , the driver Constable Abeywickrema died immediately, and  Rangajeewa sustained head and chest injuries . His brain has been damaged following the head injury . He is now in the intensive care unit supported by an artifriicial respirator. His revival is difficult according to the doctors. 

The attackers have fled after firing into  the air to deter and daunt the police further. The gumen have later abandoned the motor cycle near a shop on Dehiwala Road , Maharagama.The motor cycle was later found .

Nasar who was serving as a decoy was  released by the anti narcotics bureau after questioning.

The crucial question is , despite the minister in charge of the police giving clear instructions to entrust the investigations to senior DIG Latheef the STF Commandant, why is the Anti Narcotics Bureau still continuing with the investigations without  entrusting it even to the CID ? What is the big secret  behind this ? Do the anti Narcotcs bureau  have special knowledge pertaining to organized crimes apart from  narcotics detections? Or is it because if another  body inevestigates, the cat will be out of the bag , and therefore those behind the scene  have strong motive to suppress serious issues and their own grave criminal involvements ?

The attack -There is more than what  meets the eyes and ears …

Though no proper investigation is on going against the criminals , Lanka e news has decided not to reveal any information our inside information division has garnered because that  may be cashed in by  the accused. We shall  hence reveal those details at a later time. In any event we shall expose those against whom , an accusing finger is being pointed at. 

The accusing finger right now is being pointed at the IGP and the very chiefs of the Anti narcotics Bureau .Will Rangajeewa go against them , and if so , will he disgorge the damning  information about  the huge amounts of bribes collected from him ?  Therefore is there a  necessity for him to  be liquidated ?

Second possibility : Was this a plan to exterminate Rangajeewa before he can become a witness in the mass murder of prisoners of Welikade jail committed on the orders of Gotabaya ? It is significant to note , it was Ranagajeewa after the riots within the prison was brought under control, who had a list of names with him of the prisoners who were incarcerated based on heroin charges . It was he who called them by their names , identified and handed them over for the killings.

Rangajeewa had given evidence in the CID and before  the Commission investigations conducted into those murders  subsequently . Evidence surfaced during the investigations , Rangajeewa and Gotabaya have had a telephone call conversation prior. Hence , was this an attack  based on a  plan  to save Gotabaya ?

Thirdly , was this orchestrated by a group of drug dealers within the anti narcotics bureau who has an inveterate grudge against Rangajeewa? When Rangajeewa despite being an anti narcotics chief is engaging in drug deals , and therefore having his own favorite drug dealers whom he favors and pampers , it is natural for other drug dealers to turn bitter against Rangajeewa .

While these are the actual possibilities , the anti Narcotics Bureau high ups saying this crime could have been committed by Wele Sudha is most ridiculous. Though many drag Wele Sudha’s name for everything today, he had never in his drug dealer history committed contract murders or even attempted to commit them . His trademark was bribing and winning over people , and not paying to kill people.  It is also  not impossible that one of those connected with the prisoners who were killed most ruthlessly by Rangajeewa in the Welikade prison avenged that crime via the attack .

Attempted murder on Rangajeewa and murder of Douglas Nimal are linked …

If the investigation into the attempted murder of Rangajeewa is being conducted ,the murder of IP Douglas Nimal on 25 th April 2006 at Aturugiriya must also be reviewed .  This is because in both these attacks Poojitha has been incriminated , and there are a number of similarities between those. Along with Douglas  Nimal his wife too was murdered. Though the individuals behind that crime have not been identified  yet, even a Kindergarten class child is aware  ,  that was an inside  job of the Police.

Douglas Nimal was attached to the Dematagoda police and anti narcotics division. He was a brave law abiding officer of the STF who was  engaged  in anti terrorist operations in the East for 9 year. Believe it or not , after he took over the anti narcotics division  of police , he conducted over 300 raids and apprehended the drug dealers including Kimbula ele mafia members  within just a year. At that time there were those who could not bear to see  Douglas Nimal and his efficiency . He was within some months transferred to the 4 police stations in Colombo and he was discharging to ordinary tasks. Finally he was attached  to the Dematagoda police. On  a raid conducted by him one day , two police officers were apprehended. Sadly however orders were received from the top to release these police officers. It is noteworthy , at that time it was the present IGP who was the DIG in charge of Colombo.

When the two police officers were released , Douglas Nimal took pains to make an official  record of that. The high rung officers including Poojitha and  Sarath Loogoda who were offended by  it , through a notorious drug dealer woman by the name of Zulfikar  obtained a statement against Douglas Nimal and saw to it 8 most efficient police officers including Douglas Nimal were arrested and thereafter  remanded.

In Zulfikar’s  first statement Douglas Nimal was not mentioned. Yet after recording a second statement of hers , Poojitha and group got Douglas Nimal also remanded.  So it was Poojitha the present IGP  who ruined and wrecked the career of an honest efficient officer like Douglas Nimal who apprehended over 300 heroin suspects merely based on a statement recorded of an infamous heroin peddler .

Douglas and his group who suffered untold hardships in remand custody were   finally released on Attorney General’s (AG) advice.  Douglas Nimal made all the preparations to file action in the Human Rights Commission on 27 th of April 2006 against the injustice perpetrated on him , while Poojitha was targeting him for more vindictive action. 

Mysteriously he was murdered two days prior to that – on 25 th of April. The assassins who used T 56 weapons for the killing fled away after the murder. Though this crime took place when the war was raging , and the road barriers could have been used effortlessly to arrest the culprits  , Poojitha never took such action , let alone thought about it. When one officer asked for permission to do the needful , Poojitha bitterly berated him .After some time two individuals were arrested at Modera  to  divert  public atyention . After a while the individuals were released on bail. Nevertheless when these suspects were returning home on the 29 th of June 2010 in a three wheeler after attending courts for their case , they were abducted by the white Van. Until today no one knows what happened to them thereafter.

Poojitha the beast who is now made the IGP ,is trying to cover up  his bestiality and brutality by ordering  the police force to meditate to  prove he is after all human , and in addition   keeps about 100 Buddha statues before him when he  worships. Anyone who displays piety unduly is a hypocrite truly . Piety displayed is hypocrisy betrayed  is an old adage. Poojitha is the classic example.

There Is nobody in the police force who does not know that Poojithas resented officers like Douglas Nimal who abided by the laws and performed duties duly, and therefore  got him  killed  . At the same time there is also no officer in the police force who does not know that Rangajeewas who   wickedly bent and twisted the laws to earn filthy lucre  with the consent , concurrence and collusion of Poojithas got the punishment they richly deserved – gunned down. 

By a special reporter of LeN  inside information service

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by     (2017-05-16 01:12:38)

Another corrupt activity at TISL was exposed

May 16, 2017

Senior journalists cum election observers thwarted another sinister attempt by staff members of Transparency International Sri Lanka to robe them of traveling allowance for attending a workshop on Election Monitoring on Monday (15th May) at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.

The staff led by Manager EU project attempted to obtain signatures of the participants for a travel allowance without mentioning the amount they will be paid. The payment was between Rs.1000 to 1500 and with that amount most of the participants couldn't cover not even the bus fair from their respective hometowns.

When the payment being made to the participants,they observed that payment sheet had not indicated aforesaid amount being paid and refused to accept the  allowance. Senior journalists,who have traveled hundreds of kilometers to attend the workshop then questioned the manager of EU projects who was earlier also accused of ransacking funds whether this is the integrity of the TISL.

Due to the questioning TISL staff had to re arrange the payment sheet to make available the amount of the allowance for the participants. The participants left the workshop in disguise and some of them wowed that they will not take part in the election observing with TISL thereafter. Meanwhile, few others have decided to make a written complaint to the Board of Directors at TISL.

This issue was later taken up at the special members day program organaised by the director board where senior members of TISL Chandra Jayarathna, Mrs. Nelum Gamage, Lasantha de Silva and C. Dodawatta have voice concern over the incident. They asked the management not to compromise the integrity of the organaisation.

They were critical of the amateurish way of conducting programs by the TISL.

Rohitha’s bribery case to be heard in July

May 16, 2017

Colombo High Court has decided to hear the case filed by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption against former Minister of Mahinda Rajapaksa regime Parliamentarian Rohitha Abeygunawardene regarding illegally earning nearly a sum of Rs. 43 million on 3rd and 4th July.
Meanwhile, on his request Mr. Rohitha Abeygunaardene has also been allowed by Court to go abroad.

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption filed the case at Colombo High Court against Mr. Rohitha abeygunaardene charging that he, during 31st March, 2004 and 31st May, 2006, while being a Member of Parliament illegally earned a sum of Rs. 43 million as bribes and violated 23අ(1) clause in the Bribery Act in Sri Lanka.

Saudi soldier killed in clashes as siege of Shia town enters seventh day

A number of people have been killed in Awamiyah since Saudi security forces raided the town on Wednesday

Photo taken by local resident shows vehicles stand ready to demolish buildings in Awamiyah (Twitter)

Alex MacDonald-Tuesday 16 May 2017

A soldier was reported killed by gunmen in the Saudi town of Awamiyah where a "siege" by security forces entered its seventh day, according to the interior ministry. Five members of the security services were also injured.

Several people have been reportedly killed in the town after Saudi security services launched a raid in the Eastern Province town early on Wednesday, claiming the historic Almosara neighbourhood was being used as a hideout for Shia militant groups.

Gunmen have repeatedly opened fired on police and roadblocks have been placed at entrances to the town, restricting access.

The Eastern Province has a large Shia population who have frequently been accused of being linked to Iran and carrying out anti-state activity. Awamiyah, in particular, has been a flashpoint - in March, a teenager was killed by Saudi police after they "responded as necessary" to gunfire from militant groups.

Another aim of the raid, however, appears to be to enable the demolition of Almosara to make way for a planned renovation project. Activists have posted pictures and videos of bulldozers being accompanied by heavily armoured military vehicles towards the site.

One Awamiyah local, speaking to MEE on condition of anonymity, said that residents were working together under a state of "siege" to try and keep local amenities running.

"But regarding electricity still there is lots of houses outside Almosara without electricity, living on generators," they said. "As a result of the destruction of public and private property that was imposed by Saudi forces, many generators were damaged."

Video sent to MEE appeared to show concrete blocks placed on roads leading out of the town, though this footage cannot be independently verified:

"Since the final exams started on Sunday, in specific periods people can go out especially in the morning during school time from a specific road, with fears of being harassed, arrested or being shot carelessly and killed as reported," the resident said.

"Even while answering your question, everybody in my town can hear the sounds of shooting by armoured vehicles."

Boy, aged two, among several killed

According to a statement from the interior ministry on Friday, workers on the project in Almosara "came under fire and their vehicles were targeted by explosives" from within the neighbourhood. A two-year-old Saudi boy - identified by the pro-government Al-Arabiya news site as Jawad al-Dagher - and a Pakistani resident were killed in the shooting.

The ministry did not specify when the attack took place but said criminals engaged in the drugs and arms trade had tried "to jeopardise the project and protect their terrorist activities that they launch from the abandoned houses in the neighbourhood".

Al-Hayat newspaper also reported that a man wanted by the authorities had been shot dead, while the Mira al-Jazeera news site claimed two locals had also been killed by the security services in the ensuing clashes.

"A citizen was confirmed martyred as well as another of Indian nationality after being shot by Saudi army gunfire," the online newspaper reported on its Facebook page. The European Saudi Human Rights Organisation (ESHRO) identified one of the men as Ali Abdul Aziz Abu Abdullah.

Dozens have reportedly been injured. The interior ministry said 14 people were wounded, including two Pakistanis, an Indian, a Sudanese and four policemen.

"The situation's miserable," a resident told AFP, asking for anonymity. "We think it will take a long time to finish this operation."

'It's really hard for people and you can imagine these army vehicles, they would open fire like 24 hours. People can't sleep'

- Ameen Nemer, activist

Residents have also reported a lack of water and mains electricity, with only private generators providing power.

People from the Almosara neighbourhood have been asked to leave by authorities, while photos circulating on social media have shown special police wearing balaclavas and camouflage pants moving residents in armoured cars.

Ameen Nemer, an activist originally from Awamiyah, told MEE that "most of the entrances to Awamiyah" had now been blocked off and that there was only one entrance still in use, which was also frequently closed.

Project puts pressure on residents

The planned "renovation" of the historic 400-year old Almosara district has been highly controversial. In April, the United Nations called on the Saudi government to halt the project, warning that it threatened "the historical and cultural heritage of the town with irreparable harm".

“Residents have been pressured in many ways, including through power cuts, to vacate their homes and businesses without adequate alternative resettlement options, leaving them at best with insufficient compensation and at worst, with nowhere to go," said the UN Special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha.

The Awamiyah resident said he was deeply worried about the threat to Almosara.

READ ► 

Saudi palace coup: The sequel

"The government doesn't want to improve the city. They mainly want to killed some men hiding inside Almosara."

Awamiyah was also the home of Nimr al-Nimr, a Shia cleric executed in January last year for "terrorism," leading to massive protests internationally, including the sacking of the Saudi embassy in Iran.

Nimr was a driving force behind protests by Shia that began in 2011 and developed into a call for equality in the Sunni-majority kingdom.

Since then, scores of activists have been arrested or killed, sometimes due to torture and execution.

Nemer said the spiralling violence in the town stemmed from the government's harsh response to calls for reform.

"I believe the government has, from the beginning in 2011, dealt with the [protesters'] demands in a military way, in a police way, that's why the thing has turned into chaos," he said.