Priyath B. Wickrama to run for chief minister versus Shan Wijelal!

 Sunday, 13 October 2013 

At the next election for the Southern Provincial Council, the president has decided that, Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrama will contest as the chief ministerial candidate against incumbent Shan Wijelal de Silva.

The president is to again apply his ‘setting one against the other’ theory which he had successfully tested in the North Western Provincial Council polls and to field Priyath B. Wickrama against the incumbent CM, calling him a proud son of the Ruhuna as a mark of gratitude of the people there for having rendered an immense service to them by way of gifting the ‘Magampura Port’ to the Ruhuna.

This decision comes due to the president’s well knowing that traditional SLFPers countrywide are rejecting him, and he has impressed upon his advisors the need to create a new group as opposed to these traditional party loyalists. SLPA Chairman Priyath B. Wickrama is well known for his devotion to the president and MP Namal Rajapaksa. As a result, Mr. Priyath B. Wickrama is due to enter politics with blessings of the Rajapaksa family.

Bribery Commission slammed for not following COPE directives

 Sunday, 13 October 2013 05:02

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has been slammed for not following directives of the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) to investigate cases of corruption found in state institutions.

The main opposition UNP has said that the CIABOC has not followed the parliamentary directives and investigate corruption cases amounting to hundreds of billions.

UNP MP and former Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has told parliament that during his tenure as the head of the Committee had forwarded 16 cases of corruption to the CIABOC.
He has explained that while the cases were forwarded in 2007, the CIABOC has failed to inform parliament of the progress of the investigation.

He has added that the then Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara had ordered the head of the CIABOC to submit to parliament a progress report on the investigations.