Executive Presidency, The Social Change Expected In Sri Lanka

| by Victor Cherubim

( August 1, 2014, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) An overhaul of the system of government in Sri Lanka has been mooted before and has not only been thrashed out within our country but also has been raised at a public gathering of Sri Lankans at the House of Lords, London 30 July 2014, chaired by Lord Sheikh, the Conservative peer, David Cameron’s key Muslim Adviser.

Sri Lanka, for whatever reason is always news. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s non visit to the Commonwealth Games 2014 at Glasgow, the issues of the crestfallen Muslims of Lanka, the forthcoming Uva Provincial Council Elections, the formation of a common front against the Executive Presidency, the cost of living spiral, the impending invasion of masses of Indian fishermen into Sri Lankan waters on August 2, 2014 in protest, are all crowding on us.

For a variety, diversity, ingenuity and multitude of other reasons, as well, Sri Lanka is highlighted in bold print. We can take this as a criticism or as a compliment. As one of my friends sent me a curt SMS reading:

“Truths untold make untruths thrive

Truths told make minds open wide

Open minds make justice and injustice known……..”

When you no longer have external sources of support that are totally reliable, what do you do? There is no need for me to prompt, we naturally turn inward to our own resources, or we can continue to focus on our disappointments. The test according to sages is to let go of any bitterness and strengthen from within.

This perhaps, is what our President is doing at the moment. President Mahinda has highlighted “that in 2005 after 56 years of independence, the GDP was only US$24 billion and per capita income a mere US$ 1,241.Twenty years ago, only 46 percent of people had electricity and infrastructure was of a very low level. Inflation was an awe of nearly 12 per cent per year and climbing, foreign reserves were only sufficient for about 6 weeks of imports. Unemployment was about 7 percent and poverty was over 15 percent. The debt level was nearly 91 percent of the GDP.”

The President further said, “When we built ports, airports, highways, road and power plants, we were not thinking only about you and your children, but also about the unborn generations of all Sri Lankans.”

Thinking about our future

Think about where we were in 2009 and where we are now. Many will argue that it was all done for familial reasons, for personal gain. Others will say that whatever has been done could not have been achieved without sacrifice. Still others will maintain that there was a price to pay for our development. The non-contents will challenge that progress without law and order is half the progress. The very opportunity to express these varied but poignant views is in itself a breakthrough.

What exactly did the Executive Presidency achieve, if any?

Safeguarding our nation is the top priority of the President. Was this achieved?

The protection of our civilisation, our heritage, the cultural traditions and our values. Was this achieved?

Enriching our rural countryside, beautification of our towns and cities, bringing a modicum of pride in our people. Was this achieved?

Security of life and limb, was this achieved?

The cost of economic development

The people in the developing world, Sri Lanka no exception, want to be up with the latest trends, but really, what is “modern” is very often outdated. Besides, developments initiated by governments are pretty much the same the world over. “It is the same technology, centralisation and infrastructure.” It is pulling people towards cities via roads. It may be all right for a large landmass like India, would it be appropriate for Sri Lanka?

What we in Sri Lanka really need is development from the bottom up – grassroots, community based, rural development. Though it may be healthy development, the downside of this process, is that it is relatively slow. Could we in Sri Lanka have afforded to wait another thirty odd years for this kind of “appropriate, socially sensitive” development is another question? The war left us no choice but to tackle our mode of transport, amenities and communication, but it also put us in a debt trap all the same.

Increasing social inequalities

The constantly increasing inequalities in the distribution of income, is our Big Issue. “Whilst 20% of the richest grab 54% of the national income, the poorest 20% gets only 4% of the income,” according to a policy report, this is spiking crime and anti-social acts and mounting debt, at the same time the legitimate concerns and measures taken for safeguard of our people out of poverty, are being pursued. But we also see the evils of foreign intervention to keep our country, in permanent bondage with all forms of torment, coercion.

Political change

Political change like economic change is rooted in grassroots support. There has always been an insistence on parliamentary democracy. But the exigencies of the situation, perhaps, could have caused the creation of the President Jayewardene 1978 Constitution. There is a clamour now that “national interest demands that the Executive Presidency be abolished.”National interest for all intents and purposes needs to be tested at the ballot box.

It is argued that the abolition of the Executive Presidency is only one aspect of the change that is necessary in the light of changed circumstances. Whether the electorate is ready for a root and branch change is debateable.

NPC Chief Minister’s Battle With The Chief Secretary

By Austin Fernando -August 1, 2014

Austin Fernando

I wrote an article under the tittle NPC- “Driving” Or “Driven” To “Failure Of Administrative Machinery”? on 20th April this year. It was due to the messy events that were taking place in the Northern Provincial Council due to lack of understanding of due processes, precedence, experience etc and ongoing political manipulations. I observed such during a short visit to Jaffna with my friends Late Professor Emeritus Ranjith Amerasinghe and AttorneyJayampathy Wickramaratne, PC.

The issues ended up in Supreme Courts as a Fundamental Application filed against the Chief Minister by the Chief Secretary. The determination was to be declared on the July 30th, but has been rescheduled for next Monday (August 4^th 2014).

As a person interested in devolution of power or sharing power, I am awaiting the text of the determination. My reproduction of the article is to open space for readers to review the stances of the parties in the light of the determination with experiences we have had as public officers of yester years, in addition to how we interpreted the law as administrators.

Both legal luminaries for the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary being seasoned attorneys would have dealt with the case using some or many of the material I have placed in the article and even more due to their vast knowledge on Administrative and Constitutional Law. It could be even none used as administrative thinking does not necessarily click with legal thinking. Of course, if some valid point I raised in the article which would have been pertinent for argument had not been used, it may certainly frustrate the defaulter as after-thought. It is a pity if that happens.

Finally, I repeat what I have written at the end of this quoted article. Read More

Our Kafkaesque nightmare 
Sri Lanka's decay into authoritarianism is slow and steady
 
 August 1, 2014 
Sri Lanka suffers from a democratic deficit and a shrinking space for fundamental rights, the very rights that are enshrined in the Constitution. That the government has succeeded in clamping down on the media coverage of those frequent acts of violations, could well hide the grim reality from the public. But that would not undo the strains they have on the democratic fabric of the country. Sri Lanka's decay into authoritarianism is slow and steady. With each new incident, many of which go unnoticed, democracy is dismantled.
Here are some of the recent incidents that took place within the last couple of weeks:Journalists
On Friday (25), a group of journalists from Jaffna, who were on their way to Colombo to participate in a media workshop on Digital Security, was stopped at the Omanthai checkpoint, and their vehicle and documents were thoroughly searched by the military, who then allowed them to proceed. They were stopped at a second military check point, where the soldiers made a surprise discovery of two packets of cannabis concealed under a seat and handed the journalists to the police. The journalists accused the military of planting the narcotic substance in their vehicle. After being held at the police station for two hours, they were released and instructed by the police to return to Jaffna.
 
Unheeding police instructions, the media personnel arrived at the Sri Lanka Press Institute in Colombo, where the media workshop was scheduled to be held. By the time they arrived cameramen from the State television, ITN were hovering around the institution. Then the mob came, armed with recycled placards, which were earlier seen in a State orchestrated demonstration held against another workshop in Negombo. Some of the protesters last Saturday were also present at the protest in Negombo. It does not need to be a behavioural scientist to know who was orchestrating the protest. The connivance of the military intelligence was palpable. Then, the organizers of the workshop were threatened with death if they went ahead with plans to hold a media conference. The death threats were issued through unlisted phone numbers.
 
Petition
Earlier on 23 July, a public petition launched by a leftist party, the Front Line Socialist Party, against the rising wave of ultra-nationalism irked the Borella Police, which summoned an organizer of the event Senadeera Gunathilka for questioning. Those same law enforcement agencies looked the other way when the mobs were on the rampage at the two media workshops.
 
They also stood by as the mobs, including some attackers dressed in Saffron robes, attacked a peaceful procession organized by another leftist party on 26 July. The procession by the United Socialist Party was attacked at Waskaduwa, Kalutara.
 
Earlier on 6 June, a media workshop organized by Transparency International was sabotaged by the mobs. The Northern journalists who were fleeing the mobs and housed in a five star hotel in Colombo were ordered to leave in the dead of the night, by the hotel management on the instructions of the security apparatus. The journalists finally had to spend the night at the office of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA).
Sri Lanka is becoming a Kafkaesque nightmare for its civil society and media activists. The government has unleashed its subordinate institutions on the civil society activists. The intelligence apparatus, the police and the judiciary, the latter to a certain extent, have become part and parcel of this strategy.
 
Psychology
The psychology of the government is that it is unlikely to be wooed by the lessons on the importance of pluralism in a healthy society. But, like many of its international counterparts, it is thought to be cognizant of the cost associated with its misadventure; a cost that encompasses every institution party to the government's strategy, and many others, which may not have been involved.
 
The first and foremost is that a government that deprives its citizen of their universal human rights and cracks down on dissent is not equal before their international counterparts. In practice, the principle of sovereign equality does not stand for despotic regimes. Such regimes are an aberration of the international law. In fact, that is why many liberal democracies that maintain a separate peace among them, would engage in aggression, from time to time, against illiberal autocratic regimes. Such interventions, ranging from imperialism and to liberal internationalism have changed the face of humanity, often positively.

Sri Lanka is losing its democratic credentials and devaluing itself in the community of the civilized world. To add insult to injury, when the government continues to crackdown on local dissent, it would lose the remnant of its international credibility, and by extension, its sovereign credentials.
 
When the country is faced with a war crime investigation supported by the world's advanced democracies, such a credibility deficit looms large to the disadvantage of the incumbent government. Also, the regular suppression of civil liberties vindicates international concerns on the country's grim human rights record.
 
Second, the government apparatus – which, in theory are independent institutions, which have been made subordinate to the government - lose their credibility. That is why the British foreign office tsars were on their toes until the Sri Lankan Court found the former Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman guilty of murdering a British tourist. Many did not believe, not without reasons, that Sri Lankan Courts have guts to convict a local thug who had considerable political clout. Since the former Attorney General had surreptitiously withdrawn a number of cases against prominent people, including one against Duminda Silva, several years back, discerning observers are not at fault to suspect the integrity of the local judicial system.
 
The fall-out of the connivance in these institutions runs deeper, into the lower echelons. Officers of the Sri Lankan security forces already face troubles in applying for visas to Western Europe and North America. Self respecting and law abiding officers are victimized by the overall complicity of their security apparatus.
The sermons of good governance would not help. But the looming cost of mis-governance and thuggery may compel the government to change its course. To that end, a liberal interventionist approach by the advanced democracies could yield a positive outcome in the long run.

Backhoe mania of Rajapakses who play to the gallery infects Minister Weerasangili Pannikiya opportunist too

(Lanka-e-News- 31.July.2014, 11.30PM) The demented Medamulana moronic Rajapakse family ,whose every member without exception is characterized by the inborn trait of ostentatious displays and vain glory solely and wholly aimed at playing to the gallery , have made use of the backhoes too to achieve these cheap objectives. The photographs herein depict clearly two occasions when the backhoe mania that is afflicting the two brothers enslaved them. 

It is now learnt that this backhoe mania had infected the Weerasangili Pannikiyage Wimalasena hypocrite who lagged behind in education , as a result of which he could not reach beyond grade 9. The photograph herein depicts Weerangili Pannikiyage Wimalasena alias Wimalasiri Gamlath alias Wimal Weerawansa , the Minister who has as many faces as aliases on a backhoe when he attended a paddy field harvest at Ranala Puran kumburu , Kaduwela on 29 th

Several Legal Avenues Available To Prosecute Gotabaya For War Crimes

August 1, 2014

In an analysis on US national security law and policy, New York University School of Law Professor Ryan Goodman has highlighted various laws that can assist the US Justice Department and other agencies in prosecuting US citizen and Sri Lankan Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa on his alleged involvement in mass war crimes.

Gotabaya – Secretary MOD

Goodman in an article on Just Security – an online forum on law, rights and US National Security has listed out the various legal avenues available to the administration of the case against Gotabaya.

Justice department

1) Criminal liability – war crimes act of 1996

2) In the case of inadequate evidence for criminal indictment the Justice Department can pursue the Civil RICO – a vehicle for addressing organized criminal activity including international crimes – for civil/criminal liability

Justice Department and other agencies

1) IRS: Tax evasion

Through an investigation of the assets compared to any tax documents Gotabhaya might or might not have filled with the IRS as a US citizen residing abroad.

2) Human rights violations and war crimes unit: Immigration fraud

Considering the past successes in the similar case, Goodman has pointed out that Gotabaya can be prosecuted for failure to disclose material/information on his involvement in the past crimes in his application for US citizenship

Goodman has written further that evidence for any action under these provisions can be sought from the Matale Mass Grave and his involvement in it as the Coordinating Officer of the Matale district and the Commanding Officer of the 1st battalion Gajaba regiment in the late 80s.

Writing furthermore on how Gotabaya during several occasions during the past few years has publicly attempted to cover up his crimes, Goodman has noted – “US government has poured its credibility into promoting accountability in Sri Lanka and now cannot afford to stand by when its own citizen is directly interfering with prospects for independent war crimes investigations.”

Sri Lanka apologises over article on Jayalalithaa

This August 1, 2014 screenshot from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence website shows its “unqualified apology” over an article critical of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa that appeared on the Sri Lankan Army site.

MEERA SRINIVASAN-August 1, 2014 

Article published without appropriate authorisation, says Sri Lankan Defence Ministry

Following controversy over an article critical of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and an accompanying graphic published on its website, Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry issued an “unqualified apology” on Friday.

“The article which had been published without appropriate authorisation and not reflecting any official position of the Government of Sri Lanka or Ministry of Defence and Urban Development has since been removed. We extend an unqualified apology to the Hon. Prime Minister of India and Hon Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,” said the statement on the home page of the Defence Ministry’s official website.

The article was published on the Defence Ministry website, accompanied by a graphic representation of Mr. Modi and Ms. Jayalalithaa. “It was a lapse of editorial judgment on the part of the officer who was in-charge. We take full responsibility for it and deeply regret it,” Army spokesperson Ruwan Wanigasooriya told The Hindu.

Terming the visual "inappropriate", he said: "We are not a newspaper, we are a government website. This is totally unacceptable."

The views of the writer Shenali D. Waduge, a regular columnist with the state-run Daily News in Colombo, did not reflect the views of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, or of the government, he said. “We have enormous respect for heads of state,” Mr. Wanigasooriya said.

The piece, critical of Tamil Nadu fishermen and of claims made by Tamil Nadu to Kachchatheevu, comes at a time when fishermen of both countries are expressing serious concern over the absence of a sustainable solution to the Palk Bay crisis.

From Stillness To Motion And High Speed

By S. Sivathasan -August 1, 2014

S. Sivathasan

Rallying Cry

For a polity that yearned for change in the better part of two incumbencies, the coming together of multiple formations is strikingly inspiring. The single resolve welding them together is Regime Change. It is seen as the most powerful rallying cry to fuse the discordance into purpose. Executive Presidency should be terminated is the slogan. It is not the goal nor the ideal. Nor are illusions nourished that it can dazzle the multitude or win their allegiance. The institution is under attack for the riddance of the occupier. Civilized political behavior, the world may compliment.

Nine into One

Is the above understanding a splash of the unreal? No. More down to earth many would say. If the latter be true how will the future unfold? The immediate present saw politics transiting from static to kinetic. After much reflection it happened on 24^th July. What next? One can speculate. Tendencies that were disparate are now coalescing and on the verge of getting crystallized. To lend further weight, accretion of two more entities – Indian Tamil and Muslim – needs promotion. In no time the current Force of Seven needs to be seen as Force of Nine. Concurrently people would like Nine fuse into One. Like Lord Muruga displaying six faces, this single political persona will then embody nine segments. Whatever the number, what should be visible is a face of defiance. Swift progress at fusion will signify the decisive caliber of an emergent leadership.

Leading personages abandoning trivia and talking alike though differently nuanced and with varying emphasis will be a sign of serious intention. This will begin shortly it is supposed. More weighty than the spoken word is the written one. When elections are due receptivity is high. This is time to engage the voters’ mind to dwell on what is more pertinent to them and the country. The developed countries excel in doing them through the most potent mode, the Manifesto. The emergent leadership should exploit this      Read More

BJP doing a volte-face on Lanka’s ethnic issue

Guest Column by Dr Kumar David-Dated 31-Jul-2014

It seems that the Modi government is preparing the ground and softening up Tamils at home and in Lanka to ditch the 13-th Amendment and the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987; not explicitly but to go halfway down this road.

BJP Doing a Volte-face on Lanka’s Ethnic Issue 

by Thavam

Buddhist monks attend Muslim ‘Ifthar’ event : set example proving what is true Buddhism and religious amity

(Lanka-e-News- 31.July.2014, 11.30PM) While the Rajapakse regime and the JHU jointly with the terrorist monks are propagating and promoting religious hatred and violence among the races , we on the other hand take pleasure in reporting an incident where the true Buddhist leaders and Muslim leaders united to create and spread religious amity and unity.

This salutary event took place at Kurunegala Aswedduma mosque recently when Ifthar , or the breaking fast ceremony of the Muslims was conducted. On that day , Muslim religious leaders , provincial Buddhist prelates and police chiefs were invited to participate in the ‘breaking fast’ in the holy month of Ramazan of the Muslims.

The photograph depicts the welcome event and those who got together on the occasion. Lanka e News which always espouses the cause of national peace and racial harmony takes special pains to thank all those who united in the interests of religious unity and the larger interests of the country (regardless of those mischievous, murderous and marauding elements who are exploiting religious discord and dissension for selfish and political benefits ), and Das of Kurunegala who provided us with these photographs.

Jaffna Uni Academics Call For University Operations To Commence On A Fresh Slate Over Abuses In Recruitment Practices

August 1, 2014

The Sub-Committee for academic integrity of the Jaffna University Science Teachers Association (JUSTA) has released a report on the abuses that have occurred in the recruitment processes of the university, where a significant number of highly qualified applicants had been deprived of their entitled opportunities.

SB – Minister Higher Education

In the report titled ‘Discriminating against excellence’, the Sub-Committee of the JUSTA has asserted that it found ‘blatant and endemic’ abuse across several university departments and units in the selection of academic and non-academic staff.

The report notes the most prevalent form of abuse lies in the selection of probationary lecturers (assistant lecturers), where highly qualified candidates holding 1st class degrees have been systematically excluded from consideration or have been denied of positions.

The JUSTA Sub-Committee has also highlighted evidence of systemic abuse and political manipulation for non-academic staff appointments such as Computer Application Assistants and labourers.

“Favours were given to laborer candidates that were denied to highly qualified lecturers whose service the university badly needs,” the report notes.

The academics have attributed the plight to:

• political and personal patronage that operates at all levels of the university’s system
• unwillingness of Senior professors and the administration to challenge it
• Failure of the University Grants Commission to fulfill its responsibilities in the selection of able and independent council members and in the regulation of the administration of universities.

In view of their findings, the JUSTA Sub-Committee has made the following recommendations:

• Review all complaints swiftly and call back the highly qualified applicants excluded at interviews.
• To avoid retaliations on the applicants who have filed complaints, have the cases heard by a Special Review Board appointed in consultation with the Unions
• Appoint independent persons of good reputation with an appreciation of university values to the Council as external members and student representatives and academic staff must be allowed to review their qualifications
• Internal members of the Council should be advised to resign and seek a fresh mandate from their constituencies in the Senate and Faculties

The report notes the implementation of these recommendations would help university processes commence on a fresh slate where most independent internal members are not inhibited from speaking out against cases of abuse and political manipulation.

To read the full document click here

Only JVP could gain new victories at Uva – Tilvin Silva

FRIDAY, 01 AUGUST 2014 23:25

The only political party that could gain new victories at the Uva Provincial Council election is the JVP as the JVP has made all plans to take the country towards a new direction that would bring victory to the masses and take them forward says the General Secretary of the JVP Tilvin Silva adding that whether the Commissioner of Elections requests or not the JVP would always engage in politics with responsibility and aiming at victory for the masses.

Only JVP Could Gain New Victories at Uva – Tilvin Silva 

by Thavam

Several International Dignitaries Join Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)uiyu5

 Friday, 01 August 2014 

TGTE’s Senate - The Upper House of Parliament - has Senators from Africa, Europe, Asia and mericas.

The Prime Minister of Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, today announced the names of fifteen Senators for the TGTE’s second Parliamentary Session. The Senate serves as the Upper House of TGTE's Parliament.

Several International Dignitaries Join Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)Uiyu5 by Thavam

Rajiv Gandhi sent troops to Sri Lanka without consulting Cabinet, Natwar Singh says

Natwar Singh.

TNN | Jul 31, 2014

NEW DELHI: Estranged Gandhi family loyalist Natwar Singh in an interview to Karan Thapar on Headlines Today claimed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi sent troops to Sri Lanka without consulting his Cabinet. The Sri Lankan ethnic issue was mishandled which resulted in the the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, he added.

Rajiv Gandhi Sent Troops to Sri Lanka Without Consulting Cabinet, Natwar Singh Says by Thavam

Police Tells Court It Is Still Investigating BBS Members Who Stormed Rishad's Ministry

Thursday, 31 July 2014

The Kollupitiya police today informed court that they were still conducting investigations to ascertain the BBS members who trespassed into the building of Ministry of Industry and Commerce on April 23 .

Police told Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage that they were inspecting video footage obtained from media institutions. Further date fixed for September 11.

Ironically, police have failed to identify suspects even after a lapse of three months period.

On April 23, members of BBS stormed the Ministry building looking for UPFA Mahiyanganaya Pradeshiya Sabha member Ven. Watareka Vijitha Thera. A police complaint against the BBS was lodged at the Kollupitiya police by an Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.  

Attempts To Intimidate BASL President Continue

August 1, 2014

While the Police maintain a lackadaisical attitude towards conducting an independent investigation into the recent attempts to intimidate the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), the intimidations have recurred yesterday.

Upul Jayasuriya

BASL President Upul Jayasuriya has told local English newspaper – Daily Mirror that several men in plainclothes were seen hanging out near his office located in Flower Road, Colombo 3 last afternoon.

Jayasuriya had said he initially noticed an individual suspiciously wandering around his office premises at about 1.30 pm and had later walked towards the Public Library premises, where Jayasuriya claims eyewitnesses had noticed him getting into a red, unregistered car.

Thereafter, towards later in the evening at about 5.30 pm, two men in plainclothes on a motorbike had had been waiting in front of his office. Upon being questioned, they had said they are from the Police and were there for his protection.

“How can an unregistered vehicle move about in the heart of the city in broad daylight when there are so many traffic policemen about?” Jayasuriya has questioned.

A complaint regarding the suspicious activity had been lodged at the Cinnamon Garden Police Station.

The first intimidation attempt on Jayasuriya was made on July 15 where two men in a motorbike had tailed him for several hours.

More revelations of president’s photographer!

 Friday, 01 August 2014 

The ongoing confidential investigation by the Presidential Secretariat against Sudath Silva, the official photographer to the president, has exposed many illegal activities he had committed for a long period by using the president’s name, a senior official at the secretariat told ‘Lanka News Web.’

As the president’s official photographer, he draws a monthly salary of Rs. 60,000 and uses a jeep maintained by the Presidential Secretariat. Sudath Silva is now building a multi-storey luxury house at Pelawatte in Battaramulla, which has already cost nearly Rs. 60 million, the investigators have found out.

\His main income method is the photographing of local and foreign businessmen during their meetings with the president – taking their snaps chatting with the president, having tea or meals with him – prepare an album and sell it for between Rs. 400,000 and Rs. 600,000. In addition, when Sri Lankans exiled in Europe return home, he takes them to see the president, get their photographs and frame them and sell them for around Rs. 50,000 per photograph. In that manner, he has earned a massive sum from Sri Lankans living in Italy.

It is through Sudath Silva that Sinhalese who had sought refuge in European countries by claiming that Mahinda Rajapaksa was going to kill them, get to know the president closely. Most Sinhalese in Europe say that Sudath Silva comes to their countries empty-handed, but leave with various rewards given him by the Sri Lankans who undergo immense hardships to earn the money. At times, Sudath Silva cannot carry with him the rewards he receives, and gets them sent by container free of charge. To everyone, he promises an opportunity to meet the president.

The other fortune of Sudath Silva is the Geneva meeting. He volunteers to organize the Sinhalese in Europe to take them every year to Geneva for protests, as he knows what he can get. Sudath Silva collects money from local Tamil businessmen, purportedly to take the protestors to Geneva. In addition, part of the money given through diplomatic missions ends up in his pocket. The Geneva protests are a complete hoax. Most of the Sri

Lankans are dead drunk by the time they reach Geneva, and only those who can stand steady take part in the demonstration for about five minutes, then throw away their placards and go shopping. What Sudath Silva wants is to take photographs of them in the act of protesting. Then, he too, joins them in their shopping, that is to con them and get free gifts from them. Sudath Silva needs just five minutes to take photographs to convince the president that a very successful protest had taken place. Sri Lankans in Europe say that the only person benefiting from the protests is Sudath Silva. The president too, believes that Sudath Silva is a very committed man. His commitment is only to fill his pockets, and not on behalf of Sri Lanka.

In addition to such swindling, the investigation has also exposed acts of nepotism by Sudath Silva. He has been able to send his sister by the name Ranjani Silva, who is without any qualification and followed only a floricultural course, and her entire family to the Sri Lankan high commission in London. She is attached to the visa consular division of the high commission. Sudath Silva has also sent a relative of his to the Sri Lankan embassy in Italy.

Sudath Silva also mediated in the posting of Rani Bulathwela, also the SLFP branch office president in the UK, to a top position at the Sri Lankan embassy in Italy, after she lost her lawyer’s license in England. Rani Bulathwela is a very close friend of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, and Sudath Silva created the link between her and president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Taking a sheaf of betel, Rani Bulathwela arrived at the Temple Trees, went down on her knees and worshipped the feet of the president and sought forgiveness from him. In return, she does anything Sudath Silva wants to get done. It is through her that he usurps at the Sri Lankan embassy in Italy. When Sudath Silva comes to London, accommodation is provided at Rani Bulathwela’s home, but he still gets the accommodation payment given him by the Presidential Secretariat.

The investigation report is due to be handed over to the president in a few days, said the Presidential Secretariat official. The official said, however, that Sudath Silva will escape any punishment and continue to sell the president in the future too.

Previous news 

President’s official photographer has misused Rs. 8 million!