Missing Tamil journalist: octogenarian parents urge international investigation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 April 2015, 23:09 GMT]
Eight years have passed since 37-year-old Tamil journalist Subramaniam Ramachandran was arrested by the occupying Sinhala military at Kalikai Junction in Vadamaraadchi, Jaffna. One month after the SL military ‘abduction’, France-based media watchdog, Reporters sans frontières (RSF) stated in March 2007 that it was in a position to affirm that the Sri Lankan military participated in the arrest of journalist Mr Ramachandran, who was the Vadamaraadchi regional correspondent for newspapers Valampuri and Yaazh Thinakkural. His 85-year-old father and 83-year-old mother are still languishing without knowing what had happened to their son. Ramachandran's nine and twelve-year-old children have been expecting the return of their father for 8 years, the aged grandparents said in a video interview to TamilNet urging global attention on the plight of their missing son. 

Journalist missing for 8 years: Subramaniam Ramachandran, who was abducted in 15 February 2007

“We want to see him before we pass away,” says his crying mother Mrs Subramaniam. The parents were interviewed at their residence at Thunnaalai East in Karaveddi, Jaffna. 

Ramachandran’s father complains that the global media watchdogs have abandoned them and that the domestic investigations would not deliver anything.

“The time for domestic investigations are being extended and extended, but the investigations are yet to reach our area of Vadamaraadchi,” he complained. 

According to Mr Subramaniam, his son was stopped by the Sri Lankan soldiers in front of the military camp at the junction on Point Pedro - Kodikaamam Road on the fateful day of February 15, 2007. The neighbours had witnessed his arrest, he said. 

“The SL military arrested my son and handed him over to the EPDP for interrogations,” he further says. 

“They were waiting for my son at Kalikai. They didn't dare to do it at his tuition centre,” he said. 

A few days before the ‘abduction’, Ramachandran had written for the Jaffna daily Yaazh Thinakkural about the involvement of a businessman and Sinhala military officers in illegal sand scooping. 

Mr Subramaniam and Mrs Subramaniam, the parents of Tamil journalist Ramachandran abducted by the SL military and the EPDP paramilitary in February 2007

Ramachandran was taken to notorious Pallappai camp of the SL military intelligence, the villagers believe. In August 2013 the SL military, which had vacated from Pallappai, instructed the people not to dig the wells in an attempt to cover up alleged mass graves. SL military (SLA 524 division) was stationed there for more than 14 years since 1999. 

The representatives of International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) who visited North recently said the journalists were still being subjected to surveillance and harassment although there was improvement with regards to media freedom. The journalists in Jaffna urged direct role of global media watchdogs in investigating the assassinations and forced disappearances of Tamil journalists. 

Although there is some development in the South, especially with regards to the investigations on the assassination of Sinhala journalist Lasantha Wickramatunge and one or two cases of assassinations on Tamil politicians to showcase to the outside world that the new regime is taking the investigations serious, there is no focus at all on the systematic assassinations and abductions carried out on Tamil journalists from North-East, the journalists in Jaffna said. 

The crimes committed against journalists in North and East were carried out with a genocidal intent. 

Equating the acts of genocide committed against Tamil journalists with the crimes committed in the South that only had the intention of defending the regimes, is a crime practiced by some international outfits, the journalists in Jaffna said. 

In the meantime, investigations carried out by the new regime have revealed that a squad of Sri Lanka Navy was deployed by former Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in carrying out certain assassinations, including that of Lasantha Wickramatunge and Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Maamanithar N. Raviraj. 

Dozens of cases of missing and assassinated Tamil journalists and thousands of cases of missing Tamil students and youth have not gained proper attention. 

The new regime is only interested in smokescreen exercises in order to buy time and space in Geneva with behind-the-scene geopolitical manoeuvrings to nullify the demand for meaningful independent international investigations on the genocidal crimes committed by the Sri Lankan regimes in the past. 

“As Tamils mark 10th anniversary of the assassination of TamilNet Senior Editor Sivaram and 15th anniversary of Nimalrajan, the correspondent for BBC and TamilNet in Jaffna, global Tamils should do whatever needed to address this massive imbalance,” a journalist in the island who submitted a detailed report to the OHCHR Investigations on Sri Lanka (OISL) told TamilNet, handing over a copy of his 10-page report submitted to OISL last year.

Related Articles:
13.08.13   New mass-grave site found in Vadamaraadchi, Jaffna 

​Witnesses Will Be Protected —  Eran Wickramaratne

Wednesday, April 08, 2015

There have been many issues pertaining to the contracts that were awarded by the previous regime that has come under scrutiny of the current government. Among these projects are the Chinese projects and there have been many opinions expressed in this regard. The government too has come under severe criticism for their indecision regarding these projects with various ministers expressing various differing statements regarding these projects, and the Chinese contractors expressing contrary statements. Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Deputy Minister of Highways Eran Wickramaratne expressed his views on the investment and road development projects. He also said that in the name of development of the country, a large amount of money was used fraudulently to construct roads and expressways. He charged that commissions were given and some contracts were also given to family and friends without following any proper tender procedure. Wickramaratne also outlined the progress made by the government in its 100 day program pledge to the people.

Following are excerpts of the interview: 

By Camelia Nathaniel

Q:  with the 100 days almost up what has the government achieved so far?

A:  What we promised in the 100 day program can be divided into two broad groups. One is good governance related issues and the other is economy related issues. On the good governance related issue we promised in 100 days to create a legal frame work. One is we brought in the witness protection act and no one needs to worry anymore about giving evidence in any case. In the past people did not want to get involved in reporting any crime, as they were afraid that they would be identified and then would have to face numerous problems. However with the bill being brought in these witnesses need not be at the receiving end. Hence anyone who comes forward to give evidence will be protected in the future and any pressure on them will not be there as they will have legal protection by the law.

Q:  Wasn’t it the former government that initiated the drugs bill?

A:  Yes it was and we brought in a couple of acts that the former government had initiated, like the drugs bill. It was their bill and it required a 2/3rd majority in parliament while Maithripala Sirisena was the minister of health, but they still failed to pass it in parliament. So I will leave it up to you to speculate why. However we brought this act to parliament and polished it up and got it passed.

Then there was another act regarding the sales of tobacco and the percentage of cover it could have on the wrapper etc. Again it was blocked by the previous regime, but we got it passed.

Q:  Much was said regarding the right to information bill, but so far nothing has been done, why?

A: We have presented to parliament the right to information act as well. This we spoke of while in the opposition and now that we are in government we have presented it to parliament and within the next few weeks it will be passed. We have also drafted another act because there is so much corruption in this country, and there has been corruption on a large scale, the audit processes must be strengthened and the audit process must be made independent from the executive arm of government. That is the present not the ministers cannot interfere and it must be reported to parliament. According to the constitution the parliament is supreme on matters of finance. So we are bringing in a new audit act and within the 100 days we are expecting to have that passed too.

Then during our campaigning we said that for good governance there should be separation of powers between the president, the executive and the judiciary. The first thing we did as we came in was to clean up the judiciary. We put basically the most senior judge on the bench to the helm of the judiciary and we established the principles in the judiciary and the legal profession the principally seniority, in management the principally seniority.

Q: There are various speculations regarding the separation of powers and the abolition of executive presidential powers, lately. Can you explain exactly what the government’s plan is regarding this?

A:  In terms of the separation of powers, our view was to abolish the executive presidency, but other parties have not agreed on that, therefore we have proposed the 19th amendment and we called a session of parliament last Tuesday, but for this we need a 2/3 majority in parliament, because this is a constitutional amendment and this is not an ordinary law.

Therefore we have spoken with the other parties and presented the 19thamendment. The main features of the 19th amendment are that it limits the terms a president can serve to two terms. It has also reduced the duration of the period that a president can serve from 6 years to 5 years. It has also reduced the immunity of the president and the discretion of the president where in the past he could dissolve parliament after one year, but now with this bill he cannot do that anymore, and he has to wait 4 ½ years before he dissolves parliament.  Those are some of the changes that have been made.

Q:  With regard to the road development, your government claims to have detected many flaws in the tender procedures and thus have stalled several of these projects. Can you explain why and the current progress on these projects?

A:  On the southern highway they had employed a consultancy firm and they were paying that consultancy more than Rs. 120 million per kilometre. This is one of the revelations. There are so many professionals in this country like engineers, consultants etc who could have been employed in these projects but they had all been sidelined. Then we are not paying our public servants adequately etc and under these circumstances, it is a crime to spend so much on this firm for the construction of this highway.

Further on the road from Kegalle on the kandy road, there is a bypass of about 4 kilometres. That has been built at over Rs. 700 million a km. However in spite of this colossal expenditure, still there are problems in this project. There are land slips and numerous issues facing this road.

The issue is that these projects are all done without following proper tender procedures and any competitive bidding. These projects have been just given to these firms. The previous regime had also told some contractors to fund themselves privately through the banks. They had done so and NSB had released nearly Rs. 28 billion for this purpose. However the payments on these loans are not being paid and although there has been a government guarantee the cash has been going out and the due process has not been followed on some of this process that has led to many questions that have been un-answered. There are two issues in these projects one being the price escalation and the other is over design. The over design will increase the cost of the road and then they take a percentage of that. So that is what was happening where they were putting the cost higher because they were getting a percentage as kickbacks.

Then in the Northern highway project, you are basically going out of Colombo that had ten parts to it. Of this 2nd 4th 5th and 6th parts were given to local contractors without any bidding process. Each segment was between Rs. 40 – 50 billion for the project. However the first segment was not given and anyone knows that the first segment is the busiest segment going out of the capital city anywhere in the world and coming into the capital city, to ease the traffic and also to address the environmental issues.

Then to join that road the specialist had said that the exit should be from Kadawatha, but apparently Basil Rajapaksa is alleged to have moved that to Enderamulla. That is very suspicious given the fact that he is the Gampaha district MP. They did not follow the trace that was suggested by the specialist.

Simple Regulations To Promote Good Governance

By Rajiva Wijesingha -April 8, 2015

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP

It is with great sadness that I speak today, for the first time as a Member of the Opposition. Last year I recall a member of the Government saying in a Committee that there was no need for an Opposition when members like me were present. He was being critical, but I am proud of my constant quest for reform, in line with the basic principles of Liberalism.

But it is very sad to have helped to have a government elected for the purpose of Reform, and to find no interest in promoting the changes we need to strengthen Accountability, Transparency and Responsiveness to the needs of the people.

I can sympathize with the argument that we need more money, but we must also show that we are cutting down on waste. We must show that we are using money to enrich the people, not to win elections. We must make it clear that this government is interested in development activity, not simply in transferring powers from the President to the Prime Minister and then rushing for an election before the main promises in the manifesto have been fulfilled.

Mr Speaker, money is needed to carry on the business of government, but at present no one knows whose business is what. We promised a Cabinet determined on a scientific basis, but instead we combined Fisheries with District Secretariats, Highways with Higher Education, Economic Affairs with Cultural Affairs and Children and Youth. And then we change things round, but fail to allocate responsibilities to Ministers for over a fortnight. How can you ask Parliament to allow you to raise even more money, when no one has any idea who will be responsible for expenditure and for productive outcomes?

This is not a new phenomenon. Two months after the election, we had a Gazette transferring the Consumer Affairs Authority and the Cooperative Wholesale from the Ministry of Food Security to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. This may have been part of the horsedealing the Prime Minister engaged in, as he explained to those who had supported the present President and were astonished at the failure to adhere to the highest standards of financial integrity in constituting the Cabinet. But when the government seems actively to create room for suspicion, people may wonder whether we are opposed only to excessive corruption, and the Prime Minister believes corruption of a mild sort is acceptable.Read More

Sri Lanka parliament rejects raising US$3b in bonds

File photo of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. (Photo: AFP/Ishara S Kodikara) 

08 Apr 2015

Sri Lanka's new government suffered its first setback in parliament on Tuesday when its proposal to raise the short-term state borrowing limit by over $3.0 billion was shot down by legislators.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's new government suffered its first setback in parliament on Tuesday (Apr 7) when its proposal to raise the short-term state borrowing limit by over US$3.0 billion was shot down by legislators.

The government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had asked the 225-member legislature to approve increasing the treasury bond limit by 400 billion rupees (US$3.0 billion) to 1,250 billion rupees.

MPs voted 31 in favour and 52 against in what analysts said was a major embarrassment for the government.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake played down the setback, saying the rejection of the resolution did not prevent the government tapping into bonds and raising money at rates higher than in the treasury bill market.

He said he had wanted to retire high cost bonds by issuing shorter term, lower interest treasury bonds with a maturity of one year or less. "This has no impact to governments day-to-day businesses," Karunanayake told reporters at a hurriedly summoned press conference.

Deputy Economic Development Minister Harsha de Silva said the rejection would mean the state having to borrow at rates of 10 to 11 per cent compared to the treasury bill rate of about 7.5 per cent. "This will be a bigger burden on our people," de Silva said.

The government came to power after Maithripala Sirisena won the backing of most of the opposition and defeated strongman President Mahinda Rajapakse, who had ruled the country for a decade.

Despite lacking a parliamentary majority, Sirisena appointed the then-opposition leader Wickremesinghe to form a minority government. Tuesday's vote exposed its vulnerability. Sirisena came to power promising to scrap the executive presidency and return the country to a parliamentary democracy.

In his election manifesto, he promised to dissolve parliament on Apr 23 and call a fresh parliamentary election after establishing democratic institutions to run the public service, the police, the elections department and the judiciary.

Higher education minister Rajiva Wijesinghe resigned last month, saying political reforms had not gone far enough. The new government has drafted a constitutional provision to reduce some of the president's executive powers and a two-day debate is scheduled from Thursday.

If cleared by the Supreme Court, the constitutional amendment requires a two thirds majority which the government does not have on its own, unless the opposition agrees to support. The opposition has been reluctant to support political reforms.

- AFP/de

​Chandrika Gets Lead Role

Maithripala Sirisena, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Vasudeva Nanayakkara

Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Chandrika Kumaratunga has been put in charge of reconciliation issues by President Maithripala Sirisena with the blessings of Ranil Wickremesinghe. Both will hope that she will get on with her new role and leave aside the current political dynamics. Wickremesinghe will be very keen to ensure that he can talk to Sirisena without Chandrika’s over powering influence although Wickremesinghe is patently aware it is a troika that is governing Sri Lanka at the moment.

Chandrika Gets Lead Role by Thavam Ratna

Do Universities Teach Their Students?

At its very core, the basic philosophy of AOL is that employers now look for certain qualities in young graduates in addition to the diploma they carry with credentials of knowledge in a specialized area of education. These are leadership, communication, empathy, teamwork, reflective ability and multiculturalism.

by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne

( April 8, 2015, Montreal, Sri Lanka Guardian) The latest issue of The Economist points to the fact that most of us regard the gold standard for a university to be the Oxbridge model combined with a gravitas on research. 

Do Universities Teach Their Students by Thavam Ratna

Universities; Something Is Very Wrong In Sri Lanaka

By Yudhanjaya Wijeratne -April 8, 2015 

Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

On the 31st of March, a cordon of Sri Lankan Police – in full riot gear, truncheons and shields at the ready – stood on one corner of the Kollupitiya junction. One of them carried a gun that rained tear gas cartridges on the road ahead. In front of them was a short stretch of Galle Road, empty save for one young monk with a stick in his hands and a few university students, fleeing back into the army of protestors that all but blocked Galle Road. Towards the sea, where Marine Drive connects to Galle Road, stood a vast mob behind a cloud of white smoke.

The riot gun made a dull thumping sound.

I’m not sure you can see all of this in the video I captured. Maybe if you slow it down, look through it frame by frame, you can pick out the pieces.

*I tried sidling up to the action and getting a better shot, but stepping out of that bus was a fool’s errand – not only did I end up with my eyeballs set on fire, but the photos suffered horribly from camera shake. The police near Liberty Cinema also did not seem to appreciate a Lumia thrust into their faces. Perhaps they were Apple fans.

Surprisingly, nobody knew this was happening, or why. People in Bambalapitiya, had no idea; neither did people at Colombo Fort; nor, for that matter, did people on Duplication Road. It was a bit surreal. News sites reporting later only said that the police had closed off a section of the Galle Road and fired tear gas at “a group of university students”.

That wasn’t a group, it was a bona fide battalion. The line stretched from Barefoot to Kollupitiya junction. At some points the crowd was four lanes wide. Here’s a video showing just how bad it was. So the question is, what the hell happened?

The Reasons                     Read More

Sri Lanka Should Resist Beijing's Overtures

 BY ELLEN BORK-APR 7, 2015

In January, Sri Lanka’s voters kicked out President Mahinda Rajapaksa for being corrupt, repressive, and too close to China. The country’s new government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena, promptly drew attention and not a little admiration for halting a Chinese-led development project, citing environmental and other problems.  

The project’s fate remains unclear. What is obvious is that Beijing will fight to retain its commercial and strategic interests in Sri Lanka. President Sirisena was showered with promises of aid during a visit to China in late March.   

Beijing may also be close to scoring a victory on another matter to which it attaches great importance. An unnamed Sri Lankan official suggested that Colombo might refuse to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader. That’s highly significant, given that Sri Lanka is 70% Buddhist and home to a number of important Buddhist sites. “The Dalai Lama is very important,” the official said, “but the close relationship with China is more important and we have not changed our stance on ‘One China’ policy.”   

Sri Lanka has a lot of things on its agenda, including long overdue national reconciliation following its bloody civil war, accounting for political prisoners, and establishing the rule of law. Deferring to Beijing’s demands over the Dalai Lama might seem a small price to pay to retain good relations with Beijing and at least some of its largesse. 

It would be best for Sri Lanka’s new leaders, President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremesinghe, to take a principled line on Tibet right from the start. Even a small country should be in charge of its own affairs, such as who may visit, and with whom its leaders will meet. Beijing cares desperately about how the world treats the Dalai Lama and Tibet. Receiving him is an important moral position, but also one that carries significant political capital. It will only become harder to turn this policy around once IF the wrong decision is taken.

Colombo should also correct its language on Tibet policy. The statement given by the unnamed official contained an important error. The concept of ‘one China’ refers to the U.S. decision to agree that Taiwan -- not Tibet -- is part of China and eventually abandon recognition for Chiang Kai-shek’s government in Taipei, to which the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) retreated in 1949. 

Lodi Gyari, a former envoy of the Dalai Lama, explained why “one China” is a misnomer when it comes to Tibet in remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2012: 

No Tibetan government has ever claimed to be the government of China, so the application of the ‘one China’ policy to Tibet or for that matter, the PRC government’s ‘one China’ principle that stresses the inalienability of both Taiwan and mainland China as parts of a single ‘China’ — simply does not arise.

….

Yet, the PRC government vigorously pursues efforts to extend the applicability of ‘one China’ to Tibet and, in recent years, it has misled a number of governments into believing not only that the ‘one-China’ policy applies to Tibet, but that it restricts the extent to which their government officials can interact with Tibetan leaders in exile, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We believe that the intended effect of China’s initiative is to limit outside governments from playing a constructive role in promoting a mutually acceptable negotiated solution for Tibet. Indeed, by accepting the applicability of ‘one China’ to Tibet, governments are subtly aligning themselves with the Chinese position that the Dalai Lama is trying to ‘split’ China. 

Gyari argued that foreign governments have “the duty out of self- interest and in the interest of global peace to promote a peaceful solution to the issue by engaging with both sides in the conflict.” Gyari’s full remarks appear here.  

There is no historic basis for applying the “One China” policy to Tibet, and no legitimate purpose to denying the Dalai Lama a visa or refusing to engage with representatives of the democratically elected exile government. Speaking accurately about Tibet is necessary if there is to be a solution to problem that Beijing created by invading it in the 1950s. However, the price to Sri Lanka of adopting Beijing’s position on Tibet would be much higher.

Govt. Politico uses Police to target Tiran

By Prasad Gunewardene-2015-04-08

Video - https://youtu.be/AD4HexSjE1A

Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Parliamentarian, Tiran Alles yesterday categorically rejected allegations levelled against him by the police in a media release issued last evening with regard to activities of a tsunami establishment named 'Radha' and charged that a government politician had used the police to sling mud at him and tarnish his image. "I was not questioned nor my statement was ever recorded by the police regarding such concocted allegations," he stressed.

The MP addressing a media briefing at his Colombo office said he was totally unaware of the contents in the Police media release with regard to certain financial irregularities in the establishment called 'Radha' which dealt with tsunami relief work from 2006. "I will name this politician shortly and the wrongdoings committed by him with ample evidence to prove," he added.

He said the Police Media release issued to the press had noted that the passports of him and five others had been impounded by Court and lamented that he had not been informed either by the Police or the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration of that Court decision. "I am a person who travels overseas often. Had I gone to the airport I would have been embarrassed due to this arbitrary action of the police," he explained.

He said he would take necessary legal action against the Police for making such allegations without even questioning him or the Executive Operating Officer of 'Radha', Saliya Wickremesuriya. "I was only a non-executive Chairman of Radha who attended board meetings for one year. All businesses of that organization were done with Cabinet approval and I can prove it," he added.
Alles stated the motive of the move was to slander him and told journalists he would raise a breach of privilege in Parliament after meeting the Speaker today and also file action in Court for personal defamation.

The MP said the complaint had been made to the Police by the 'Dushana Virodhi Peramuna' and charged that the Police had acted in a biased manner in conducting the investigation. "This is nothing but to target Tiran Alles as my name had been mentioned everywhere in that press release," he pointed out. "Today any Peramuna could make any complaint to the Police to arrest anyone," he scoffed.

In response to another question, the MP further pointed out that he was harassed in a similar way in 2007 and in the end he was acquitted as the Attorney General withdrew all charges framed against him. Asked about the reference to Emil Kanthan named in the Police media release as being a partner in the alleged acts at Radha, Alles quipped, " Even in the past when I was targeted they brought this name up and former UNP Minister
Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene told the CID that Emil Kanthan was his Coordinating Officer and not a LTTE member."

The MP charged that a few members in the government were using the Police to harass political opponents.

Previous Govt. Allocated Rs 170M to Build School in Uganda

[In Sri Lanka there are many schools without toilet facilities]

08/04/2015

Making a shocking revelation in Parliament yesterday (7) Policy Planning and Economic Affairs Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva said, that the previous government had allocated Rs 170 million for a construction project in Uganda despite repeated refusals from the Ugandan Government.

The Deputy Minister said he was not aware of what happened to the said project and allocation but the contractor had been paid USD 94,000.

Dr. de Silva said so, responding to a query raised by DNA MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

“We do not know the purpose of this project and how the rest of allocation has been spent. First the funds were meant for constructing a vocational training institute. But the Ugandan Government refused. Thereafter, the Lankan Government expressed their willingness to utilize the amount of funds to construct two buildings. The Ugandan Government rejected that proposal too. After that the then government decided to construct a women’s hostel there despite rejections. We are not aware of what happened to that allocation,” he explained.

There are many schools without toilet facilities

MP Dissanayake responded, “This is an amazing story. The funds belong to the people of this country. People here complain of shortage of buildings for schools. There are many schools without toilet facilities.

No funds have been allocated to provide people with drinking water. But they pumped funds to Uganda despite opposition and rejections from that government.”

Dr. de Silva said, “The project had been changed thrice. The contractor which had been waiting was to be paid USD 156,827 for their time. Thereafter, that amount too had been reduced and they were paid USD 94,000.”

Both Dissanayaka and the Deputy Minister were disturbed heavily by Opposition members which provoked Dissanayake to say that those who stayed like meek cats when one family was robbing the country are now shouting.

“Those timid cats should have made such noise against those who robbed public money and not to disturb us,” he said.
By Gagani Weerakoon and Skandha Gunasekara

Air Hostess Released For Namal Unable To Describe Exact Location She Worked: Full Report

April 8, 2015

The Sri Lanka airline cabin crew member released for Namal Rajapaksa’s work was unable to describe the exact location where she worked, the Weliamuna report reveals.

Cabin crew member Nithya Senanaya Samaranayaka had been released from the Sri Lankan airline to work at the Presidential Secretariat following a request from the then Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, but she was actually released for Namal Rajapaksa‘s political work. She was paid approximately Rs. 158,000 per month by both the airline and the Presidential Secretariat.

She had been paid by the airline including allowances for cabin work although there is no explanation of what services she provided except that she had been over paid more than 4.2 million rupees.

According to the Weliamuna report upon enquiry Nithya said;

1. Their was no identifiable special project that she was attached to.
2. She was release at the request of Namla Rajapaksa MP whom she know
3. She could not recollect the names of officers who had known at the Temple Trees or Presidential Secretariat except Ms. Deepa Liyanage.
4. She was unable to describe the exact location where she worked except the fact that it was some location in the Temple Trees and not in the Presidential Secretariat.
5. As and when Ms. Samaranayaka wanted, she also flew as a Cabin Crew member once to London and mostly to Regional destinations and she did have ‘recognition’ to be on roster. The promotion letter contains a provision that she is required to complete a minimum of 55 hours of flying per month.

J.C . Weliamuna led Board of Inquiry recommends that the Sri Lankan airlines take action to recover the overpaid amounts from the staff member who has been identified in the report and direct prosecutions of those who authorized misappropriation of public finance.

Read the report below;