LASANTHA WICKREMATUNGA KILLING PROBE SPOTLIGHT ON MILITARY INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY

23/10/2016

The investigation into journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga’s death has become a severe indictment on the country’s former defence apparatus, which operated as a personal tool in the hands of political powers under the Rajapaksa administration.

A retired officer attached to the military intelligence unit committed suicide last week claiming responsibility for the death of the senior journalist, who was highly critical of the heads of the defence establishment.

There is an intelligence officer already in remand over the same crime, which took place in the vicinity of a high-security zone, in Ratmalana. This, and other recent findings have revealed that intelligence unit officers were involved in attacks on several journalists during the previous administration.

Purported killer

Among these is the attack on former Editor-in-Chief of Rivira, Upali Tennakoon, and the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, casting dark shadows over democratic rights and media freedom. Aside from these, fingers were also constantly pointed at the military intelligence unit for ‘white-van’ abductions in the Colombo district.

The military intelligence unit, one of the most influential bodies in the defence apparatus, was systematically politicized when the Rajapaksa family was in power. Political stooges of the previous government were appointed to top positions and were asked to carry out ‘political orders’ that had little to do with security interests of the country. No legal framework governed the operations of the body and it turned into a machinery instilling fear in society.

It is against this backdrop that names of several officers of the military intelligence wing have been linked to Lasantha Wickrematunga’s murder. There is prima facie evidence to suggest that Wickrematunga was murdered for political reasons by the military apparatus of the country. But, it is yet to be established before a court of law.

Ilandarige Jayamanne, a retired Army officer attached to the military intelligence unit, committed suicide, last week, claiming responsibility for journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga’s death. He confessed to the heinous crime by leaving a brief suicide note, which was later found in his pocket.

The ex-officer’s letter raised serious question as it was written in a highly formal tone, and was addressed ‘to whom it may concern’. The letter also interestingly referred to Prem Ananda Udalagama as ‘Malinda Udalagama’. Police investigators said it was still unclear why a different name was used to refer to the main suspect in the case.

There is also no indication that the ex-officer regretted committing the crime he confessed to, leaving the unresolved question of why he committed suicide, without surrendering himself to law enforcement authorities, in the air.

It was also discovered that the Kegalle Police had failed to get the Scene of Crime Officers (SOCO) to where his body was found – this lapse on the part of the Kegalle Police has added to the suspicion surrounding the ex-officer’s suicide. As a result of this failure, Police, at that point, could not trace fingerprints on the ex-Army officer’s body.

When CID officers handling the investigation into Wickrematunge’s death were dispatched to Kegalle after news of the death reached Colombo, they found records on the phone belonging to the self-proclaimed killer had been wiped out before his death. This raised a serious question about consequences leading to his death.

Police, however, contracted the help of the mobile phone provider, to track down records of the deleted short message service (SMS) and phone conversations leading up to his death.

One of the major challenges for the CID, at the moment, is to determine if the ex-military officer’s death was actually a suicide. As part of this process, the Kegalle Magistrate, on Wednesday, permitted authorities to exhume the ex-military officer’s body to conduct further inquiries on it: Highly placed Police sources told the Sunday Observer that the Kegalle Police team’s failure to dust the body for fingerprints was one of the main reasons for the exhumation of the body.

Eknaligoda

Investigators have said there was no evidence to suggest that Jayamanne had a personal connection with the former Editor of the Sunday Leader. Therefore, one can come to the easy assumption that some party had ‘contracted’ the intelligence unit officer to kill the outspoken journalist who stirred up a major controversy in the defense sphere by questioning the MIG deal.

The other pertinent question was whether some powerful authority wanted to turn the military intelligence unit into a personal death squad. Revelations surfaced during CID investigations into various crimes committed under the previous regime bolster this argument. But, it is important to identify this ‘authority’ and take punitive action – a seemingly herculean task under current circumstances.

Even after the new government came to power, no comprehensive reform process was carried out on the intelligence bodies.

Some of the officers involved in various controversies under the previous regime were allowed to continue with their duties without proper investigations.

Loyalists of the former defense heads held important positions in intelligence bodies, posing a serious threat to the new administrations.

Constant reminders from journalists and civil society groups to restructure the state intelligence arms fell on deaf ears, as the government was preoccupied with other priorities.

Under the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration, the Army intelligence unit came under criticism from civil society groups for not cooperating with the CID’s investigations into Prageeth Eknaligoda’s disappearance.

The CID, at one point, went on to inform court that the Army did not show willingness to facilitate the inquiry into the journalist’s disappearance.

There was even the allegation that an influential officer attached to the intelligence machinery attempted to change the state counsel appearing for the Attorney General’s Department in Eknaligoda’s case.

Aside from these, intelligence heads have also come under fire for trying to cause tensions within the ruling camp, by submitting manipulated reports to top political authorities.

Addressing a press conference in Colombo, last week, Prof Sarath Wijesuriya, a civil society leader, said Army Intelligence Chief Brigadier Tuan Suresh Sallay had ‘planted a lie’ that the entire armed forces were against the President. Prof. Wijesuriya was a staunch supporter of President Maithripala Sirisena at the last Presidential election.

“If the President wants to end this criminal activity of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), this person (Brig. Sallay) must be removed,” Wijesuriya stressed, at the press conference.

At the same event, Prof Wijesuriya also fired salvos at Defence Ministry Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi, saying the official was standing in the way of investigations.

“The Defence Ministry Secretary won’t allow those investigations to proceed because he has become a hostage to defeated forces,” he said.

However, it is now clear that the government has to resort to strong measures to correct system flaws within the intelligence units, as they are an essential part of the democratization of the country. There should be a legal and organizational framework for intelligence bodies to look into national security interests, without allowing them to function as death squads of political powers.

Such frameworks have been adopted in countries such as the US, the UK and India where there are highly vibrant intelligence arms serving the state.

Oversight mechanism

In the United States, both the executive and legislative branches of the government share the oversight of intelligence bodies. Oversight, in this case, is the supervision of intelligence agencies, making them accountable for their actions – the exact mechanism Sri Lanka lacks at the moment. Generally oversight bodies look at such basic issues as following policymaker needs, the quality of analysis, operations, and legality of actions.

Oversight in the executive branch, headed by the US President, usually focuses on covert action and espionage. Under the country’s Intelligence Authorization Act and Hughes-Ryan Act, the President must approve all covert actions.

The President also has the power to appoint commissions, which can be used to assess intelligence topics such as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks or The Iraq Intelligence Commission.

While the constitution gives the executive branch preeminence in dealing with intelligence matters, it nevertheless provides Congress with an important oversight role. The Congress’s most important source of leverage is the power to authorize programmes and appropriate funds. During the authorization and appropriations process, Congress can signal its intelligence and policy priorities through both the allocation of funds and the inclusion of non budget-related clauses in the authorization and appropriations bills.

The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, a committee appointed by Parliament of the United Kingdom, oversees the work of the intelligence machinery of the United Kingdom. It usually makes sure the intelligence mechanism is accountable to the country’s legislature.

The committee’s formal responsibilities are to examine the expenditure, administration and policies of the security and intelligence agencies as laid down in statute; the Secret Intelligence Service, the Security Service and Government Communications Headquarters. It has also extended its oversight responsibilities to include the Defense Intelligence Staff and the Joint Intelligence Committee.

The members of the committee are notified under the Official Secrets Act 1989 and are given access to highly classified material in carrying out their duties. The committee holds evidence sessions with Government ministers and senior officials (for example, the head of the Security Service.) It also considers written evidence from the intelligence and security agencies and relevant government departments.

The oversight committee’s work is confidential, though an unclassified annual report is issued. The committee also produces reports on issues of particular concern, either on its own initiative or at the request of government ministers.

But the committee makes sure that activities of intelligence bodies do not go beyond their mandate. It also protects intelligence units of the defense establishment from undue political interference.

Parameters

In India, various intelligence agencies such as the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and the Intelligence Bureau are creations of administrative orders, and are not subject to scrutiny by Parliament. This is in direct contrast to the practice of the Legislature’s oversight of intelligence agencies in countries like the US and the UK.

A study titled “Making Intelligence Accountable: Legal Standards and Best Practice,” conducted by Hans Born and Ian Leigh, captures the best components of Parliamentary oversight of intelligence bodies. Some of these are:

1. The entire intelligence community, including all ancillary departments and officials, should be covered by the mandate of one or more parliamentary oversight bodies.

2. The mandate of a parliamentary oversight body might include some or all of the following (a) legality, (b) efficacy, (c) efficiency, (d) budgeting and accounting; (e) conformity with relevant human rights Conventions (f) policy/administrative aspects of the intelligence services.

3. The recommendations and reports of the parliamentary oversight body should be (a) published; (b) debated in parliament; (c) monitored with regard to its implementation by the government and intelligence community.

4. The resources and legal powers at the disposal of the parliamentary oversight body should match the scope of its mandate.

5. Parliament should be responsible for appointing and, where necessary, removing members of a body exercising the oversight function in its name.

6. Representation on parliamentary oversight bodies should be cross party, preferably in accordance with the strengths of the political parties in parliament.

7. Government ministers should be debarred from membership (and parliamentarians should be required to step down if they are appointed as ministers) or the independence of the committee will be compromised. The same applies to former members of agencies overseen.

8. The oversight body should have the legal power to initiate investigations; Members of oversight bodies should have unrestricted access to all information that is necessary for executing their oversight tasks.

9. The oversight body should have power to subpoena witnesses and to receive testimony under oath. The oversight body should take appropriate measures and steps in order to protect information from unauthorised disclosure.

10. The committee should report to parliament at least yearly or as often as it deems necessary.

11. The oversight body should have access to all relevant budget documents, provided that safeguards are in place to avoid leaking of classified information.

A careful examination of oversight mechanism adopted by other countries highlights Sri Lanka’s lazy and loose approach on the accountability of intelligence bodies.

This has left enough space for politicians wielding power to misuse the country’s intelligence bodies for various purposes, beyond their call of duty.

This problem, without doubt, was aggravated under the ten-year Rajapaksa rule, as the military was under the grip of one family, which controlled every aspect of the state machinery.

The current administration introduced the 19th Amendment to the constitution, last year, and established independent commissions to democratize the country’s system of governance.

The controversy around Lasantha Wickrematunga’s murder highlights that the government should now embark on a comprehensive mission to restructure the intelligence machinery as it, in current form, poses a threat to the principle of ‘good governance’.

– Courtesy Sunday Observer

The Yahapalanaya saga: The end of the long beginning

 

by Rajan Philips-October 22, 2016, 12:00 pm 

Many things have happened after January 2015, and again after August 2015 –many good, more bad, and still more ugly. All were given the same pass because January 2015 was deemed a new beginning - the beginning of yahapalanaya. It has been a long beginning and we are now long last at the end of the beginning. Patience is wearing thin, not only outside the government but also inside it. Although, bear in mind, for diametrically different reasons. More than a week ago, the president bespoke to betray his impatience. Within a week the Director General of the Bribery Commission resigned, less ceremonially than when she was assigned. The Prime Minister keeps flying more literally like the Flying Dutchman than the figurative ghost ship. He has just returned from his latest travel, but will have no time for jet lag as there are quite a few fires to deal with in the government and in the country.

Jaffna was jolted back to its ‘old normal’ with the killing by police shooting of two university students riding a motorbike without stopping because they did not hear the order to stop. What is commendably not normal is the quick action by the IGP to arrest the policeman involved and to launch a CID investigation of the shooting. Colombo is now daily besieged by protests of one kind or another, or inundated by floodwaters. Regular fishermen in Puttalam have taken to street protests against unsustainable fishing practices by unscrupulous profiteers. Others living on the coast are getting restive over sand mining in their localities for Port City reclamation in Colombo. Regardless, the government seems determined to bulldoze Colombo into a megapolis of dreamy towers and dreary ground conditions. The government is seriously divided along party lines over what to do with Arjuna Mahendran for what he did at the Central Bank. Even more seriously, the government is divided down the middle, without party lines, over what to do with the Rajapaksas for what they did to the country after the war.

Arjuna Mahendran was parachuted in by prime ministerial aberration and has now become a political albatross. But the Rajapaksas are the primary reason for the yahaplanaya being. Perhaps the term yahapalanaya should no longer apply to this government except in jest. In any case, one (the SLFP) half of the national government was dead set against the yahapalanya movement in January 2015. The SLFP is now part of the government even after losing the August 2015 parliamentary election. No one can cavil at that because the UNP became ‘government’ even before winning the same August election. Not that many in the UNP did sincerely buy into yahapalanaya ideals and discipline. The old UNP bandicoots who did not do any heavy lifting against the Rajapaksas are now heavyweights in the cabinet. The youngsters who were inspired to carry the burden of opposition are now sidelined in government and reduced to being the defenders of the new status quo.

The yahapalanaya conundrum

There is no crisis, political or constitutional, as some commentators are opining. What is there is the yahapalanaya conundrum: Sirisena needs the UNP, but wants to lead the SLFP; Ranil needs Sirisena, but has no use for the SLFP; and both Sirisena and Ranil need to keep the military onside. Need and want are at the core of this conundrum. In economics, the two terms stand for different concepts. Need is necessary for survival, materially and spiritually (psychologically). Want is what we desire to have over and beyond the necessities of life. In the nineteenth century, the Young Marx described humans as "creatures of needs" and went on elaborate on the essence and the alienation of the human being. Two millennia before that, Prince Siddhartha elaborated on ‘want’ or desire as the source of all suffering and charted a path of renunciation for human salvation. In our time, wants are what that drive the scourge of consumerism. In reality, needs and wants tend to overlap. At least most people use and experience them interchangeably in life and in politics.

Maithripala Sirisena knows that he cannot survive politically without the UNP. He also knows that he cannot have any political weight without a prop that is outside the UNP. Becoming the leader of the SLFP would hardly have been on his agenda when he defected from the Rajapaksa government, but without leaving the SLFP, to become the common opposition candidate against his former president. Sirisena got his opportunity to lead the SLFP when Mahinda Rajapaksa chose to honour the tradition of peaceful transition in democratic politics unlike Donald Trump who is now bluffing to upend that tradition in the US. However, Rajapaksa has been having second thoughts about the SLFP leadership after voluntarily renouncing it, while Sirisena has not been able to take full control of the SLFP nearly two years after it was handed to him. People can understand Sirisena’s need for the UNP and his desire to lead the SLFP. What they may not appreciate is his turning out to be an imitation version of the Rajapaksas. People usually don’t like imitations, especially when they can repurchase the original if they want to.

Everyone knows that the yahaplanaya boat will not be stuck in mud as it is now, if the Prime Minister has done things differently in his choice of cabinet ministers and portfolios, did not whimsically yank institutions like the Central Bank from one ministry to another, and did not make cavalier appointments to key public positions. No doubt, the Prime Minister thinks well and means well but what Sri Lanka has needed after January 2015 is not well-intended idiosyncrasy replacing malignant autocracy but a system of governance based on institutionalized decision making that is transparent, responsive and accountable. What we have instead is personalized prime-ministerial decision making that is transparently unresponsive and indifferent to any and all concerns of others.

The President and the Prime Minister know they need each other but do not seem to have mastered the art of expanding their areas of agreement and prioritizing them over what they do not agree upon. Their peculiar partnership requires a great deal more of positive agreements than the diplomatic inertia of ‘agreeing to disagree." They cannot progress in government by agreeing to disagree. Obviously, the Prime Minister is not used to sharing decision making with another person, while the President may seem hesitant to push back on the Prime Minister in their private encounters. He resorts to public outbursts and blames the media for not reporting him in full – because he delivers his messages in two parts: one blaming what is going on in the government without his knowledge, and two asserting that he will not do anything to bring down the government. That is his way of describing his conundrum.

It is rather baffling that even after nearly two years there is no common ground between the President and the Prime Minister on the central purpose for which they were elected to power by the people, namely, exposing government corruption under the Rajapaksas and scrupulously avoiding it in their new government. One would have thought that this topic would have been the topic of daily conversation between them and that they would have to come to some understanding of the seriousness of the challenge and practical ways of dealing with it. It is a cop out to say that the remnants of the Rajapaksa regime are thwarting investigations and the prosecution of past corrupt practices. The truth of the matter is that there has been no joint-message to-date from the President and the Prime Minister, publicly and otherwise, that they mean serious business on this matter. Worse, there is corruption going on in this government under their very noses. The President’s bother is that current SLFP ministers are being unfairly picked on for nothing, while UNP ministers are enjoying all the graft and gravy.

There are understandable, not necessarily justifiable, grounds for differences between the two men in other areas – national reconciliation, the new constitution, and the UNHRC resolution. They have to deal with contending forces internally and internationally. On these matters, the two leaders will have greater public understanding on their side if they can demonstrate their unity in fighting corruption, past and present. Without that demonstration they will only cultivate public cynicism and not public support. In addition, they can make their work on contentious matters easier if they work together to address local ground realities rather than wasting time in trying to develop international protocols on how to deal with war crimes. As it has been said many times before, the insistence on war crimes investigation will become less strident if the President and the Prime Minister can act to prevent new crimes against war affected people.

COPE Report Is Due Soon: Is Ranil’s Credibility At Stake?

By Hema Senanayake –October 22, 2016

Hema Senanayake

I am not a mathematician. But I still admit that mathematics is the apex of all sciences including “economic science.” Without mathematics I cannot imagine what kind of civilization this could be. Perhaps, Prime Minister Ranil Wickeramasinghe could better explain about it.

Now, Mr. Gamini Wijesinghe, the Auditor General submitted a certain calculationbased on a certain mathematical principle. He said that if the Central Bank accepts bids to buy government bonds quoted with higher interest rates than prevailing market rates, the government would make a real loss by having to pay higher interest. This is not a nominal loss. This loss can be nominal only if the payment of interest is nominal. But the payment of interest by the government is real. Receiving of interest payments by the bond dealer is real too. There is nothing nominal in this kind of deals.

Subjected to the above mentioned principle, as far as I know, Auditor General calculated the loss to be made by the government by having to incur extra cost on interest as a result of accepting at least Rs. Five billion worth of bonds with higher interest rates maturing at 30 years, offered by Perpetual Treasuries at the bond auction held on February 27, 2015. His calculation of loss amounts Rs.1.6 billion. The loss made by the government by having to pay higher interest rate can be calculated – And nobody can challenge about it. Let me give you a very practical example.

I wanted to buy a car. After making a down payment I needed a loan to buy it. The loan amount needed was $26,000/=. Financial consultant of the car dealers company requested from a few financial institution to submit their quotes to borrow $26,000/= to be paid back in full in 60 monthly installments. One bank quoted to lend the amount at 11% interest per annum and another bank quoted with 4.6% interest rate. If I had borrowed from the first bank I would have ended up paying $ 7,918/= as interest by the time I settle the loan in full. If I had borrowed the same amount at 4.6% rate, my total cost of interest for 60 months would be $3,154/=. Would I have had made a loss of $4,764/= ($7,918-$3154) if I had borrowed at 11%? The answer is yes.

This same calculation is applicable in calculating the loss made by the government in borrowing by having to pay higher interest for Perpetual Treasuries. The only difference is that the calculation is a little bit complex because basically there are two variables involve in the calculation. One variable is the purchase price of a bond of Rs.100 and the other is the quoted interest rate. For an example one Primary Dealer offered to buy 50 million bonds worth of Rs.100 each at a purchase price of Rs.112.01 each. This means that the Central Bank receives Rs. 5,600.01 million and this exceeds Rs.600.01 million than the par value of bonds when the offer is accepted. The yield rate (interest rate) quoted was 9.99%. This has additional benefit because in general the interest rate is paid to the par value of bonds. This simply means that even though the company invested Rs. 5,600.01 million in buying bonds, the company has agreed to receive interest income for Rs.5,000 million only. It means that the effective rate of interest is less than the 9.99% in this example and this is a real example.

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Hidden conspiracy behind Mihin Lanka winding up: Employees

2016-10-22 

While claiming an alleged hidden conspiracy behind the government’s decision to wind up the budget airline Mihin Lanka, a group of employees of the airline yesterday stressed that their job security be ensured.

Speaking at a media briefing at Public Library, Colombo, yesterday Mihin Lanka purser and Secretary of the newly-formed Trade Union Ms. Primali Kumaranayake said the airline management had not officially informed them about the future of the airline and its staff.

The airline, which has announced the discontinuation of its flights and services from October 30, 2016 would still exist till March 31, 2017, the management had reportedly told the staff.

However, 90% of the 300 airline staff, including both the permanent and the contract cadres are losing their jobs with effect from January 1, 2017, while only 10% have already been offered jobs at the Sri Lankan Airlines, Ms. Kumaranayake said.

“Around 270 Mihin Lanka staff members have been subjected to grave injustice despite their service, professional achievements and seniority for more than nine years. Even though the management had informed about the merging of our flights and services with Sri Lankan, they have not mentioned anything about our future. The compensation they later agreed to pay us is unfair and inadequate,” she said.

Another Mihin Lanka purser and Convener of the trade union Ms. Shaheeka Shaheed said there is no valid and fair reason for the government to close the budget airline which was starting to gain profits on its own and has not even been declared bankrupt.

According to her, Sri Lankan Airlines had already taken over 4 aircraft and 12 destinations of Mihin. She said they were earlier told by the management that they would be recruited to the National Carrier and assured their jobs would not be in danger during the transition. (Piyumi Fonseka)

Sajith Violates Public Privacy In An Effort To Build Brand Image

October 22, 2016 

Giving scant regard to the privacy of the masses, Minister of Housing and Construction Sajith Premadasawas seen recently violating the privacy of the masses on social media by broadcasting live their personal grievances for the entire world to see.

Premadasa through his official Facebook page activated the ‘live’ feed during public day on October 19, 2016 where he transmitted through several live feeds the issues of men and women who went to him in hope of finding solutions to their housing problems.

The live feed was carried out in an effort to build Premadasa’s public image as a politician, however, Premadasa had failed to obtain the consent of these people who were shown in the live broadcast.

As standard practice, if a person is going to be broadcast live to an audience or even to record an event of this nature, his or her consent must be obtained by way of signing a consent form beforehand, however Premadasa had not followed this procedure, the Colombo Telegraph learns.

A source close to a person who attended the meeting pointed out that the public day is organized in order to find solutions to the problems of the masses. “All ministers have a public day where members of the public can go and relate their problems and seek the minister’s intervention to find a solution to it, but in this case Minister Premadasa made the public day a spectacle,” the source said.

“Many of the people who went to him on Wednesday were people who don’t have a house of their own, but that doesn’t mean they want the whole world to know about their poverty and financial issues. It’s a matter of privacy and ethics, and Minister Premadasa has violated both because he has openly shown their faces and aired conversations to the world by broadcasting this live video through his Facebook page,” the source pointed out.

“Bloody hell. Clueless mutt” someone who has seen these footages on his Facebook told Colombo Telegraph.

Premadasa’s latest stunt comes just days after a video was leaked where it showed him doling out jobs to his supporters and their relatives in his hometown who had worked in support of him during last year’s Parliamentary Election.

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Ex-wife sold Mahindananda’s London properties

Oct 22, 2016

At a television programme recently, former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said he had no property or business in London, or in England. He said his brother has businesses there.

Most politicians abusing their powers and doing business do so by naming the businesses under the name of their family members or henchmen. Accordingly, Mahindananda had his London businesses under the name of his former wife. Manhindananda and Ambanpalage Asha Vijayanthi Perera have got divorced, but they still do their businesses together. When he was the sports minister, it was a common sight to see Asha present to supervise the ministry’s tender board meetings. It was Asha who had coordinated between Mahindananda and the tender bidders.

Not liking it, Mahinda Rajapaksa and his sons used their servant-media to attack Mahindananda and Asha, not because they wanted to eliminate bribery or corruption, but because they were a disruption to their rackets. It was the Rajapaksas who had leaked the assets list of Mahindananda to websites and alternate media.

Using the illegally-amassed wealth, Mahindananda bought a luxury apartment at Sydenham Hill in London to the name of Asha. Its address is Flat 04, Blyton House, 19-23, Sydenham Hill, London, SE266SH.

A few weeks ago, Asha went to London to sell this property. That is because they were told that the media has got to know about it.

Mahindananda’s London business, Perera and Co., was run under Asha. Its account was maintained at Lloyds Bank. Its details are: Lloyds Bank PLC, account no. 03495xxx, sort code 30-92-xx (as per provisions in the data security act, the entire details cannot be given. At present, this account has nearly one million pound sterling, according to the sources that provided us the information).

Mahindananda also owns several properties in Colombo and in Nawalapitiya. All those were bought after he became a politician. But, he claims that he bought them from the money he has earned through businesses he did with money he had inherited. That is the argument given by all politicians who misappropriate earnings. But, that argument has become a joke now.

Anyway, there are many revelations about Mahindananda’s questionable properties and earnings, but neither the bribery commission nor the police have been able to take legal action regarding them.

After obtaining statements from various persons, in the end what had happened was that court action was filed against him over the misuse of Rs. 1.4 million belonging to the SLFP’s estate trade union. All these allow Mahindananda to cover up all his fraud and corruption and play innocent before society.

There are many reasons to file court action against Mahindananda and Asha, but Asha was let go and action filed against Mahindananda over a minor fraud due to pressure exerted to the police by a top minister of the Yahapalana government at the instigation of her present lover, the owner of ACL Cables, informed sources say.

SLC's dirty sex secret

Female ex-employee reveals the rampant abuse by frustrated officials at Cricket's head office

2016-10-21 09

Sexual demands, groping, touching, lude comments and verbal abuse of helpless and silent female employees are common occurrences inside the glamourous offices of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) according to the official testimony of a former female Executive officer of the country’s most internationally recognized corporate body.

In a startling revelation made during a formal disciplinary hearing, SLC’s former Confidential Secretary in the Marketing Division, Gayathri Wickramasinghe has exposed the dirty underbelly of the creature that in Sri Lanka governs what is supposedly the “gentlemen’s game”.

“During the tenure of my service with SLC, I have faced harassments including sexual harassment and perversion by, certain personnel of SLC. I have been offered with club memberships in order to call for evening drinks and certain individuals have related about their extra marital affairs during the official working hours with me” revealed Wickramasinghe in her statement at a recent inquiry against her.

“Even I have faced sexual harassment physically. In fact, I reported one incident in 2012, to then CEO Mr. Ajith Jayasekara and he has taken the matter up with the then President Mr, Upali Dharmadasa who sorted out the issue,” she added.

“The individuals I have mentioned here are certain employees of SLC and certain Ex-co members of the SLC. I do not want to divulge the names of them but I would do when the necessity arises. Being an unmarried lady, I did not want to complain and tarnish my image, myself due to the reason of manipulation and finally publishing all bogus stories against the innocent parties,” she said.

“However bogus stories about me have been published in tabloids and newspapers. Later on “Ceylon Today” dated 17th September 2014 published an apology. I was the only female involved in organizing tournaments.  During the time I was working with tour organizing I have faced sexual harassments and perversion from certain support staff individuals as well” said Wickramasinghe.

She went on to drop a bombshell when she claimed that the termination of her employment at SLC was mainly due to her refusal to co-operate with the sexual demands of some perverted officials.

“Having stated all these harassments during the past, I feel the allegations which are stated in my charge sheet are meaningless, baseless, lack of coherence and (levelled) to take revenge from me for not obeying them” she stated.  

Subsequently, websites published stories about Wickramasinghe’s allegations, though without solid proof and she felt it obviously was the work of frustrated SLC officials hell-bent on destroying her for not acceding to their perverse sexual demands. It bore all the hallmarks of their usual modus operandi.

Then on September 7, SLC’s COO Jerome Jayaratne quoted these web stories and a newspaper article and asked her for a “detailed report” of the alleged harassment she faced as they were “serious allegations”.

However, she did not respond as she had more than enough reason to lose confidence of SLC and its officialdom and felt it was another attempt to ridicule her more through web-site mudslinging.   

 
Wickramasinghe, though many may not know her by name, rose to prominence in Sri Lanka as much as SLC’s international cricketers in recent years largely thanks to the no-holds barred, un-governed and un-monitored world of cyber journalism which today is a free-for-all and seen by many as a monster beyond control.

Stories made up, according to Wickramasinghe, by frustrated SLC officials often spread like wild fire on gossip media though they had no shred of evidence and sometimes forced SLC to conduct investigations, only to find they held no water.

A weird story of spending a night with a cricketer during a Test match was one such story. A shocking allegation of altering a receipt for a false claim was another example. There are several such examples that made her famous or infamous in the cricket circles.  

  

Wickramasinghe by nature is outgoing, confident and straightforward. She is talented and was good at her job, exactly the things despised by uneducated and incompetent officials and their henchmen who roamed the offices of SLC. So they resorted to alleged sexual harassment and spreading gossip to get the better of her. Finally, they got rid of her but through flimsy charges, most of which were rejected by her immediate supervisor.

Interestingly, among the charges for her sacking are none to say that she was incompetent. Among the charges levelled by SLC are brushing her hair, applying make-up and painting her nails in the office, talking too loudly on the phone and getting late to come to office though she had covered those hours by staying well behind the closing hours to cover the work assigned to her.

In fact, Wickramasinghe had worked for an extra 39 hours and two minutes more than her stipulated working hours during the period SLC had investigated according to information transpired at the inquiry. Her superior officer confirmed at the inquiry that she had come to office late as she was assigned to collect cheques from SLC sponsors on her way to office.

So frustrated by the sudden sacking even without a letter of warning, Wickramasinghe was forced to come up with the harassment she had silently endured at the hand of some officials. She said she feared reprisals from officials if she revealed them at the time she was working but felt the suffering was meaningless, when she heard of the ridiculous charges trumped-up to get rid of her.

She told “Daily Mirror” that current SLC officials suspected her of links with their rival parties and have gone to extremes to find a reason to get rid of her.

In his evidence, Wickramasinghe’s superior Vajira Dassanayake, the then head of Marketing at SLC gave a clear picture on how things developed. Recalling a SLC meeting on May 30, Dassanayake said “He (SLC President) told the staff present that he is aware of information leaking out due to the conduct of some staff members. He further told that he would take appropriate action to remove such obstacles and he is aware of the proper legal mechanism to achieve such an action”.

Wickramasinghe, describing the said meeting in her statement stated; “The President SLC accused the personnel who were present there for leaking confidential information to the media. He further stated that he had further identified the people through his sources who support the opposed parties to SLC. 

Also the President stated in a threatening tone that he will be taking action against the employees from tomorrow as he has identified them as obstacles for his future plans. He further stated that he very well knew the law and he knows how to tackle the situation”.

Recalling what happened the following day Dassanayake added: “CEO called me to his office and reluctantly handed over a letter of suspension for a period of three months. After half an hour I got to know that the accused officer (Wickramasinghe) has also been given a similar suspension order.” 

(By Channaka de Silva)

Silence of the Court

Our jobs reflect our functions but our lives reflect who we are.  Corruption in and exploitation by the judiciary is a perennial issue although the judiciary throughout the world has a decent reputation by and large. 

by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne

With great power comes great responsibility ~ From  Spider Man …the movie

( October 22, 2016, Montreal, Sri Lanka Guardian)  The Daily News reported yesterday that The District Court of Colombo lifted an injunction order made on 5 October  on Prasanna Vithanage’s controversial film, ‘Usaviya Nihandai’ (Silence in the Courts) which is based on the story of a woman who is sexually abused by a District Judge.

It is interesting that the film has brought to bear an issue which we hear of time and time again.  New York Post of 18 October reported the case of a former judge serving in the Arkansas judiciary who bartered with some defendants who appeared before him lighter sentences for sexual acts and nude photos, including  threats that he would make the defendants “disappear” if they did not conform.   The prosecution had alleged that the defendant (former judge) had disingenuously and corruptly used his position “to obtain personal services, sexual contact, and the opportunity to view and to photograph in compromising positions persons who appeared before him in traffic and misdemeanor criminal cases in exchange for dismissing the cases.”  The charges against the former judge (who resigned in May 2016) could amount to 20 years of incarceration and $250,000 in fines.  A prominent spokesman for the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission of Arkansas is reported to have said of the former judge: “He’s a criminal predator who used his judicial power to feed his corrupt desires. Every minute he served as a judge was an insult to the Arkansas Judiciary”.

In another case recently reported out of Salt Lake City, a woman from Utah had filed a law suit against a former judge who had sexually abused her 35 years ago.  One day in 1980 the plaintiff had been jogging along with two friends when those friends were shot and killed at the park. She became a key witness for the prosecution. The prosecutor, who was then 27 years old (and who later became a federal court judge)  is reported to have taken the defendant, then a sixteen year old girl to a hotel and repeatedly raped her.

The Canadian Judicial Council has, in its guide “Ethical Principles for Judges” laid out four basic standards that cry out against such despicable conduct as discussed above.  They are: judges must exercise their judicial functions independently and free of extraneous influence: judges must firmly reject any attempt to influence their decisions in any matter before the Court outside the proper process of the Court; judges should encourage and uphold arrangements and safeguards to maintain and enhance the institutional and operational independence of the judiciary; and most importantly, judges should exhibit and promote high standards of judicial conduct so as to reinforce public confidence which is the cornerstone of judicial independence.

The last factor – promoting high standards of judicial conduct and the reinforcement of public confidence in the judiciary – lies at the start of a legal career in the making of a judge.  The fundamental training of a judge should involve a certain compelling inculcation of the need to establish essential trust in the court system through improved customer service and transparency. Transparency obviates the reptilian human instinct of trying anything if one can get away with it.  Stringent penalties should be attached to unacceptable conduct and strict penal sanctions should be attached to such factors as a United Nations document on Judicial ethics and diligent performance says of “impropriety, the acceptance of gifts, confidentiality, ex parte communications, and abuse of position”.  The importance of protecting the prestige and independence of the judiciary resonates the desire to create a fair, efficient and impartial judicial service that assists the public and is loyal to the judiciary.

In the final analysis, it is not about the office one holds, but about the person.  Our jobs reflect our functions but our lives reflect who we are.  Corruption in and exploitation by the judiciary is a perennial issue although the judiciary throughout the world has a decent reputation by and large.  In Ecclesiastics 4:1-3 Solomon, the epitome of wisdom and justice, goes into a courtroom to watch a trial: “What he witnessed in the hall of so-called justice was exploitation and oppression, the pain and sorrow of the innocent, and the unconcern of those who could have brought comfort to them. What he saw so disturbed him that it led him to declare that it was better to be dead than alive and oppressed, and better yet, not to have been born. In such cases, an individual would never have to experience or even see this grasping, rapacious covetousness” |.

A  judge should strive to promote in each segment of society he serves in his judicial capacity the guarantees for personal freedom under the law that is the common heritage of every human.   He should believe steadfastly in the liberty of the individual under the law, in equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender, race, colour, creed or political belief. The judge should have a clear understanding of his role in society as a role model who should lead the society by  teaching people what the moral and right thing to do is. He should act categorically and not consequently – meaning that he should act according to the value system he sets for himself.  He should treat humans as an end and not as a means.  His judgments and judicial conduct should reflect that the moral worth of judicial decisions and must be unconditionally and universally acceptable as being for the good of the people. His approach to justice should essentially be that an effective judicial system must apply the universal and categorical principle of the dignity and freedom of every individual. He should believe that overall public interest in good governance is now a common feature in the modern state.

Chinese woman arrested with cigarettes worth Rs 5.6 million

October 22, 2016

A Chinese woman has been arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake with a stock of cigarettes worth over Rs 5.6 million.

She had arrived from Beijing this morning while a total of 470 cartons of cigarettes, manufactured in China, were found in her possession and taken into custody by customs officers. 

Sri Lanka Customs is conducting further investigations. 

Aboriginal artist’s message resonates in Palestine

Richard Bell’s Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

 Aline Khoury

Joharah Baker-21 October 2016

“Survival is a very strong instinct.”

Such words resonate with Palestinians, even when spoken in a different language by a man who embraces a different struggle and lives halfway around the world.

Indeed, much of what Richard Bell, the indigenous Australian artist, had to say in Jerusalem on 14 October could have come from any Palestinian in the city, Gaza or in the diaspora.

And in the sense of showing there is a shared language among the oppressed of this world, Qalandiya International, the biennial contemporary art event, which this year is entitled This Sea is Mine, was a success.

How many Palestinians were there to reap the benefit of this wisdom, however, is less clear.

Bell was talking at an evening of “art and dialogue” in Jerusalem, where his Aboriginal Tent Embassy – an homage to the original Tent Embassy set up outside the Australian parliament some 40 years ago – formed part of Qalandiya International’s Jerusalem Show VIII: Before and After Origins.

Sitting inside the plain-looking tent, its sides raised to allow an audience to look in, and with a sign in Arabic at its front, Bell, a striking figure, spoke passionately about how his people have been oppressed, displaced, uprooted, impoverished and alienated in their own homeland.

“Colonial forces create divisions whenever and wherever they can,” Bell said on the rooftop of Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in the Old City of Jerusalem where his tent had been erected. “We must find every way possible to get our message across.”

“Return to the land” is the common thread running through Qalandiya International this year. Spanning countries and borders, the biennal’s events – from photography exhibitions and solo shows to film screenings and talks like Bell’s – are held throughout historic Palestine, the occupied Golan Heights, Amman, London and Beirut. The event runs until the end of October.

According to Vivian Ziherl, the curator for the Jerusalem events, the goal of Qalandiya International is to maintain a connection among those who endure colonialism and occupation; i.e., the oppressed peoples of the world.

“Personally, I look at the concept of return from the perspective of the settler-colony,” Ziherl said, referring to her own “Anglo-Australian origins,” conceding she had only recently become familiar with the Palestinian question of return.

Return as cultural exchange

In Jerusalem, the concept of return was presented in the form of cultural exchange and expression in different localities.

On the roof of Al-Ma’mal, Richard Bell tied in the Aboriginal struggle for recognition of their rights and mere existence, with that of the Palestinians’ struggle to regain their rights and land. For both the Aborigines and the Palestinians, he said, the loss of land is an integral part of the struggle.

Next to the Tent Embassy was a sign in Arabic which read: “White invaders, you are living on stolen land.”

The local relevance was not lost on visitors.

“Just replace the word ‘white’ with ‘Zionist,’” said Nuri al-Uqbi, a Palestinian-Bedouin resident of the Naqab (Negev in Hebrew), during an informal question and answer session after Bell’s talk, “and this is our situation.”

Al-Uqbi went on to recall the manner of his community’s dispossession. He could, he said, remember the day Israel occupied Bir al-Saba (the original Arabic name for Beersheva).

Members of the Karrabing Film Collective in conversation with Richard Bell inside the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.
Isa Freij

He recalled how, in spite of an agreement between the local sheikhs of the Naqab’s Bedouin tribes (including al-Uqbi’s father), Israel’s military governor handed them an order in 1951 expelling them from their land in al-Araqib village and transferring them to another even more remote location, with no schools or potable water.

“There are 200,000 Arabs in the Naqab and not one owns a single piece of land,” al-Uqbi said.

The same sense of dispossession, oppression and loss of land was reflected in the words of Yasser Khanjar, a pensive, articulate poet from the Golan Heights.

Khanjar described his national identity as a Syrian whose daily life under Israeli occupation had transformed him into a Palestinian for all practical purposes. He spoke of how Israel has tried over the years to force his community to assimilate with Israeli society by preserving the Druze villages of the Golan and destroying hundreds of others during the 1967 occupation.

“They wanted us to merge with the Druze of the Galilee,” he explained, referring to the religious minority community whose leadership sought assimilation after the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948. “They wanted to make us Israeli.”

But just like Bell, who has protested for 40 years through his Tent Embassy project, Khanjar maintains his Syrian-Palestinian identity against all attempts to quell it.

“There is an Israeli settlement, Kiryat Shmona, which is only about 23 kilometers east of Majdal Shams,” he quipped, referring to his hometown. “But I would rather travel the three or so hours to Jerusalem than pass through there.”

Little local purchase

Tying displaced and oppressed peoples together through art and culture is a noble endeavor, but it must be embraced by the local population. This did not seem to be the case with Qalandiya International this year, at least if judging by the two events in Jerusalem on 14 October.

The rooftop of Al-Ma’mal – like the huge hall of the African Community Society where the Karrabing Film Collective, a group of indigenous Australian filmmakers, screened their Salt project – was well attended, but not by locals.

Introductions were made by Jerusalemites and the odd Palestinian artist or spectator could be identified in the audience, but the overwhelming majority of attendees were foreigners. Vivian Ziherl said part of the problem lies in the fact that Jerusalem poses such a challenge in terms of mobility – checkpoints and Israel’s military rule over the city.

But others believe the issue goes deeper.

Bisan Abu Eisheh, an artist who lives between Jerusalem and Glasgow, Scotland, and who is part of the Qalandiya International collaboration, said the problem is multi-layered.

“Art in Palestine has become a luxury of the elite,” he said. “My suggestion would be for institutions in Palestine to better engage locals through educational and cultural projects in order to further involve them.”

He cited the post-Oslo accords era as the starting point of this down-spiral in interest, partly due to Israel’s oppressive system of isolation and division imposed on the Palestinian territories, Jerusalem in particular.

“People were far more involved in art, dance and music before. Now the level of disinterest has risen considerably.”

A perfect case in point of this disconnect is the fact that the Tent Embassy was planned for the Shuafat refugee camp, the only camp that lies within Israel’s self-proclaimed Jerusalem municipal boundary. But organizers were forced to change venue, with Ziherl simply saying it had been “extremely hard to connect with the local population.”

She said this was not the case earlier in the week, when the Jerusalem portion of this year’s Qalandiya International had opened with “hundreds” of Palestinians in attendance.

Perhaps. Under Israel’s regime of movement restrictions, Palestinians cannot easily travel to Jerusalem (or the Golan or Haifa) if they hold West Bank identity cards – in addition to the total isolation of Gaza. Hence, the powerful messages of Richard Bell and other participating artists in the city will reach only a fraction of Palestinians.

Still, there is no denying the ties that bind the oppressed. In response to a question of what the ultimate goal is for the indigenous population of Australia, Bell voiced a sentiment all too familiar to Palestinians.

“Me? I want it all.”

Joharah Baker is a freelance writer who has worked with Palestinian, regional and international media. She is also a translator for a number of Palestinian organizations.