New Alzheimer’s Drug Disappoints

BY THE SENIOR LIST-NOVEMBER 23, 2016 

A hopeful Alzheimer’s drug candidate from Eli Lilly recently failed a large clinical trial – As announced by the company on Wednesday. The drug, named “solanezumab”, was thought to reduce the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain.  It’s the build-up of these plaques that are believed to (at least) contribute to the prevalence of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced that solanezumab did not meet the primary endpoint in the EXPEDITION3 clinical trial, a phase 3 study of solanezumab in people with mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While the study results, including many secondary clinical endpoints, directionally favored solanezumab, the magnitudes of treatment differences were small. There were no new safety signals identified in the study. Lilly will not pursue regulatory submissions for solanezumab for the treatment of mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. – Eli Lilly and Company, Nov. 23, 2016

RELATED: New Study Links Allergy Medicine And Alzheimer’s Disease

What Is Alzheimer’s Disease?

Wikipedia defines Alzheimer’s disease as clearly as any:  “A chronic neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and gets worse over time.  It is the cause of 60% to 70% of cases of dementia.  The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events (short-term memory loss).  As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation (including easily getting lost), mood swings, loss of motivation, not managing self care, and behavioural issues.”

For those with Alzheimer’s disease, or for those families struggling to care for their loved one with Alzheimer’s Disease, today’s news from Lilly is incredibly disappointing.  The hope for new therapies and/or an outright cure is on the minds of millions of American’s today.

A Message From Eli Lilly

Our hats are off to the fine folks at Eli Lilly.   We hope the many millions of research dollars, and the many thousands (millions?) of hours spent looking for a cure will only provide greater motivation to continue the fight. Today might offer disappointing news… But tomorrow may offer a cure.

Tamil schoolboy in South assaulted and branded

27 Nov  2016

A Tamil student in Nuwara Eliya was assaulted and had the word 'Tamil' carved onto his arm by his attackers.

The 14-year-old schoolboy was intercepted by unknown men on his way home from school and beaten. The boy told police that he became unconscious and had the word 'TAMIL' cut onto his right forearm by the men.

The student was admitted to Linthulai hospital and later transferred to Nuwara Eliya district hospital for further treatment.

Sri Lanka: Muslim women against ‘Shariah’ threatened

( November 27, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is reported that several members of women’s organizations in the Northern Province who had expressed their views against implementing Shariah law have been threatened with death. They have lodged complaints in this regarding at several police stations in the North.

An activist in a women’s organization in the North who preferred to remain anonymous said Shariah law has allowed Muslims to gain staunch traits. The death threats are aimed at them as their organization thoroughly opposes the staunch traits gained by Muslims through Shariah law said the woman activist.

Shariah law allows girls who are 13 years of age to be given away in marriage. However, the marriageable age should be made over 16 according to the existing law of the country points out the Women activists’ organization in the Northern Province. As they have taken measures to make the people aware of this the President and members of the organization have been threatened with death over the telephone and social media.

Will ask PM to discuss reforms with MR: MS to TNA

2016-11-26


President Maithripala Sirisena is reported to have told the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that he would request Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to initiate a dialogue with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa on formulating the new constitution. 

The 16 TNA MPs met President Sirisena on Thursday, and discussed their concerns. The TNA had asked about the progress being made on constitutional reforms. One of the MPs who attended the meeting said it was at this point that the President responded saying he would request the Prime Minister to talk to Mr. Rajapaksa to bring about a common approach to the matter at hand. 

The joint opposition led Mr. Rajapaksa is opposed to any change to the unitary nature of the country and the foremost place accorded to Buddhism. 

The TNA complained about racial discrimination by some ministers in the allocation of jobs in the government sector in the North and East. The President is reported to have said that even the Sinhalese are sidelined in certain instances at the hands of these ministers. (Kelum Bandara)

Living At The End Of One’s Nerves

By Rajan Hoole –November 26, 2016 

Dr. Rajan Hoole

The Dress Rehearsal In Trincomalee – Part V

To the local Tamils and Muslims everything was stacked against them, with a number of ministries and state agencies working towards their discomfiture. Out of several moves, by the State they may protest and stop some of them. But the ones that succeed would have done a lot of damage. To those trying to protect the interests of the local community or seeing the long-term prospects, it was to live at the end of one’s nerves.

The colonisation scheme for Sinhalese at Periyavilankulam – renamed by its Sinhalese translation Mahadivulwewa – was started with European Community funds in the early 80s. Mr. R. Sampanthan, MP for Trincomalee, immediately took alarm and went up to Minister Gamini Dissanayake, whom he had known as a junior lawyer, and complained about it. With characteristic courtesy, in the presence of Sampanthan the Minister made out a written order cancelling the settlement. Bandaragoda was then GA Trinco. It was soon learnt that Nanda Abeyawickreme, Secretary Lands, had sent phone messages to the Trincomalee Kacheri, asking for the settlement to be speeded up. This was done so that the formal order to stop would be anticipated by a fait accompli. There was little the Tamils could do about a government that functioned in this manner. It again illustrates the role of the GA in Trincomalee.

R. Sampan than | Photo via his Facebook

There were a number of government figures scouting around Trincomalee for places to plant Sinhalese colonies. Among them, was Cyril Mathew, Minister for Industries and Scientific Affairs. There are ancient Buddhist ruins in the district of very disparate origins, representing the country’s variegated past. The ruins of Vilgam Temple had a number of Tamil inscriptions, and those at Kuchchaveli and Thiriyai were of Mahayana origin. The ideological position articulated by the State was that these ruins were proof of the region’s Theravada-Sinhalese Buddhist past, so putting forward a justification for Sinhalese colonisation. It was based allegedly on Buddhist piety – the renovation of temples.

Thiriyai was a village north of Trincomalee with a long history, and was peopled by Tamils. Neelapanikkan Kulam, a tank near the village, was renovated about the 1940s, and the villagers had since been cultivating the fields nearby. There is an old Buddhist shrine close to Thiriyai and another nearby in Mylaweva on the Thiriyai- Gomarankadawela Road, which has Tamil inscriptions. But the cultivation of the fields referred to, had not been regularised by the issue of permits. This was really default on the part of administration, which was deliberate. The farmers were themselves quite ignorant of such matters.

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Sri Lankan rupee edges down on importer dollar demand; stx up

 Fri Nov 25, 2016

Nov 25 The Sri Lankan rupee was trading weaker on Friday due to dollar demand from importers who fear the economic policies of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could lead to a rise in the greenback and interest rates.

Dealers said foreign investors might pull out of emerging markets, including Sri Lanka, if the U.S. Federal Reserve raises interest rates next month.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major global peers, was steady at 101.68 on Friday, down from its Thursday peak of 102.05, the highest level since March 2003.

Sri Lanka rupee forwards were active on Friday, with spot-next forwards trading at 148.80/90 per dollar at 0601 GMT, compared with Thursday's close of 148.65/75.

The spot rupee was hardly traded, but was quoted at 147.90/148.20.

The central bank revised the spot rupee reference rate to 147.95 per dollar on Nov 18, from 147.75 earlier.

"The demand is there and not much of exporter selling," said a currency dealer, asking not to be named.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said on Thursday that "turbulent times" were the reason for the rupee volatility, adding it was driven by sentiment.

"You will have this rocky thing owing to turbulent times that are created artificially by many theories that are put forward, but at the end of the day you will see the real (value) of the rupee coming out with the strong fiscal policies that we will be adopting," Karunanayake told reporters in Colombo.

The rupee has been under pressure as exporters have been reluctant to sell dollars due to uncertainties in the local market following the national budget, which has proposed a revision in corporate and withholding taxes.

The currency has also faced pressure due to net selling of government securities by foreign investors after new taxes were proposed in the budget, dealers said.

Foreign investors net sold government securities worth 37.12 billion rupees ($250.81 million) in the five weeks ended Nov. 16, data from the central bank showed.

The trend of rupee depreciation was however expected to ease as investors wait for central bank action after the IMF released the second tranche of a loan, worth $162.6 million, under its $1.5-billion loan programme, dealers said.

Sri Lankan shares were marginally firmer, with the benchmark Colombo stock index up 0.07 percent at 6,257.36 as of 0614 GMT. Turnover stood at 51.2 million rupees ($346,179.85). ($1 = 147.9000 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Sunil Nair)

Steps to clean up judiciary begins in the wake of LeN ‘s crusade – Judge Abdeen sent on compulsory leave !

(Lanka-e-News -25.Nov.2016, 11.30PM) Colombo district court judge Ms. Ayesha Abdeen whom Lanka e news exposed as having met Duminda Silva the notorious heroin Kingpin and murderer within prison hospital during non visiting hours has been sent on compulsory leave by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC)

Judge Ayesha Abdeen who was performing duties  relating to prison affairs only, on the prison Tribunal had herself confessed to meeting Duminda Silva , TissaAttanayake , Vaas Gunawardena , and a foreigner facing  heroin charges, in the prison hospital,  and the Judicial service Commission has begun investigations against Abdeen on charges of abusing her official powers .

At all events , recently , the ‘most honorable’ minister of justice Wijedasa Rajapakse hurled accusations against Lanka e news that because of the reports of the latter the independence of the judiciary is under threat .  In this connection a senior judge speaking to Lanka e news said , the JSC by  disregarding the (most honorable) minister and his fake charges , and taking steps against Abdeen has proved  that the JSC took note of LeN’s  charges and acted  irrespective of the alleged so called  threats to independent judiciary . 

Apart from Lanka e news that reported about Judge Abdeen’s illegal and unethical meeting with the murderer Duminda Silva who is in jail , violating the diciplinary code, Lankadeepa newspaper too reported this episode without mentioning her name. 

Meanwhile notorious mendacious and Machiavellian Wijedasa who is also the minister of Buddhasasana issued a communiqué via that ministry uttering more falsehoods.

 ‘Lanka e news editor (Sandaruwan) who undermined the independence of the judiciary via the internet has collapsed in the kennel before the Lion’s roar of the Justice minister. The false mudslinging he carried out via the internet against the affairs of the judiciary had been withdrawn by the website’ according to the communiqué as quoted  by Dinamina  newspaper. 

Of course the public by now would be aware of the true picture  of  the tie coat turncoat Wijedasa’s roar , and the so called collapse of Lanka  e news editor  . It is a well and widely known fact that Lanka  e news has never withdrawn any news item published by it , and it has always stood steadfastly by its policy unlike faceless , policy-less, shameless  Wijedasa . We also like to make it known to our viewers and the public we are ready to prove every fact    beyond any doubt before any court in the world. Indeed judge Abdeen’s incident itself has confirmed that without an iota of doubt.

Though it is difficult specially when a  minister like  Wijedasa is at its helm , yet the steps taken by the JSC to clean up the judicial structure against such formidable odds is most salutary and the law abiding citizens of the country who respect justice and fair play certainly are  most anxiously welcoming the moves.

Related reports ….
Conspiracy to smuggle out infamous criminal Duminda ! -Fudging judge, medical specialists and media coolie involved

Judge Ms. Abdeen reacts to LeN news report : I did go to prison but not in the night to meet Duminda, Tissa, Vaas, and a foreigner

---------------------------
by     (2016-11-26 04:56:43)

If Hemantha accepts the case, no harm will come to Lanka e News man – Mahinda

Nov 26, 2016

The talk of the town yesterday (25) was the red warrant issued by the Gampaha magistrate for the arrest of Lanka e News editor Sandaruwan Senadheera through Interpol. That was such a hot topic that ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is presently touring China, was informed about it soon after his media coordinators got to know about the court order.

“See, Sir. These Yahapaalana people are doing in a couple of years what we could not do for years. This time, Interpol will surely catch the Lanka e News man and hand him over to Sri Lanka,” Uditha Lokubandara told Mahinda.

Exclaiming “What? What has happened?”, the ex-president read the news posted in a Sri Lankan website. After reading it, he has started laughing. Everyone thought that Mahinda was overjoyed by the news. However, what he said thereafter was, “If Hemantha (president’s counsel Hemantha Warnakulasuriya) accepts this case, no harm will come to the Lanka e News man. What Hemantha does is con people and gets his pay. How many times has he done that to me by promising to send Mangala and Ruwan behind bars? On one occasion, he asked for five million from me. I waited impatiently to watch on television how Mangala was taken in handcuffs. Every time what he said was, ‘Wait, Sir. Next time, it will definitely be done.’ Hemantha messed up the ‘Kurundu Polu’ case too. That beach boy’s scene too, was botched up. By now, he might well have conned the ‘Polonnaruwa Gamarala’ like he did to me and played out millions. Whoever comes to power, he does well. He doesn’t know any law. But, the best lawyer in Sri Lanka to con people is Hemantha.”

After what Mahinda said, no one has raised the matter. Very soon, we will hear a similar story from Mr. Maithripala Sirisena too. That is because, it is him who has appointed Mahinda’s henchman Hemantha Warnakulasuriya to the TRC. That is why it is said that ‘when there is brains, there is no power – when there is power, there is no brains.’

Election-Related Violence – Part II

By Emil van der Poorten –November 27, 2016

Emil van der Poorten

When the 1970 election came along, I was sufficiently disenchanted with our sitting Member of Parliament and his conduct, not to want to participate. However, I was reminded by a friend of what would be the consequences of a Dudley Senanayake defeat in 1970 and decided to work for OttupaalBanda again, if not with the same vigour as five years before.

Part way through the election, I had some of my village contacts complaining that thuggery had extended to boulders and logs being rolled on main roads, preventing sick people, irrespective of party affiliation, traversing the roads of our rural part of the world after dark in search of hospital treatment.

I decided to do the obvious – seek police intervention of some description – and went into Kandy to see a friend who was considered one of the major “movers and shakers” in the area and a respected medical practitioner to boot, Dr. C. D. L (Derrick) Fernando. He thought the best way to deal with the issue was to see the Superintendent of Police whose position was much farther up the Police hierarchical ladder than is now the case. I distinctly remember the meeting with Merrick Gunaratne who inquired whether it was my contention that the totally unacceptable blocking of public roads was the doing of SLFP supporters only. I answered in the negative and told him that I was seeking police intervention to prevent a totally unacceptable state of affairs continuing and that the miscreants needed to be caught, appropriately prosecuted and punished, irrespective of party affiliation, something that, in recent times would be treated as the ultimate in heresy! My recollection was that the situation improved significantly after my complaint because of beefed-up police patrols etc.

What I meant to be the last gesture of loyalty to the late W.M.G.T. Banda, brutally disemboweled by the JVP during their second insurrection, turned out to be an unknowing step in the direction of my virtual banishment from Sri Lanka.

In those days, after the polls closed on election day, the ballot boxes were collected from the polling stations and brought into the counting place – the Kandy Kachcheri in our case – escorted by the election officials and representatives of the candidates such as I.

On our way into Kandy there appeared to be efforts to waylay the UNP part of the procession on the main Kandy-Kurunegala road. No stones hit us or our vehicles but there were efforts to obstruct or at least slow us down so that the hooting and jeering we were subject to would be more effective!

We reached Kandy “in one piece” and went into the tedious, night-long process of watching the counting of the ballots.

Quite early in the night, it was apparent that we were headed for defeat and when we walked out of the Kachcheri at daybreak Tikiri Banda had lost the Galagedera seat and the UNP had lost government.

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President appoints Special Committee for poverty alleviation

Harsha claims some politicians don’t even pay taxes

November 26, 2016


President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a Special Committee to implement and oversee the approaches and programmes on poverty alleviation as the Government has declared 2017 as the year of alleviating poverty from the country. 

Minister Sarath Amunugama will chair the committee while the other members of the Committee are Ministers Ravi Karunanayake, Kabir Hashim, Sajith Premadasa, Southern Province Governor Hemakumara Nanayakkara, Northern Province Governor Reginold Cooray, MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thero, Secretary to the President P.B. Abeykoon and Secretary to the Prime Minister Saman Ekanayake.

 The President called a meeting on Friday (25) to discuss regarding the strategic approach which is aimed at eliminating poverty from the country, to make the year 2017 as the year of alleviating poverty, the President’s Media Division said.

 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ministers and MPs, Governors, Chief Ministers, Ministry Secretaries, Secretary to the President P.B. Abeykoon and state officials participated in this meeting, during which President Sirisena appointed the committee. 

The aim of this meeting was to prepare a main plan, obtaining proposals and ideas from all the sectors. Prime Minister, Governors, Chief Ministers, officials of the Ministry of Social Empowerment and the Governor of the Central Bank presented detailed proposals and plans on this issue. 

Considering all the presented details the President instructed the relevant authorities to launch this programme more practically from ground-level of the country. He also instructed all the Local Governments and line ministries to submit a comprehensive report subsequent to the discussions among them in the future. 

“Every ministry should implement a suitable project relevant to the poverty alleviation programme in the first week of January, and further instructed that the appointed Committee should continuously scrutinize those projects and must make the necessary coordination with those institutions,” the President was quoted as saying by the PMD.  

  President Sirisena also emphasized that this programme should implement based on a one policy and a single objective and further emphasized the necessity of successful implementation of this programme to reduce the poverty rate of the country and to improve people’s living standards.

 Another discussion will be held under the patronage of the President regarding the preliminary works of this programme in the next month, the statement said. 

Mad rush on mega projects: Colombo-Kandy Expressway runs into road bumps

A section of the proposed Colombo-Kandy Expressway near Pothuhera

by Rajan Philips-November 26, 2016

True, expressways are meant for speeding without interference. But you cannot speed up the building of expressways without careful planning, comprehensive environmental assessment, complete design, bill of quantities and cost estimates. Otherwise, you end up running expressways into road bumps. Not a metaphorical mix-up, but a real engineering mess-up. That seems to be the story of the Colombo-Kandy Expressway according a news story (with the map that is reproduced here) in last week’s Sunday Observer. According to this news report, a section of the proposed expressway (Section 3, 32.5 km long) between Pothuhera and Galagedera is presenting significant challenges given the terrain, and social and natural environmental conditions. These include three major rivers (Rambukkan Oya, Kudu Oya and Kospothu Oya) as well as numerous streams and irrigation channels, urban/semi-urban settlements, sparse forests, riparian vegetation, paddy fields, and coconut and other plantations. Navigating them will require the construction of 12 bridges, 17 viaducts, hundreds of culverts, dozens of over/underpasses across local roads, and three tunnels – each over 200 metres long.

Experts are questioning the fundamental need and justification for building this section of the highway, if not the entire expressway, and are raising concerns about the significant social and environmental impacts that its construction will create. But the government seems determined to go ahead with the construction of the expressway, and targeting completion by 2019. Already, it is reported, "a bidder" for the job has been selected. It would seem that the present government is insistently going ahead with the same old projects that were roundly criticized for their poor planning and massive cost overruns when they were rolled out by the Rajapaksa government. What is worse, there is no attempt to address the breakdown of professional practices in regard to planning, designing and building mega infrastructure projects. The main malaise is the political culture of prematurely delivering half-baked projects into the waiting hands of favoured investors, developers and contractors.

It is not Mahinda Rajapaksa who started this rot. The rot began after 1977, in my view, during the implementation of the accelerated Mahaweli development program, the then Prime Minister’s housing development program, and the state building of sports stadiums. One significant departure under the Rajapaksas was giving the go ahead to projects that were previously put on hold owing to feasibility, extent of impact, and cost-benefit considerations (e.g. Uma Oya), and kick-starting new projects without proper planning and without completing detailed design. The latter kick-starting approach, it wouldn’t be unfair to say, characterized almost all of the new projects. Overall, the Rajapaksa government bullishly extended the scope and geography of infrastructure projects. The extension flowed well with another Rajapaksa innovation – making corruption egalitarian! It has been said that the Rajapaksas opened the trough of public purse to everyone unlike the limited clubby approach of UNP governments.

While businesses that blatantly benefitted under the Rajapaksas were made special targets for one-time tax punishment by the present government, there is no evidence of serious effort to change the method of undertaking mega infrastructure projects. With different ministers spearheading different mega projects in different portfolios, sky would be the limit for every form of contract corruption. Corruption has already pervaded the contract process the way pollution gets in the air. Even clean handed ministers and officials would be helpless in future. Save for frequently washing their hands, they will not be able to stop dirt piling up alongside every project.

Infrastructure Experience

For over hundred years Sri Lankan institutions – the PWD, Waterworks, Irrigation, CEB, RVDB, the Mahaweli Development Authority, CECB etc., including their current successors, have cultivated engineering practices for designing and implementing infrastructure projects through construction contracts. When large scale projects were involved – especially dam and hydropower projects, these projects were undertaken usually under World Bank sponsorship involving multilateral participation of foreign agencies. In all of them the roles and functions of Owner’s Engineer, Consultants and Contractors were clearly defined and conformed to. Even when Sri Lankan state agencies were involved in projects as Engineers (e.g. CEB, RVDB, or Mahaweli Authority) and Contractors (e.g. State Engineering Corporation, or State Development Construction Corporation), the professionals working on these projects scrupulously observed the Engineer/Contractor separation in regard to technical approvals, contractual payments and additional (extra works) claims.

Lines started getting blurred under the Accelerated Mahaweli Development program when individual projects were undertaken through bilateral arrangements that included specified consultants/contractors from the donor countries. There were two unprecedented outcomes from these arrangements. The involvement of Sri Lankan professionals and firms in the Mahaweli projects after 1977 became much less than it was before. Dr Melva Perera, a leading Civil Engineering professional in the private sector at that time and a great supporter of the UNP and its 1977 victory, publicly complained about this turn of events in an op-ed page article in the Daily News.

The second outcome was the blurring of the Engineer/Contractor divide under political pressure. In one publicized instance a Sri Lankan government Minister overruled the Engineer’s recommendation rejecting a claim for additional payment by the Contractor in the Victoria Dam project, and directed payment to be made as claimed by the Contractor. Both the Engineer and the Contractor firms were reputed British companies and the project was funded by British aid. In a not publicized instance involving another Mahaweli project, the head of a Sri Lankan government consulting agency was invited to a meeting of senior most government leaders, only to find the foreign project contractor already at the meeting. In the housing and building sector, the standard brick size was changed overnight to accommodate a supplier who had by mistake produced large quantities of smaller bricks! A ‘minor variance’ might have been a better approach!

A third development was the ‘investor search’ approach that began under the BOI culture, but became government-to-government deals under the Rajapaksas. In this approach, foreign governments or investors are invited to come in, take over and deliver a project from inception to completion, operate and maintain the facility to recover costs and garner profits over an agreed upon period of time, and finally transfer the facility to the government. There is nothing wrong with this approach, provided the Sri Lankan government and its agencies know exactly what they want, can clearly define the terms of agreements, and have the institutional capacity to control their execution.

The recent mega-project experience – from the Hambantota marvels to expressway building, would seem to show a rather poor score, if not total failure, in regard to each of the three criteria I just listed. The Colombo-Kandy Expressway could be Exhibit-A for the case I am making here, although I am not the first, and will not be the last one to say this. And kudos to the Sunday Observer for breaking with the statist tradition of the past and showing independence in publishing news reports to further genuine public interest. I sincerely hope that my saying this will not put the Sunday Observer journalists in difficulty, or would cause the paper to be trashed as toilet-worthy by the land’s high and mighty.

“Cannot see the wood for the trees” in the bond saga

Thursday, 24 November 2016

A great deal of noise about the bond saga. Many column inches in the papers. Committees of investigation. Many reports. But after all this, little clarity, about any scope for any action!

These goings-on reminded me of that old English proverb, “cannot see the wood for the trees,” which means, because of looking closely at the trees in front, one might not be able to see the whole forest behind. The bond saga is a bit like that. Anger at Perpetual making a large profit has prevented a clear understanding of what happened.

A simple sequence

If one were to follow the simple sequence of events, then presto, it all becomes clear. It becomes a tale of four people.

Government bonds

A bit of background to set the scene. The Government needs funds over and above what they collect from taxes. To meet the shortfall they borrow from the public. Those who lend money are paid interest. The rate to be paid is stated on every bond sold. A person who buys a bond can sell it on the market at any time. They can use it as collateral to borrow from a bank, or they can keep it under the pillow and earn the interest.

Selling bonds

If one sells a bond, the price they get, depends on the prevailing market rates of interest. So if one buys a bond for 100, paying an interest of 10%, he gets 10 per annum. If the market rate of interest falls to 5%, the man with the bond can sell it for 200, as the man who pays 200 will get 10 as interest which is a 5% return!

So if you can buy a bond at auction at a rate of interest much higher than the prevailing market rate of interest you will be a very happy chappy. You can sell it and make a fat profit with no sweat at all. That is what happened with the Perpetual story, which has given rise to the great bond saga.

The process of selling Government bonds 

The Central Bank has appointed a number of primary dealers. They and the EPF are the only institutions authorised to buy Government bonds at auctions conducted by the Central Bank. Primary dealers can, and will sell the bonds they buy at auction.

Before an auction takes place, a person in the Central Bank is responsible for informing the primary dealers of the amount (in terms of rupees) that will be put up for auction.They may also be told informally the rate of interest the Central Bank expects to pay.

Each primary dealer firm will normally discuss it at their firm, and decide on the quantum they will bid for, and the rate of interest. They will then line up the money to pay for the bonds. All very straightforward.

The great bond sale

In brief what happened was as follows. Before the date of the auction, the primary dealers were informed that one billion rupees of Government bonds will be put up for auction. On the day of the auction the Government put 10 billion of bonds up for auction. The primary dealers at the auction were surprised (that’s a major understatement). Okay, they were angry, amazed, and felt deprived of the opportunity to bid as they were not told before the auction that it was 10 million (and so they had not arranged the funds to bid). This had never happened before.

One primary dealer namely Perpetual was apparently not surprised, had lined up the finance, and I read had also arranged for another primary dealer, the Bank of Ceylon, to buy for them. Perpetual bid and got the bonds at a rate of interest well above the market rate and subsequently sold these bonds at a good profit. In slang terms they made a killing! The questions:

Who is to be blamed? Who has committed a criminal offence? Etc.

If a simple sequence of events is followed it all becomes as clear as the morning sun at sunrise, and tells us on whose neck we should put the noose. It becomes a tale of four people.

Mister A is the person who informed the primary dealers before the auction that one billion will be up for auction. He must be asked who told him that it was one billion.

If he names the person as mister B, then mister A is off the noose as he has not committed an offence.

Mister B is asked why he told A that it was one billion. If he says that it was the decision made by the Central Bank to offer one billion for the auction, then mister B is also off the noose.

Mister C was the person on the day of the auction who put 10 billion up for auction. If he says it was a spur of the moment decision made by him on the day of auction, the noose is round his neck. He has to be sacked for irresponsible behaviour.

However If mister C says on the day of the auction he was told by mister D to put 10 billion up for auction, then the noose is around Mister D. He should be sacked for irresponsible behaviour.

Mister C is off the hook as he was following instructions.

What is the offence?

A has not committed any offence. B has not committed any offence. If C was instructed to put 10 billion on the day, he too has not committed an offence.

That leaves D. He has to be sacked for irresponsible behaviour by not following the normal procedures for putting bonds for auction.

Who is mister D? If he was the governor he should be sacked for irresponsible behaviour. If he was not mister D, in addition to mister D, the Governor must be sacked for incompetence for allowing such things to happen.

No crime anywhere

The Government got the 10 billion and accepted the rate.

What is the offence committed if mister D had told Perpetual that 10 billion will be up for auction?

Insider trading (which is getting and using information not in the public domain to make a transaction and make a profit) does not come into the frame. I believe our law on insider trading relates only to trading in the shares/bonds of public listed companies. So we must await comment from the lawyers.

I will not be surprised if mister D cannot be charged with any offence.

Even if he had told Perpetual, they will not admit it. Perpetual could take up the position that it was gut feel (and the gut was not tickled by anyone else to create this feeling) that something larger than one billion will be put up for auction as the Government was very short of money.

Perpetual has done nothing wrong. As a primary dealer, they went to the auction, bid for the bonds put up for auction, their bid was accepted by the Central Bank and subsequently they sold the bonds. All very normal activity of a primary dealer.

So Perpetual will be off the hook as well.

Cannot see the wood for the trees

Now that we have cleared the trees, we can see the wood clearly. We see Perpetual having a nice picnic in the woods and they are not looking over their shoulder to see whether any policemen are advancing towards them.

It was a ploy

Get the funds ready, bid at rates higher than market rates, and hope that the other primary dealers do not bid at near market rates. They did not and did not ask that the auction be postponed. So the ploy worked. The upsides are a lot of profit. Hardly a downside, just the Governor’s neck.

The Government got the cash. If everybody knew it was 10 billion prior to the auction, what would the rate of interest been at auction? Nobody can give a precise answer.

(The writer has done this, that, and the other, here and abroad including being Chairman of First Capital Plc,

a primary dealer.)

JUSTICE MINISTER’S STATEMENT EARNS IRE OF MUSLIM MINISTERS

27 November, 2016

After the Rajapaksa family fell out of power in January, last year, almost every ultra-nationalist group representing Sinhala-Buddhist supremacy went into a dormant phase.

They stopped holding dramatic press conferences, stopped disrupting public events organized by other religious groups and refrained from storming into government offices.

JUSTICE MINISTER.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Sri Lanka: Ex-Minister Along with Ex-Navy Commander in China-aided Conspiracy

( November 25, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Pathfinder Foundation that is maintaining close ties with the Chinese government is continuing with its plans to bring ex-defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa into politics. The foundation headed by Ashoka Milinda Moragoda, a former Minister, whereas an ex-commander of Sri Lanka Navy, Admiral (Rtd) Jayanath Sirikumara Colombage working as the Director, Centre for India -Sri Lanka Initiatives of this foundation.

The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Sri Lanka recognized the Pathfinder Foundation as one of its top 10 partners at a ceremony to mark Chinese New Year and Sri Lanka’s National Day held at the BMICH during the previous government headed by Mahinda Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa is now on an official visit to China along with his G.L. Peris, who was then the Minister of External Affairs.

According to the media report, on the first week of this month, the chairman of the Pathfinder Foundation Moragoda met with ministers Faizer Mustafa and Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena at Colombo Club, Hotel Taj Samudra to discuss this very political plot.

They had discussed about making use of the brewing political dispute between the SLFP and the UNP, with China’s support, and bring Gotabhaya to the political fore.

The Pathfinder Institute has entered into an understanding with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) to field Gotabhaya as the SLFP’s presidential or prime ministerial candidate in 2020, ‘Sathhanda’ reports.

Dealing with China’s foreign policy, CICIR is supervised by the ruling Communist Party and has direct ties with the defence and foreign ministries.

It studies Sri Lanka through its Institute of South and Southeast Asian Studies.

Moragoda as well as the two ministers with whom he had discussions are said to be very good friends of Sirasa media network owner Killy Maharaja.

Sirasa is opposed to the prime minister and is making attempts against the present government, according to political analysts.

File Photo: Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies APCSS Chief of Alumni John Gasner poses for a photo with Admiral ( Rtd.) Jayanath Colombage.

Meanwhile, the government yesterday (24) decided to investigate Prof. G.L. Peiris over unlimited use of financial allocations when he was the foreign affairs minister during the previous regime.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has received complaints that he had used the ministry money in that manner between 2010 and 2015.

File Photo: China awarded the Pathfinder’s Chairman as the one of top partners

Harsha claims some politicians don’t even pay taxes

November 26, 2016

Deputy Minister Harsha de Silva says that all MPs - including himself – irrespective of political party placed their signature that the Governor of the Central Bank was directly responsible for the controversial Central Bank bond deal and that suitable legal action should be instigated against him.  

 “The more you lie the heavier it gets. If you steal it is heavy. Will you get caught today or tomorrow? Two lies are needed to cover up one lie.”  

 “But if you live truthfully, who do you have to fear?” he said speaking at an event in Colombo today (26). 

  The deputy minister said that he recently asked a certain politician whether he had filled out the form to pay his taxes by November 30. 
   “He asked me ‘what form?’ and whether I am paying taxes. I asked him ‘why don’t you pay taxes?’.”  

 “There income is in the millions, they travel about in massive luxury vehicles and live in large palace-like homes. But they say they don’t pay taxes,” he said. 

  “They don’t even know that taxes have to be paid by November 30.”  

Corruption in govt. depts. - more the rule than the exception!

On Sept. 16, 2016-November 26, 2016, 7:38 pm 

I sent my driver cum man Friday to the RMV at Narahenpitiya within two weeks of purchasing a new vehicle to get it transferred to my name the same day. The form running into about four pages was duly filled and handed over with two photographs. I also handed over a separate document attested by a JP (a community of idlers) testifying that mister so and so has on this day transferred the said vehicle to so and so and to facilitate the vehicle transfer in my name. His charge Rs.1,000/=

Due to my inability, to be present personally, my representative, having stood in the queue for about half an hour gives me a call saying that the photographs must also be signed on the reverse by a JP, gramasevaka or whoever. The officer rejected the application saying that it is a requirement (I cannot find such a requirement mentioned in the form) and directed my man to obtain the required certification. He had also said that somebody who could certify was available in the canteen.

I asked my man to go to him and get it signed. He phoned back saying that he demands Rs.1,000. I said ‘pay it.’ Having obtained his seal he had said that if we need it, he could also furnish a Grama Sevaka certificate. He had all the seals in his satchel.

Having done all that, my man was told that the vehicle had been transferred to the transferee one month earlier and that a same day transfer was not possible. My man phoned me and I spoke to the official concerned who said he cannot do anything more. He asked me to apply for a normal transfer taking two to three weeks. It is now nearly three months and I am yet to receive the registration. (Receipt No. D687832 dated 16/9/2016). He has given his mobile number and he says that he is looking for it (I know what he is looking for).

In a similar incident I had to re-validate my driving license for motor coaches (buses). Not that I need to drive a bus, but it is useful to have a licence. I first went to Nugegoda for a medical check-up and fortunately the doctor assuming that I was not going to drive a bus spared me the pains of doing exercises in his room (at age 71) and passed me.

I then had to go to Werahera to hand over all the documents. I took a three wheeler; the driver knew where I had to go, and what for. He then told me that he would get all these things done within the day and said the fee would be around 12,000/= and that the normal fee is 15,000/= without taxi fare. I said OK get it done because I cannot be bothered hanging around that place which was filled with people like bees around the honey comb!

The taxi man went to a small office right in front of the complex signposted ‘Learners’ and spoke with a lad inside. He said "give me the money" I did so and he immediately called somebody inside. The reply was that I present myself to so and so at his desk no.... And true to the taxi man’s assurance I received my driving license the same day! All done- Bravo!

I am relating this story because I was involved personally. Corruption is the norm and not the exception in about all the govt. and semi-govt. institutions all over the country. It starts with the gramasevakas and ends with the traffic cops on a daily basis. Unfortunately, this became acute during the period of the last govt. and now it continues in even a larger scale than before. It is not hard to guess why. It is the perception that the govt. is weak and that the cash in hand on a daily basis is a must to survive in the context of ever rising costs of goods and services.

It is in this environment that the finance minister in his budget has proposed heavy fines for errant drivers. Just this morning at the night boutique that I patronize they were saying a truism - that the implementation of this proposal rests with an ordinary cop on the streets. His salary may not be more that 15,000/- a month. He has to only selectively stop an errant driver or two and charge him 20,000/= twice a month and he would sooner than later be able to get a vehicle for himself by using his pay cheque as surety for a hire purchase arrangement.

The moral of the story and the reality is that the more laws are enacted to give govt. servants the power of discretion, the more corruption there will be. And that is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

I therefore urge that the ministers, prime minister and the president himself realize that enacting laws by themselves are counterproductive to their intentions. All governments must realize sooner than later that they must keep their ears to the ground. If they don’t, an unforeseen development may emerge to put things right.

G. Mahen P. Siriwardena