COPE report on CBSL Bond scam 
House debate not sure

President orders setting up of probe Commission

January 23, 2017, 10:31 pm 

President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed the Attorney General to take immediate steps to appoint a Special Presidential Commission to inquire into the allegations of malpractices in the bond issue of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and take required legal action, President’s Media Division said in a release yesterday.

It said: A gazette notification to appoint a Commission comprising a judge of the Supreme Court, a judge of the High Court and an expert in auditing will be issued this week. The Commission is mandated to submit a report within three months.

The President called upon all relevant parties to extend fullest cooperation to the Commission to successfully carry out its assigned duties.

On Oct 28, 2016 COPE Chairman Sunil Handunnetti informed Parliament that his committee had found that former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran was directly responsible for the Treasury bond scam and recommended legal action against him and the other Central Bank officials responsible for it.

Handunnetti, presenting the report on the Treasury bond scam, said that the committee observed that there was enough grounds to believe that former CB Governor Mahendran had interfered with or exerted his influence on the bond sales from Feb. 27, 2015 to May 2016.

He said that the incident had led to an erosion of confidence in the Central Bank.The COPE has observed that Perpetual Treasuries recorded massive profits and recommended that if the company’s profit making has resulted in any loss to the Central Bank or the government, then it should be recovered from it by initiating legal action.

The COPE recommends that Parliament should directly intervene to monitor the process of implementing the watchdog committee recommendations and to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future. It recommends a proper mechanism be in place in the CB and affiliated institutions to prevent similar incidents in the future.

It recommends that the President appoint a special observation group to monitor financial activities of the CB.

The COPE recommends holding a separate investigation into Perpetual Treasuries Ltd.

The COPE Chairman said all members collectively had agreed to the 15 recommendations of the report, but there had been dissent on the content. He said out of the 26 members in the Committee 16 members had endorsed the report without footnotes, whereas nine members had endorsed it with footnotes.

The report contains 55 pages and annextures running to 1,900-2,000 pages. It deals with the investigations into the CB Treasury Bond sales from February 2015 to May 2016. It includes 15 recommendations and 15 conclusions.

The report is scheduled to be taken up for debate in parliament starting from 10.30 am today, parliament sources said. Ven Thiniyawala Palitha Thera has filed a fundamental rights petition challenging the report of the COPE on the bond issue.

Palitha Thera, is claiming that the COPE report is "littered with inconsistencies and/or contradictions and/or misrepresentations" which, he says, "makes certain findings and/or statements in the COPE report unsafe, and/or prejudiced and/or biased…". He claims it is therefore a violation and infringement of his fundamental rights.

The government has indicated its willingness to go for the debate, yet Ven Palitha Thera’s FR petition before the Supreme Court may hinder holding the debate on the grounds that the matter is sub judice, party sources pointed out.

Mahendran mayhem

• Anti-Corruption Front wants former CB Chief Arjuna Mahendran out of Treasury meetings on CB
• Charges Mahendran functions as advisor on Central Bank to the Finance Ministry 
• Warns President that Mahendran still in a position to influence monetary policy 
• Claims that on 6 Jan. Mahendran advised CB Governor on monetary board decisions 
• Finance Minister Ravi K dismisses claims; says bond scam losses ‘not proven’

Former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran

By Dharisha Bastians -Tuesday, 24 January 2017

Local corruption watchdog the Anti-Corruption Front yesterday wrote to President Maithripala Sirisena, urging him to ban former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran from attending meetings at the Ministry of Finance and continuing to influence the decisions of the Monetary Board. Former Governor Mahendran, who was deprived of a service extension after an investment firm linked to his son-in-law was alleged to have illegally profited from a controversial sale of Government bonds, regularly attends a meeting convened at the Ministry of Finance every Tuesday and Thursday which is also attended by the current Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, the ACF told the President.

The Anti-Corruption Front claims that Mahendran, who is implicated in the Central Bank Bond scandal, currently acts as an “advisor to the Finance Ministry on the Central Bank”, a charge denied by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake. According to ACF’s letter to President Sirisena, the meeting is usually attended by the CBSL Governor Dr. Coomaraswamy, Treasury Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga and advisor to the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs R. Paskeralingam. 

Ex-Central Bank Governor Mahendran is also a regular attendee at these meetings, the ACF claimed. Mahendran “advises Coomaraswamy on decisions that should be taken by the Monetary Board,” the anti-corruption activists charged.

At the last meeting held on 6 January at 11.00 a.m., ACF claims Mahendran had advised Dr. Coomaraswamy on decisions that should be taken by the Monetary Board, in violation of the Banking Act.

“Your Excellency, if Mahendran is still in a position to advise and influence the Monetary Board, the people of Sri Lanka will surely think that the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry which you will appoint will be another ploy to buy time,” said the ACF letter signed by the group’s Chairman Ven. Ulapone Sumangala Thera and Advisor Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon.

ACF said it believed that the President should immediately move to prevent the former Governor from communicating with the Treasury as a “coordinator to the Ministry of Finance.”

Minister Karunanayake dismissed the claims, saying Mahendran was not an advisor to the Finance Ministry. The former Governor was a representative of the Prime Minister’s Office, who attended certain meetings at the Finance Ministry when requested, he added. 

The Finance Minister did not respond directly to questions about who extends the invitation for Mahendran to attend. “It is the Prime Minister’s prerogative to appoint anyone he wants and have them at meetings,” he told Daily FT. “What has he done that he is not to be appointed to any position,”

Minister Karunanayake charged, adding that the perception that the former Governor was guilty was being constructed by the media.

Minister Karunanayake also took a swipe at the Auditor General, saying he had been quick to investigate the 2015 Bond scandal but had failed to probe similar transactions at the Central Bank over six preceding years.

The Finance Minister also claimed that despite the bluster by the media and anti-corruption groups, the loss to the Government from the controversial Central Bank bond transaction was yet to be proven. “Everyone is on a voyage of discovery,” he charged.

However, economists, regulatory experts and the Auditor General of Sri Lanka have put the cumulative Government losses from the February-March 2015 bond transactions in the range of about Rs. 1.5 billion. 

Internal probe underway at CB 

The Monetary Board yesterday issued a statement on measures taken with respect to the Employees’ Provident Fund.

It said an internal examination is currently underway under the direction of the Monetary Board on transactions of EPF in Government securities during 2015 and 2016.

The law enforcement authorities have also been requested to carry out an external independent investigation into the issuance of Government securities in 2015 and 2016 and related matters, as it involves examining internal operations carried out by the staff of the Central Bank.

With regard to the operations of the EPF, the Monetary Board, during the past six months, has taken several measures to strengthen the decision making process with respect to investments. These serve to safeguard the interests of the members of the EPF.

The Monetary Board issued the statement in response to several media reports recently raising concerns with respect to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF).

Parliament to debate COPE report today

The long-awaited parliamentary debate on a damning report by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) on the Central Bank Treasury bond scandal is set to take place today.

Questions were raised about whether the debate would take place on schedule after a fundamental rights petition was filed against the COPE report on Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) bond transactions by a Buddhist monk, claiming that it was “littered with inconsistencies, misrepresentations and inaccuracies.”

But Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya told Daily FT that the COPE report was still listed for debate today. COPE presented its report

Following an 18-month investigation into the Central Bank’s Treasury bond auctions, the COPE report released on 28 October 2016 held former Governor Arjuna Mahendran “directly responsible” for a transaction in February 2015 that allowed a company linked to his son-in-law to rake in large profits from the auction.

The petition against this report has been filed by Chief Incumbent of the Nalandaaramaya temple in Kotte, Thiniyawala Palitha Thera. The Buddhist monk is an appointee of the Finance Ministry to the board of Lanka Hospitals. The monk claims that his fundamental rights are being infringed by the prejudice created by the contents of the report.

Under normal circumstances, when an issue - in this case the COPE report - is under judicial consideration, it would be sub judice or prohibited from being discussed publicly elsewhere.

However, it was not clear if usual sub judice rules will apply to the debate on the COPE report on CBSL bonds because COPE is a parliamentary oversight committee that reports exclusively to the Parliament of Sri Lanka.

The question is likely to come up during the debate, which could also call for a determination from the Speaker on the supremacy of Parliament, Daily FT learns.

In any event, Parliament has not received notification from the Supreme Court regarding the case filed on the COPE report so far, highly placed sources told Daily FT.

JVP claims petition move an attempt by Govt. to scuttle COPE report

The JVP yesterday said the filling of a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the COPE report on the bond issue was an attempt by the Government to scuttle today’s ‘s parliamentary debate on the COPE report.

“Minister (Lakshman) Kiriella will stand up as the debate is about to start and tell the Speaker that it cannot be taken up for debate as there is a court case pending. This is the intention of filling this case just days before the debate,” JVP leader MP Anura Dissanayake told journalists.

The Standing Orders of Parliament prohibit debate of matters under adjudication by a court of law or matters on which a judicial decision is pending but the Speaker usually rules on whether to allow such debates to go heard or not.

The JVP leader also said the appointment of a Special Presidential Commission (SPC) by President Maithripala Sirisena to probe the controversial Central Bank Treasury bond issue was akin to closing the stable door after the horse had bolted but said it welcomed the move.

“It’s a little late but we welcome it,” he said. 

The Story Of The Split Self

By Mahesan Niranjan –January 22, 2017 

Prof. Mahesan Niranjan

Over three decades ago, sometime in the late Seventies, a young boy from a town UpNawth in Sri Lanka was preparing to go to university. Having worked very hard on his calculus for two years, he had gained admission to HillTop for four more years of further hard work that was going to be the gateway to a permanent job and marriage to a fat dowry. Just before his departure, the protective Tamil mother had called the young man aside and given him a well-rehearsed lecture: “be very careful there putha (son),” she had warned “rain on the hills and love affairs on campus don’t last long.”

The young man, you will easily guess, was to become my regular drinking partner in the famous Bridgetown pub in the UK, the Sri Lankan Tamil fellow, Sivapuranam Thevaram. More recently, having become rather proficient in the science of modern molecular biology, he said to me at the pub last evening: “There is much environmental regulation to contend with machan (buddy), even with the genetic information being identical you can see very different behaviours in cells, tissues and organisms. It is epigenetics that drives our behaviour.”

“That is the puzzle to solve, you see,” he continued, “it is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” using a more tangible example that I could understand.

Now, HillTop is on the banks of Long River. The left, where Thevaram was based, we shall refer to as the yakada (steel) side, in recognition of the type of scholarly activity pursued there, and the right shall be called the gemba (frog) side, following the untidy yet beautiful cafeteria which was infested with the amphibian. It was usual for young Thevaram, after long days of yakada bashing and solving calculus problems on how hard the bashing had to be to achieve the desired shapes, to cross Long River and relax at the gemba cafeteria. Sipping tea, he observed Nee Hou Ma, also a student, perhaps a couple of years older and following a course on the gemba side of campus.

“To be honest, I was quite envious of the guy then,” Thevaram said in the pub, after finishing his second pint of Peroni. “Why so? Nee Hou Ma was just another student, wasn’t he?” I wondered.

“There were three things about Nee How Ma I observed,” Thevaram explained. “He borrowed lots of books from the library and carried them in a sling bag, and he was always accompanied by a young lady of exceptional beauty.” I wasn’t surprised. For someone spending most of the day with machines various descriptions bending and twisting metal into shapes, and having to do the theoretical calculations on them, to see someone having the chance to read the wonderful works of Karl, Antonio and Ludwig might have been a source of envy. Thevaram flatly denied that the scholarship of the gemba side chap upset him in any way. After all, the occasional witty remarks of those who taught him thermodynamics and power systems, coming from the Left, were of such great educational value, not just of the mechanics of yakada, but also of the societal evils around us.

“Ah, it must be the lady friend then,” I teased, “you were supposed to wait for the dowry being arranged according to the well-preserved customs of your tribe, right?”

“No, Sir!” That suggestion too met with a flat denial. The Bridgetown bar was no place for confessions on cultural baggage.

“You said there were three things you observed about Nee Hou ma, what was the third?” I asked.

“Yeah, he always carried an umbrella, machan. A big umbrella that protected him from the rain in the hills, you know the one that can serve multiple purposes, of the right length to serve as a walking stick, had a sharp end that could be used to defend yourself if attacked and had a curved handle with which you could even use it to pluck low-hanging fruits.

“You know what I did?” Thevaram asked. “I walked to the nearest town and bought myself an identical umbrella that very same afternoon and carried it around the four years I was at HillTop!”

“By then, much has changed in the politics of the country, machan,” he said. “Pinocchio (you know, the guy who had a long nose because of the lies he told), had stepped down as President and Slaveoflove had taken over. Those on the Left, who had progressive thoughts — even to the point of protecting Thevaram from being beaten up in HillTop on a particularly deadly night — had turned ultra-nationalists and had taken to the streets in a killing spree. Thevaram, I must note, had a soft spot for Slaveoflove, who had risen through the ranks from humble background in the Banana Garden suburbs of the capital and was consistent in his stance against the big bully to our North. But once in power, Slaveoflove, too, had adopted habits of the political class of the Cinnamon Garden suburb and had unleashed the army to execute what it does best: kill. Rape, torture and murder were dished out in plenty to quash the rebellion of the Reds.”

Read More

Charitha Ratwatte the new Minister of State Enterprises?

 Jan 23, 2017

When Charitha Ratwatte”s brother Suren who only uses the word F in most of his sentences and his Chairman Dias without telling the board decided to lease out new aircrafts with out the board sanction. Both ran to the Prime Minister for cover. First the brother Charitha who is an Advisor did the selling to the unsuspecting Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister who is getting tired of settling the problems of the Air Lanka Board ask the 80 year ex Chairman of John Keels Balendra to settle the problem. Mr. Balendran intervened and softened the board.

Next Charitha Ratwatte directed Minister Kabir Hashim to approve the lease entered by his brother and Chairman Dias who protects the former CEO of Sri Lankan Kapila from being prosecuted. Minister Kabir Hashim was not willing, as there is a charge against him filed in the Bribery Court. A UNP Minister who wished to remain anonymous said that Minister Kabir is so weak that his ministry is being run by Ratwatte, a man who spent 10 years criticizing the Prime Minister when in opposition saying he is a loser. Now after the party won he and his brother are living off the government he noted. Neither has plunders of the Airline been prosecuted so far by Hashim.

It is a shame for Hashim who is also the General Secretary of the party to be bullied by a man like Ratwatte. By the time the Prime Minister’s friends finish with Sri Lankan, the airline will have to be sold for junk only, observed a captain of the airline. What hold Ratwatte has over the Prime Minister is a mystery for the President and the SLFP.

Ukrainian Capt of Avant Garde moves SC against his ‘illegal’ arrest, prolonged detention

...alleges vessel seized outside Lankan waters

Gavrylov

By Shamindra Ferdinando-January 23, 2017, 10:33 pm 

Ukrainian Gennadiy Gavrylov, Captain of ‘MV Avant Garde’, that had been embroiled in alleged arms smuggling controversy, has moved the Supreme Court against what the petitioner called his wrongful, unjustifiable and illegal arrest on the morning of Oct 6, 2015 and the continuing detention.

There hadn’t been a previous case of a foreigner filing fundamental rights application in Sri Lanka in terms of Article 11, Article 12 (1), Article 13 (1), and Article 13 (2)

The respondents are Officer-in-Charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Director, CID, DIG, CID and Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Limited (RALL), a government-owned business undertaking affiliated to the Defence Ministry, Avant Garde Maritime Services (AGMS), Sri Lanka Shipping Company Limited, Lanka Maritime Services Limited, Secretary Ministry of Defence and the Attorney General.

The foreigner accused some of the respondents of subjecting him to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment through the false accusation that he had entered Sri Lankan territorial waters. Gavrylov has taken over the command of the vessel on July 24, 2015.

The petitioner has alleged that SLNS Nandimithra, a fast missile vessel (FMV), had taken ‘MV Avant Garde’ into custody in international waters 15 nautical miles from the baseline. According to the petitioner, though the vessel was to be delivered to Sri Lanka Shipping Company as per instructions received in Aug 2015, he received subsequent directive through proper channels to reach Galle port.

Gavrylov has claimed that a seven-member squad of SLN personnel had boarded the vessel at 7.15 am, on Oct 6, 2015, after he refused directives issued by the SLN to proceed towards the Galle port and drop near the Galle port. Initially, Gavrylov had been directed to proceed towards Panadura and drop anchor.

The Deputy Harbour Master of Galle who is also the Acting Residential Manager of the Galle port in his statement too had admitted that the vessel was seized outside territorial waters of Sri Lanka, the petitioner alleged.

The 49-year-old Ukrainian filed FR petition in the wake of Ukraine intervening on behalf of 49-year-old Gavrylov, a father of one, now held at the Galle remand prison.

A top spokesperson for Sri Lanka Shipping Company Limited told The Island that the AGMS and RALL had entered into an agreement to provide international maritime security services and chartered one of its vessels, MV Merou, for deployment in East Africa. Having chartered the vessel, the AGMS, a subsidiary of Avant Garde Security Services (Pvt) Limited, had named it MV Avant Garde.

Sri Lanka Shipping Company owns seven vessels at the moment. The spokesman said that the vessel had been handed over to the company on Dec 16, 2016 on a directive given by the Galle Magistrate Court in November last year and left for India on the following day. The vessel had been sold to an Indian enterprise engaged in the lucrative business of scrapping ships. The vessel was to be scrapped at Alang scrapyard in Gujarat, the spokesperson said, adding that authorities had seized the vessel while it was on way back to Sri Lanka at the conclusion of overseas maritime security services.

The vessel had been chartered for a period of two years with effect from April 1, 2014 to operate in Red Sea.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration seized the vessel alleging that it had entered Sri Lankan waters without proper authorization and posed a threat. The government also accused former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of giving former Army Commando Maj. Nissanka Senadhipathy, proprietor of Avant Garde Security Services, contract for maritime security services without following proper procedures, a charge denied by Rajapaksa.

Coal Mafia in Sri Lanka

by Charminda Rodrigo-Jan 23, 2017

Courtesy: Ceylon Today

( January 23, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Former Chairman of Lanka Coal (Pvt.) Ltd Maithri Gunerathna said, “Just a week ago Lanka Coal (PVT) Ltd (LCL) floated the tender to purchase 2.2 million tons of coal for 2017. It was obvious that keeping me in the position would cause a serious effect on their income. So I was sacked”.

Coal Mafia in Sri Lanka.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Mithri Goonarathne can we have your Tax File no pls?

Jan 23, 2017

Mr. Goonarathna is making big hue and cry about being sacked from the Chairman’s Post. He has been upset from the day Nobel Resources lost the Coal Tenders. Why?

They minted money during the Yoshitha Rajapaksa days. Nobel also helped certain politicians during the 2015 elections

I trust they did not go with Mithri to make the donation. Maithri you drive around in a very expensive S Class Mercedes Benz that can be bought and managed by rich businessman. Is it yours or someone else?

If we can have your tax file no we could know what your income was before you became Chairman and after you became Chairman.

It was you who filed a case against the Prime Minister and the accusations leveled against him were unbelievable. Despite that he allowed you to function.

Now you have joined the JHU. I hope you don't do the same thing with your leader Minister Champaka Ranawaka, when you fall out with him.

Thank you,

A Citizen

UK funds Bahrain parliament as it halts reforms and backs executions

British government used overseas aid fund, according to documents released under freedom of information law

Bahraini men hold placards bearing the portrait of Sheikh Ali Salman, head of the Shia opposition movement al-Wefaq, during a protest on May 29, 2016 (AFP)

Jamie Merrill-Monday 23 January 2017

The British government is using a multi-million pound aid programme to fund Bahrain's parliament while the Gulf country bans opposition parties, reverses human rights reforms and carries out executions, Middle East Eye can reveal.

Funding for the parliament, which critics say is a "rubber-stamping" body for the kingdom’s ruling family, was revealed in a breakdown provided under the Freedom of Information Act.

The funding, which is part of the Foreign Office's £2m "technical assistance" programme in the country, supports officials in the Council of Representatives despite internal concerns from advisers that it could be used as PR “fig leaf" over human rights concerns.

The revelation that the UK is funding the parliament comes as the Gulf state reverses key rights reforms and carries out executions in the face of international condemnation. 

The British government says it opposes the death penalty, but it is working with Bahrain’s parliament where politicians are encouraging the King to execute prisoners - Human rights group Repreive 

Bahrain has been rocked by unrest since March 2011 when security forces brutally crushed an Arab Spring-inspired uprising.

The largest opposition group in the country, al-Wefaq, boycotted the parliament in 2014 before it was banned last summer, while the party’s secretary general Sheikh Ali Salman is languishing in prison after he was sentenced to nine years for giving speeches against the government.

MPs have also backed the use of the death penalty for critics of the government, and last week Bahrain executed three men charged with killing members of the security forces.

The three Shia men were convicted of killing an Emirati police officer and two Bahrain police officers in a 2014 bomb attack, but human rights campaigners say that confessions were extracted from Abbas al-Samea, 27, Sami Mushaima, 42, and Ali al-Singace, 21, under torture, including beatings, electric shocks and deprivation of food and water. 

Two more men - Mohamed Ramadhan and Hussain Ali Moosa - are now at risk of execution, according to right group Reprieve. Both men claim they were tortured and their claims have not been properly investigated.

Maya Foa, a director of Reprieve, told MEE: “The British government says it opposes the death penalty, but it is working with Bahrain’s parliament where politicians are encouraging the King to execute prisoners like Mohammed Ramadhan, who has always insisted on his innocence and was tortured into making a false confession.

“Just weeks after Bahrain’s parliament made alarming calls for death sentences like his to be implemented without delay, a firing squad executed three men who were also tortured into falsely confessing. The UK Foreign Office should urgently tell Bahrain’s authorities that the executions following such deeply unfair trials are unconscionable."

FCO under pressure

In Westminster, political pressure has been building over the FCO's response to the executions and ongoing British support for Bahrain, and the Liberal Democrats have called for funding to Bahrain to be “stopped immediately".

Tom Brake MP, the party’s foreign affairs spokesman, told MEE: “The FCO must undertake a root and branch review to determine whether any of the UK funds invested in prisons or parliament in Bahrain are leading to greater respect for human rights.

"After the recent extrajudicial executions carried out in Bahrain, it’s looking more and more apparent that they are not and funding must be stopped immediately."

The FCO must determine whether any of the UK funds invested in prisons or parliament in Bahrain are leading to greater respect for human rights - Tom Break, Liberal Democrat MP

MEE can also reveal details of 11 projects in Bahrain that the British government is funding through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, a controversial pot of aid money that is currently focus of an investigation by British MPs over transparency concerns.

These projects range from implementing a Criminal Justice Board and creating a social inclusion unit to a contract with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons to build the capacity of Bahrain’s National Preventive Mechanism against torture.

The CSSF, which operates in more than 40 countries, is overseen by the National Security Council, a secretive cabinet committee including senior ministers, military chiefs and secret service heads. 

Last year MPs probing the fund, which is worth more than £1bn a year, expressed frustration that Mark Lyall, the national security advisor to the prime minister, was providing scant details of how the money is spent. 

During an evidence session Lyall refused to rule out granted funds from the CSSF fund to countries that use torture.

Bahrain consistently denies it uses torture and says it adheres to international norms for death penalty cases.

Unlike the majority of the aid projects in Bahrain, the funding for the Bahraini parliament comes from the FCO's Bilateral Programme Fund. Few details are known about the project, which MEE understands is still active and has received regular funding since it was first established in 2015.

Secretive aid fund

The Foreign Office has refused to disclose which organisation is running the programme and the contractors name was redacted from the Freedom of Information Act data, but MEE can reveal the project is run by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), which lists senior MPs including Conservative Andrew Rosindell, former SNP leader Alex Salmond and Labour’s Margaret Hodge on its board.

According to WFD documents, staff at the organisation, an executive non-departmental body funded by the Foreign Office, noted "significant public concerns" about Bahrain’s human rights record and expressed concerns that the programme risked “being used as a fig leaf for the Bahraini authorities".

A source close to the discussions, told MEE: "It is of the nature of WFD’s work that there will sometimes be political risks involved; the point is to support democracy in countries where democratic accountability is weak."

The WFD is understood to be helping Bahrain’s parliamentarians understand how to draft laws and is also assisting in the creation of a parliamentary calendar. 

A spokesperson for WFD said it works to support democratic institutions and law and order worldwide. They said that the on-going project in Bahrain is “focusing on building technical skills for parliamentary staff."

The cost of the project is not known. Campaigners at London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, which obtained the data on Britain's aid to Bahrain, sayministers are still refusing to give a breakdown of how taxpayers money is being spent in Bahrain. The group is planning to take the case to the Information Commissioner.

Sayed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at BIRD, told MEE: "UK involvement goes beyond technical assistance, forming a spider’s web across Bahrain’s prisons, police, judiciary and now parliament, despite the majority of opposition leaders languishing behind bars, an unprecedented crackdown on civil society and a sharp deterioration in human rights. The UK is managing repression in an authoritarian regime, paid by the taxpayer."

The UK has already provided over £5.1m of technical and human rights assistance to Bahrain since 2012, and last week the Guardian reported that is due to spend a further £2m in Bahrain this year.

Despite this dedicated support, the Bahraini government continues to curtail freedoms of expression, association and assembly and crackdown on dissent, according to Amnesty International.

A spokesperson for the FCO said: “We believe that UK support to Bahrain’s reform programme is the most constructive way to assist in achieving long-lasting and sustainable reform in Bahrain. While it will take time to see the full results, we believe UK support is having a direct, positive impact on areas of concern."

Video: Democratic leadership hopeful flees questions on Israeli abuses

Ali Abunimah-22 January 2017

This video shows Tom Perez, a leading contender for chair of the Democratic National Committee, ducking questions about Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights.

Perez served as labor secretary in President Barack Obama’s cabinet.

In the video, Zaid Jilani, who writes for The Intercept, confronts Perez in the moments following last Wednesday’s debate among candidates for the leadership of the Democratic Party’s top governing body.

“People are quick to condemn the BDS movement, but there have also been really strong actions against human rights by Israel, for example, 1,600 Palestinians lost their homes last year to home demolitions,” Jilani tells the former labor secretary.

“Absolutely, I understand it’s a complicated issue,” Perez responds as he turns and walks away.

“Secretary, would you condemn the home demolitions by [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu,” Jilani calls after him. “Secretary, do you also condemn the expansion of settlements?”

Perez keeps walking, with his back to Jilani – an ironic turn since his campaign website proclaims that “We need to listen to Democrats at every level.”

During the debate, one of the moderators asked Perez if Democrats should support the BDS – boycott, divestment and sanctions – movement as long as Israel “is in violation of UN Security Council resolutions” and, if not, “what kind of nonviolent movement for Palestinian independence should the party support?”

“I don’t support the BDS movement because I think if you look at many of the things that have been said by that movement I think they’ve been very destructive,” Perez responded. He then gave a stock answer about the need for a “two-state solution,” providing no hint of how to get there in the face of Israel’s determination to prevent it.

Progressive except for Palestine

Perez’s flight from questions about Israel is reminiscent of Senator Elizabeth Warren, the party’s “progressive” hope, as she was caught on video hurrying away from a question about Israel’s assault on Gaza in 2014.

Perez, who also markets himself as “a progressive who gets things done,” is a favorite of the party establishment and a protégé of Obama, who has effectively endorsed him.

But if Perez is a progressive, then he is classic PEP – progressive except for Palestine.

The DNC chair wields enormous influence on the conduct of campaigns and the post is particularly important as the Democrats try to recover from the debacle of the 2016 general election.

About 450 party officials will vote for the new chair in late February.

Last summer, leaked internal emails revealed that DNC staff were biased against Bernie Sanders – the Vermont senator who gave Hillary Clinton a close running for the party’s presidential nomination – calling into question the body’s impartiality in the primary race.

By some analyses, the DNC’s pro-Clinton bias was decisive in helping her secure the nomination, shutting out Sanders who as polls consistently showed was much better positioned to beat Donald Trump.

Pro-Israel donor

The frontrunner in the internal party contest for DNC chair is Minnesota representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress.

Ellison has been more outspoken in favor of Palestinian rights than the typical Democratic official.

During Wednesday’s debate, Ellison addressed recent comments by Haim Saban calling him an anti-Semite.

Saban, a mega-donor who poured millions of dollars into Clinton’s failed presidential bid, openly confesses that his number one priority is influencing US policy in Israel’s favor. It was in a 2015 letter to Saban that Clinton vowed “to make countering BDS a priority” if she won the presidency.

“If you go back to his positions, his papers, his speeches, the way he has voted, he is clearly an anti-Semite and anti-Israel individual,” Saban said of Ellison in December.

The moderator of the DNC debate asked the candidates if they thought Saban “should apologize for those remarks.”

Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic Party chair, gave the most spirited response, saying, “an attack against one of us I really think is an attack against all of us, and we stand united with Congressman Ellison.”

When it came Perez’s chance to respond, he said absolutely nothing in Ellison’s defense.

Ellison himself continues to turn the other cheek in the face of attacks and smears from the Democratic Party’s powerful anti-Palestinian lobby.

“I just think everybody should know that Haim and I did have a phone call,” Ellison said. “I won’t disclose what we talked about but it was amicable and we’re going to get together and build on our relationship.”

Despite his repeated visits to Gaza and criticisms of Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights, Ellison has already made major concessions in his effort to win over the party’s staunchly pro-Israel elites.

In November, Ellison put out a statement condemning the nonviolent BDS movement.

Changing party

The only other person on the debate stage to respond to the moderator’s question on BDS was Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

Buttigieg is a rising star in the Democratic Party who garnered national headlines in 2015 for identifying as the first gay executive official in Indiana, a deeply conservative, Republican-dominated state.

Interestingly, Buttigieg did not join Perez in condemning BDS. “This job is about running elections and winning them for Democrats,” Buttigieg said. “On some issues there’s going to be a diversity of opinion and that’s OK. You know why? Because we’re Democrats.”

This is hardly a bold statement, but even recognizing and accepting that support for Palestinian rights is now a deeply held view within segments of the party counts as courageous when apparatchiks like Perez and even relative outsiders like Ellison feel compelled to attack BDS.

What Ellison and Perez demonstrate with their pandering to opponents of Palestinian rights is that Democratic Party decisionmakers will not become less anti-Palestinian on their own.

It will only happen if the pressure from the grassroots – which reflects broader shifts in American attitudes in favor of Palestinian rights – continues to build.

Michael Fallon: Trident secrecy essential

Gary Gibbon-

23 JAN 2017

Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, has admitted that both he and Theresa May knew about the 2016 test of a Trident missile launch which the Sunday Times reports went wrong. Sir Michael said the sub and the crew passed the test perfectly well but he won’t comment on what happened with the missile. Some will draw their own conclusions from that but Sir Michael says people shouldn’t believe everything they’ve read in the Sunday Times.

As ever with a Michael Fallon statement, we are little the wiser at the end of the hour and he will wear that as a badge of pride.

Sir Michael Fallon insisted that it was usual practice to withhold operational details about the deterrent but that’s come in for some mockery as critics point to press releases crowing about the successful test launches of missiles in the past  (see here and here for just two examples). There’s pooled TV footage from past exercises as well (though none from last June’s aborted exercise) and there are accounts of the gatherings that accompany these “DASO” (pronounced day-so) exercises – it stands for Demonstration and Shakedown Operation.

No account beats the one in Professor Peter Hennessy’s “The Silent Deep”, referred to by Labour MP John Spellar in the Commons. Prof Hennessy records attending the DASO exercises in May 2009 and another in October 2012. There are gatherings and celebratory dinners in hotels along Florida’s Cocoa Beach. The Russians turn up with two naval ships to watch the proceedings and even send a jokey message over communications system congratulating everyone on a successful launch.

The 60-ton missiles are supposed to have an accuracy down to a few metres even as they fire over 4,000 nautical miles or more. But the data going into the missile in June 2016 showed up as in error as the launch was taking place and, somewhere along its ballistic trajectory towards the outer atmosphere, the button was pressed to self-destruct.

If all this had been publicised at the time it might have struggled to make it far on the airwaves. David Cameron had just announced he was standing down, the country was gripped by the aftermath of the Brexit referendum and people were wondering what would come next.

As it has unfolded, many will come away with one main memory of this saga: the Prime Minister’s awkward answers as Mrs May repeatedly tried to avoid answering questions on Marr on Sunday on BBC1.  It’s not a good look and people will remember the “tells” when next they think the PM is uncomfortable under questioning.

Quite who leaked it is always one of the tantalising questions in these situations. The Russians will have known this didn’t go to plan. The Americans likewise.

Several MPs suggested that the Government might have sat on the information because they wanted to win the Commons vote on the contract for the replacement nuclear submarines that would fire Trident missiles. But that vote was won by 472 votes to 117, the Government majority boosted by many Labour MPs going against their leader Jeremy Corbyn and backing the government.

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