Cabinet Paper to remove Ranil’s cohorts in EC

By Niranjala Ariyawansha-2017-07-30

President Maithripala Sirisena submitted a Cabinet Paper last Tuesday seeking approval to appoint a new Economic Council under his purview to take decisions on all the economic and development projects of the government.

The President had in his proposals in the Cabinet Paper emphasized that the new Economic Council must comprise the President, Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, the Secretaries to those Ministries and selected economic experts only.

A senior Cabinet Minister said the President had informed the Cabinet that he must be consulted before a final decision is taken on any economic issue and development projects before implementation.

The Minister said the decision on the Cabinet Paper had been postponed because the Prime Minister had sought time to further study the Cabinet Paper.

A Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) has been functioning under the Prime Minister ever since the Government took office. The Prime Minister's advisers R. Paskaralingam and Charitha Ratwatte are prominent members of the Economic Council.

There's been criticism from a broad cross section of society that the CCEM has even been usurping powers vested only in the Cabinet of Ministers.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party Ministers allege that even the President is unaware of certain decisions taken by the CCEM. Professionals have also accused the Prime Minister and a few so-called economic experts close to him of taking ad-hoc decisions on issues which were extremely vital to the country's interests

Against this backdrop, the proposed new Economic Council might override the functions of the CCEM, another Minister told Ceylon Today.

Complaints to International parliamentary association against hooliganism of Priyankara , Prasanna and Welgama

(Lanka-e-News - 30.July.2017, 4.30PM)  Following the parliament being made a scene of bedlam by hoodlums of the joint alliance who shamelessly call themselves as parliamentary representatives which brought unimaginable disgrace on  the August assembly the apex constitutional body , even after the Hon. Speaker adjourned its sittings , moves are afoot to mete out punishment to these  hooligan parliamentarians  who shamelessly call themselves as people’s representatives.

UNP national list M.P. Dr. Aashu Marasinghe and UNP Colombo district M.P. Mujibur Rahman insisted that   a request shall be made to the speaker to punish these unruly rowdy parliamentarians under the parliament rules , as well as a complaint shall be lodged with the International parliamentary  association. They made this announcement when addressing a media briefing held on 29 th .

As always , when a group of joint alliance slaves and scoundrels (M.P.s) were behaving like rowdies in the streets thereby  degrading and insulting   the supreme legislative assembly of the people on the 28 th , Priyankara Jayaratne forcibly took the place of the speaker and rang the bell to summon parliamentary  sittings. Prasanna Ranatunge too forcibly sat in the chair that was  reserved for the president while   Kumara Welgama forcibly took away the seat of the chief secretary of parliament .  By the gross misconduct of these three hooligan M.P.s  , the people’s most honored representative assembly was scorned and insulted beyond measure.

Such a disgraceful scenario involving people’s representatives has  never ever been witnessed in parliament before. 

---------------------------
by     (2017-07-30 11:06:01)

How to Improve the Quality of Our Legislators

by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha-Jul 30, 2017

( July 30, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Let me begin with some very simple concepts, since these will help us to understand what exactly we should aim for in trying to improve the quality of our legislators. First, we should examine the role of Parliament, what it is meant to do, and how it can do this effectively. Second, we should examine the role of Parliamentarians, and what is required for them to fulfil their roles effectively.

How to Improve the Quality of Our Legislators.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Why is global economic recovery so tardy?

There is more to the recession than the toxicity of finance capital

Perceptions of risk of a recession (Source: Legal & General Investment Management)
by Kumar David-July 29, 2017

My ‘Dummies Guide to Solar & Wind Power’ two weeks ago elicited encouraging responses. Obviously, there is a market for simple pieces. Since I know even less about economics than electrical engineering maybe I can risk straying into the territory of this essay. It’s a dummies guide written by a dummy and the target is again the 100% layman. I want to provide a primer on finance capital, why it rose to prominence in the last two decades, what led to the 2008 debacle, why this was unavoidable (you will not hear about that from bourgeois ‘experts’), and how capitalism bailed out its banks and financial institution. I will touch on why ‘recovery’ from the Great or Global Financial Crisis is still absent despite limitless massaging since Q4-2008 and why a second recession is likely.

Everybody is in debt – amazing! Surely if some are in debt others must be creditors. What’s the secret? Sovereign debt is rampant; the US government is in hock to the tune of $17 trillion; US corporate and household debt (mainly mortgages and credit cards) add to another $30 trillion. Governments, corporations and households in Britain, France, Brazil, Russia, nearly all of Europe, most of Asia and all of Africa are saturated in debt. Aside from the oil rich Gulf, Singapore and New Zealand, I can’t recall any sovereign (government) not drowning in red ink. This is true of China if you include the 26 provinces, state enterprises and private companies; in China, it is domestic borrowing. In the West households are up to their neck and savings rates are low or negative. Some businesses are in debt; others cling to cash like limpets and refuse to invest.

If everyone is in debt, who the devil is the creditor? Whose money do these wretches borrow? The IMF, global funds and banks (except central banks) do not print money; they acquire it from elsewhere and lend. [After 2008 central banks went on a printing binge, Quantitative Easing (QE)]. You have heard of the richest 1% and 10% owning more than 60% and 90%, or whatever, of global, American or European wealth. Well that stuff is hired as bonds, deposits and investments to banks, mutual and hedge funds. It is this vast pool of loot that the rest of the world is in hock to. Global bank and fund assets amount to $ 150 trillion (world GDP is $68 trillion). Pension and social security funds and post office savings, that is ordinary people’s money, accounts for maybe a third (I am not sure) of the $150 trillion. The rest is the filthy lucre of the ugly rich. That’s where the stuff comes from and that’s why the elite, the banks and global bureaucrats fight to get interest paid and debt repaid.

Finance capital

The rise of finance capital to superpower status, divorced from the real economy of business, material investment and households, is recent. At the turn of the nineteenth century, finance capital facilitated global expansion (Ceylon’s tea plantation, Suez and Panama Canals). It was handmaiden to investment in an age of classical imperialism. It is different now; finance capital is the senior partner.

Behind this change lies stupendous capital accumulation that cannot be profitably invested in manufacturing, agriculture, services and traditional activities. Bernanke called it the savings glut because he doesn’t know his Marx. The old Moor would not have raised an eyebrow; excessive accumulation and the limits of surplus value generating reinvestment are intrinsic to the lifecycle of capitalism. The very growth of wealth produces gigantic slush funds. The 1991 recession and the dot-com bust of the late 1990s revealed that there was nowhere left to invest profitably. High savings generated by China’s industrial revolution and explosion of exports created another leviathan. This monster needed safe parking and found its way back as dollars stacked in American Treasuries, the Bank of England and Frankfurt. Such is the genesis of finance capital, which then flexed its muscles as a powerful new global player. It is crucial for getting a command of this essay that you appreciate that finance capital did not emerge sui generis; it was an overgrowth of capitalism’s life cycle.

It was then inescapable that finance capital would begin to play with itself; a naughty and dangerous pastime. Unless capital is employed for generation of surplus value it is merely a board game like Monopoly. Money going round and round creates no real value; otherwise the making of wealth would need only a printing press and a game board and Indrajit Coomaraswamy could turn us all into millionaires. Wealth creates wealth only in productive activity. That’s common sense, but it underpins the theory of capitalism’s collapse under the weight of its own internal contradictions.

Two features of modern finance capital: (i) Now banks (and finance houses) are intricately interconnected. One failure has a knock-on effect across the system. (ii) Highly complex financial products known as ‘derivatives’ have emerged, some to serve needs (futures contracts, hedges) and others to enable finance capital to play with itself (CDS-credit default swaps, CDO-collateralised debt obligations, risk tranches and subprime mortgages); risky, opaque and at times verging on fraud. Proven risk analysis has given way to complex algorithms invented by ‘bright’ mathematicians newly minted by elite universities. (Rather like some of my pie in the sky, computing besotted, ‘brilliant’ PhD students). George Soros and Warren Buffett described derivatives as weapons of mass destruction whose purpose is speculation to conjure up profit out of thin air. Denied profits in conventional economic activity by capitalism’s sclerosis, finance capital has no option but the casino.

A feature of modern finance capital is staggering leverage ratios. (Leverage is the ratio of bank deposits plus market borrowing to the equity base).

The ratio in Q3-2008 was invariably 20 to 30; in Iceland and Ireland nearly 50! If a liquidity run was fortuitously set off, banks lacked the asset depth to weather it, and liquidity problem transformed into a solvency issue. (Solvency: Is a bank’s balance sheet strong enough for it to survive a short-term liquidity challenge?)

The 2008 tsunami and after

Mistakes may have been made, Fed governors Greenspan and Bernanke, Bank of England’s Mervyn King and ECB and BoJ governors may have made slips, but there is no way they could have prevented the 2008 catastrophe. Can the cleverest seismologist foil a gigantic earthquake? That is my punchline in this essay. The size and structure of the forces that had evolved within capitalism by the first decade of the twenty-first century were too big to subdue by higher or lower interest rates, more or less money injection, bank legislation or central bank intervention. To prevent the crisis would have required a lobotomy of the logic and laws of capitalism itself.

The 2008 story is well known; an incident here (BNP Paribas in August 2007), a difficulty there (bankruptcy of subprime borrowers in 2007-08), a convulsion in New York (Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, September 2008), then insolvency of Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank. This was a runaway train, the saga of the collapse of finance capital.

How the state intervened to bail out banks and tottering industries is also a known story. The state and central banks – that is the public, future debt burdens, taxes, earnings, and current pension and savings funds – were pressed into service. In the name of QE some $5 trillion has been injected into banks world-wide. Interest rates have been slashed to hover effectively at zero to encourage investors. The public purse has been ravished to resuscitate morbid capitalism.

Still not risen from the dead

Jesus Christ did it in three days; capitalism has not been able to repeat it in a decade. The Resurrection is the cardinal event of the Christian faith; in contrast, a second recession in the wake of continuing inability to rise again from the fall of 2008, will prophesy the demise of capitalism in the decade of the 2020s.

But why is capitalism unable to rise again; because nothing has changed in the fundamentals. What has been done is banks have been strengthened by new regulations on reserves, certain activities have been outlawed and ‘stress tests’ to ensure ability to withstand shocks have been implemented. Yes, banks are stronger and more secure. But this is all shooting at the wrong target, or at least shooting the aide-de-camp instead of the champ.

The principal contradiction lies in investment, profit, accumulation and competition as per the established model. Despite central banks gorging the economy with money and pushing monetary stimulus as far as it can go, there is no climate of investment. Interest are near-zero, hence the 10-year US Treasury Bond yield has been declining like a ski-slope; still no robust recovery. To put it in market jargon "there is absence of confidence, there is fear that investment will be stranded". Risk and uncertainty terrify post-2008 investors. The exceptions are social media and IT. All US economic indicators pop up and down like a jack-in-the-box. Global capitalism is in the doldrums of investment blight despite a structural surplus of capital.

What 2008 has displayed is a classic contradiction in the real economy manifesting itself as crisis and crash in the financial economy; a rash as symptom of internal pathology. I don’t see a way out on a simple all-capitalist road. But social democratic medications may alleviate it since fascism and austerity are ruled by the balance of social and political forces.

A Formula To End The SAITM Imbroglio

By Somapala Gunadheera –JULY 30, 2017

Somapala Gunadheera

The SAITM imbroglio appears to be dragging on without end. It is high time that the Government in power intervened resolutely as of late, to establish the credibility of Yahapalanaya and put an end to this colossal waste of the country’s assets, both material and intellectual, without habitually waiting Micawber-like, for something to turn up some day.

I think sticking to the following formula should see an end to this fiasco.

1. The Medical Council plays a major role in the dispute. It is unfortunate that it happened to be dysfunctional at the spur of the moment due to the retirement of its Chairman. The first problem is to appoint a new Chairman. That is the privilege of the Minster of Health. However the GMOA does not appear to have faith in the person likely to be appointed. The GMOA does not have a decision-making role here.  But as a prominent functionary in the medical field, it has a moral right to be concerned with the suitability of the Chairman of the MC. Obviously  a person who has had dealings with the SAITM and benefitted from it in the past would not fit that role in the interests of natural justice. The Minister should play a conciliatory role here if he has the interests of the service in mind. That role is best discharged by acting on a recommendation of the MC on the choice of a Chairman for it.

2. Half the problem will be over with the appointment of a universally acceptable Chairman to the Medical Council. It will then proceed without any loss of time to enact regulations to provide for the following situations.

a) Minimum qualifications required to enter a medical faculty, public or private.

b) Conditions under which a first medical degree could be acquired in any sector.

c) Levelling disparities that may exist in the medical profession before, during and after the assumption of studies between  participants from the two sectors

3. The third question that may crop up is the question whether there is a place for free medical education in this country. Much may be said on both sides on this question but it is a policy question to be decided by the Legislature of the country that initiated the free education process. It is the Parliament that has the constitutional right to rule on the matter. It is a pity that that institution has not interfered so far to settle the argument that has been hanging fire, causing endless inconvenience to road users and allowing valuable national assets to go down the drain. May the Government take steps at least at this late stage to settle this policy matter? Until that is done sooner than later, it would be prudent to suspend recruitments to private medical facilities. Both sides may canvass their point peacefully with the Legislature. A final decision will be taken with a referendum, if necessary.

4. Students who have already entered private medical facilities present another problem. They have spent much time, funds and energy on this score and have to be looked after by the State. They cannot suffer or be faulted for the past commissions or omissions of Government and its seeming lack of vigilance. It is the State’s duty to provide for private medical students who satisfy the entrance requirements laid down by the MC to enter the profession.

Read More

The Octopus-Like Tentacles of High Corruption in Lanka

Sunday, July 30, 2017

For decades since independence, Sri Lankans were wont to look over the Palk Strait and enviously compare the strides that the Indian legal system had been taking in regard to protection of the Rule of Law. True, serious blimps were evidenced on the radar in regard to practical implementation of good judicial decisions. Allegations of corruption were intermittently made against Indian judges themselves. However, despite these negatives and even notwithstanding the alarming undermining of a once vibrant public intellectual culture in recent times, the judicial system and the Constitution of that country still retain the respect of the teeming Indian multitudes.

A powerful lesson for the region

Now we can look equally covetously elsewhere as yet another neighbouring country holds out an example that we may justifiably yearn for. This week Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned from office after the country’s Supreme Court unanimously declared him as ‘not honest’ and disqualified him from elected office. Sharif was ruled to have been dishonest in not disclosing his earnings from a Dubai-based company in his nomination papers during the 2013 general election.

The 2016 disclosures in the Panama Papers that three of Prime Minister Sharif’s children had used shell companies to buy properties in London were pivotal to the case. The former Prime Minister has refuted any allegation of wrong doing but stated that he will respect the Court’s decision. Certainly the ruling will potentially wreak more havoc on Pakistan’s tumultuous political systems. And it is doubtful if a single ruling of this nature will suffice to cleanse the notoriously corrupt political culture in the country. Even so, the stark fact of a Prime Minister forced to a measure of accountability stands as a potent and powerful lesson for other political leaders in this region.

In contrast, what do we have in Sri Lanka? The dismal fate which has now visited the 2015 rainbow coalition as public disillusionment if not fury grows is clear. A core component of that anger is the complete inability of the unity alliance to bring previous corrupt politicians to justice as well as maintain minimum standards of anti- corruption by its own members. Both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appear to be engaging in typical party politics at the expense of their campaign promises to bring about a change from the past.

This is certainly not a simple matter

Soon after it came to power, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe alliance announced that major anti-corruption bodies will be re-structured and current legislation will be amended. Amusingly it was claimed that the biggest challenge crippling anti-corruption investigations is the lack of expertise on the part of local officials, investigators and lawyers. One time corruption crusaders backing the Government declared with a flourish that anti-corruption investigations against the former leadership of the Rajapaksa Government were going just as they ought and that the people would see the results soon. This was, of course, not to be the case.

But the irony was that such sweeping promises were made at the very same time that the United National Party Government was embroiled in the Perpetual Treasuries bond controversy with its top leadership fighting tooth and nail to protect the former Governor of the Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran whose son-in-law Arjun Aloysius was the owner of Perpetual Treasuries which benefited from the bond deal. Parliamentarians from whom one would have expected better standards of reticence such as Eran Wickremeratne and Harsha de Silva protested before the national media that if at all, what was in issue was a simple conflict not financial irregularities.

Now, as this scam disentangles itself into its several scandalous components before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Perpetual Treasuries bond deal, we can see that this is not a simple matter after all. Rather, it is octopus-like with its tentacles extending into the highest reaches of the Government.

The appearance of impropriety

Recent testimony before the Commission has put on record that a massive sum of Rs.145 million, used for an initial payment and thereafter for a monthly loan installment to purchase a luxury penthouse for a company owned by family members of the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Ravi Karunanayake, had no source of origin nor was it accounted for. Previous testimony was to the effect that the lease of the penthouse occupied by the Minister and his family members had been paid by Arjun Aloysius, son-in-law of Mahendran and owner of Perpetual Treasuries.

No doubt, these allegations will be inquired into further once the Minister himself appears before the Commission as summoned in the coming days. But the appearance of impropriety is too high for many not to be shocked even when the level of shock was thought to have already been transcended.

In sum, a contemplative look back at the past two years shows that the gains of the 2015 people’s rejection of the Rajapaksa brand of non-governance were frittered away as a result of major mistakes made by this Government. Fundamental to this is the apparent thinking, born (it seems) of a deep cynicism at the highest levels of the unity administration, that nothing really needs to change all that much. What is needed is that the appearance of change is maintained and abuses of the law are adequately whitewashed. This reasoning is not singular to the fight against corruption. It is the same thinking which applies to other areas of reform, including transitional justice and constitutional reforms.

A complete betrayal

This is unforgivable. It is a complete betrayal of the trust and the hope placed by hundreds and thousands of courageous Sri Lankans who believed (against all expectations) that the country would take a turn for the better in 2015. As a result of this bitter betrayal, the possibility of another reform movement being accepted in the near future with sincerity and genuineness by ordinary people had dwindled to nothingness. This is the ultimate result of the political charade that was permitted to take place during the last two years.

If there is even a modicum of shame in the current political leadership, it will take serious measures towards reversing mistakes of the past. It will do so, in the minimum, with the understanding that if not, its own fate will be irreversibly sealed.

CB Bond Scam probe Ravi K adds spice to growing tension

BY Kavindya Chris Thomas-2017-07-30

There has never really been what one might call tangible tension since the Presidential Commission of Inquiry began its probe into the Central Bank Treasury Bond issues in January 2017. That changed with this past week's explosive revelations about the former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake (now the Foreign Minister).

There was a pervasive apprehension that 'something big' was going to break at any moment in the process of the Commission's probe because of speculation about a close link between the former Finance Minister (whose name had been commonly linked to the controversial 2015 Central Bank Treasury Bond sales) and the likes of former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran.

However, at this past week's hearings before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, the Minister was, for the first time, openly and directly named, suggesting strongly of a direct involvement in the contentious CB bond deals that supposedly impacted extremely negatively on the finances of the country.

On Monday (25), witness Anika V. Wijesuriya, Director of East West Properties PLC, testifying before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry disclosed that Arjun Aloysius, the owner of the controversial Perpetual Treasuries, had allegedly taken on lease a luxury apartment for six months at a cost of Rs 10.2 million for the former Finance Minister's family and had subsequently purchased it for the minister's family at Rs 165 million.

The luxury apartment in question – a penthouse at Monarch Residences, Colpetty, was to be rented out by its owner in December 2015. In early January 2016, the former Finance Minister and his wife had approached the witness's brother regarding the matter, claiming that the Karunanayake family was searching for an apartment to live in while renovations were being carried out at their residence. Accordingly, the witness testified that she had entered into a lease agreement with a company called Walt and Row (Pvt) Ltd., to which an agreed Rs 7.3 million was transferred by Perpetual Capital Holdings Pvt. Ltd. to be paid to her.

Website exposé

In July 2016, a news item published on websites, highlighting the Karunanayake family occupying a luxury apartment, with the rental paid by Aloysius had allegedly prompted him to call the witness and ask her to destroy her copy of the lease agreement, which she is said to have claimed that she had not done and in fact proceeded to present to the Commission as evidence.

She had later contacted Mrs. Karunanayake and talked about the media reports and their negative impact on her as the owner of the apartment. The witness had asked Mrs. Karunanayake to either purchase the apartment or vacate it considering the circumstances.

However, the witness had allowed the Karunanayake family to occupy the apartment for another two months, since she had the refundable deposit, and because renovations at the Karunanayake residence were not concluded.

Then the witness had called Mr. Aloysius and informed him about the extension of the lease agreement. The witness said the Karunanayake family later conveyed their willingness verbally to buy the apartment and settled on a price of Rs 165 million. She said a firm known as Global Transportation and Logistics Pvt Ltd, of which Mrs. Karunanayake and her daughter Onella were directors, purchased the apartment in September 2016. When questioned by DSG Yasantha Kodagoda, who led the evidence in chief, the witness revealed that Ravi Karunanayake had phoned her father last Saturday prior to testifying at the PCoI.

Following this revelation the Presidential Commission issued summons to the Minister to present himself before its next hearing on the following day to provide an explanation. However, he issued notice through his attorneys that he would not be able to arrive on Tuesday and was rescheduled to arrive on Wednesday (26).

However, by not showing up at the Wednesday hearing, the Minister only added spice to the growing tension. His attorney Rienzie Arseculeratne informed the Commission that the Minister would not be able to appear before them because he had to attend a Security Council meeting.

'More than enough suspicion about who has committed the fraud'

Ceylon Today contacted President's Counsel Hemantha Warnakulasuriya to ascertain what a Presidential Commission of Inquiry can exactly do within its powers, when a Cabinet Minister decides to not respond to its summons to provide evidence.

"The excuse given by the Minister was a fair, legitimate excuse which has been verified as true. Therefore, I don't think that the Minister's excuse is sufficient to blame him for not cooperating with the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. And also, the Presidential Commission has limited powers. The question as to whether a warrant could be issued to arrest him is another matter. So the important thing is that by doing this they have wasted a couple of days. The Commissioners were very concerned about the time that has been allocated and they wanted to call other witnesses, but the State insisted that the Commission should call the Minister first. As a politician, avoiding an appearance before the Commission gives a very wrong impression to the general public. In fact, immediately after Monday's revelation, there was a media event at which Minister Karunanayake quite brazenly claimed that he will be going to the Commission and that he will give evidence. What the Minister could have done through his lawyer was to seek an adjournment of the proceedings to be heard at a later time of that same day. The commissioners would have decided whether to have it or postpone it."

Warnakulasuriya recalled the incident in which Kandy District MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage had categorically stated that he was the first to bring the matter of the Karunanayake's luxury apartment to public attention.

"At that time, Minister Karunanayake vehemently denied any involvement and wanted him to prove it. The Prime Minister himself wanted to report MP Aluthgamage to the Privileges Committee for speaking lies in Parliament. How did the Prime Minister know this was false without an inquiry or even asking Minister Karunanayake? Therefore what is important today is to ensure that when the Government does something wrong, there should be an authority to look into that matter. Here, in this country, you become a culprit, a rogue or an illegal appropriator of public funds only when you're in the Opposition. This is the only time that a Commission was set-up by the President because of the tremendous public agitation that demanded a legitimate probe into this matter."

Nature of offence

He added that after 2 August, when Minister Karunanayake gives evidence what is important and necessary to establish is whether, on the basis of those statements, the offence comes under the Public Properties Act and whether there had been bribery and corruption involved. He assumes that if this is Good Governance, agencies like the Attorney General's Department, the Criminal Investigation Department the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption should immediately start their own investigations on the basis of what has transpired.

"Historically, when the Lalith Athulathmudali Commission started inquiring into the murder of Lalith Athulathmudali, witnesses were brought forward to implicate the UNP's R. Premadasa and Sirisena Cooray in the crime. It was obvious that the witnesses were lying and especially when what they said did not agree with the forensic evidence that was discovered. But the AG's Department decided to arrest the accused. Thus they were arrested and produced before Court on the basis of what transpired at hearings of that Commission. The Magistrate's Court did not reveal any of those things. If the AG's Department could apply this and then ensure that these people are arrested and brought in, that is enough. What is significant is the plausible suspicion. I don't blame the AG's Department. They have to go on the basis of whether any person is concerned in committing an offence or whether there has been any suspicion of committing an offence. Now there is more than enough suspicion about who has committed the fraud in the Treasury Bond case. All the individuals such as Arjuna Mahendran, his son-in-law Arjun Aloysious and all the Ministers must be questioned independently and a report should be filed for investigation. As long as that doesn't happen it clearly shows that this Government is no better than other governments. Then again, are the investigative agencies; are they acting independently? Several earlier complaints have been made at the CIABOC. What happened? Why aren't they inquiring into those complaints?

Asked whether the Minister would not attend the following Wednesday's Commission hearings at which he is expected to provide evidence, PC Warnakulasuriya rather optimistically stated that he believes the minister will show up.

"Now there are claims of denial and that Mondays' witness was lying. However, lawyers of Ravi Karunanayake were there, attorneys of Perpetual Treasuries were there and they did not challenge her and her statement. Therefore, the Commission will have to come to the conclusion, after giving the Minister an opportunity to come before it and give an explanation and he doesn't respond, that he is guilty of all these things.

"Ultimately, this Commission is not a Special Presidential Commission which has powers to recommending, determine people guilty and so on. This Commission is a Commission of Inquiry only. So, the final report has to go to the President and it will be he who gives directions. When you think of what's happening in this country it's very unlikely that anything would happen regarding this matter and ultimately, we'll all be taken for a ride," he opined.

Asiri Hospital Wants New BOI Board To Help Facilitate Tax Evasion Whilst Continuing To Deny Free Services To The Poor

JULY 30, 2017

Asiri Surgical Hospital PLC has not maintained even one ward with a minimum of ten beds nor an OPD for poor people for the past 17 years, Colombo Telegraph reveals today.

Asiri Surgical Hospital PLC (formerly known as Asiri Medical Services Ltd), entered into an Agreement with the Board of Investment (BOI) on the 29th of March 2000 to set up and conduct a business for the construction and operation of a Two-Tier Hospital at Kirimandala Mawatha, Colombo 5.

The agreement states “….payment and recovery of income tax shall not apply for a period of ten years in respect of the profits and income of a new enterprise which is engaged in the construction of a hospital on a two-tire basis i.e. one tier dedicated to free health care service for the poor with indoor and outdoor facilities and the other as a fee-based emergency health care service…”

The BOI has allocated 0.942 hectares of land for this project on a 99 year lease, commencing from June 2000.

In an interview with Business Management Digest, business tycoon Ashok Patdirage said: Success doesn’t happen overnight”

Former BOI Chairman Upul Jayasuriya had decided to suspend the tax exemption granted to Asiri Surgical Hospital PLC due to non-fulfilment of terms and conditions of the agreement entered into with the BOI.

As the first step Jayasuriya informed Department of Inland Revenue that the Asiri Surgical Hospital PLC was not entitled for tax exemption. He said that Asiri Surgical Hospital PLC had not maintained at least one ward with a minimum of ten beds nor an OPD for poor people according to the agreement. This was after an investigation carried out by the BOI’s Project Monitoring Unit.

After Jayasuriya and the entire board of the BOI resigned, the owner of Asiri Surgical Hospital PLC, business tycoon Ashok Pathirage, who is also the Chairman and Managing Director of Softlogic Holdings, is trying to renegotiate the deal with the newly appointed board, an informed source within Softlogic told Colombo Telegraph.

Read More

Truth is stranger than fiction ! Infamous Malkumaraya famous for sex abuse offered foreign scholarship !

(Lanka-e-News - 30.July.2017, 4.30PM)   During the period when H.A.S.Pallihakara  was the foreign secretary , Sumedha Nanayakkara who  was an officer in the foreign office was thrashed by a woman within the precincts of the foreign ministry for outraging her modesty . However because Sumedha was a pet of  Pallihakara , the former was immediately transferred to the SL High Commission in Canada not to punish him , rather  with a reward - promotion .

When Bob Jayasinghe was the SL Ambassador in  South Africa , a woman (typist) was sexually molested within a vehicle. It was only the victim  who was transferred out. 

When Buddhi Athauda was the ambassador , a woman was molested by him. In that disgraceful incident too , it was the victim who was transferred out. 

When Wilhelam Woutersz  was the SL High Commissioner in  Canada , an officer (female) was sexually harassed by him . That victim was transferred to Colombo, and in addition the officials went so  far as to mount false  charges and incarcerate  her. 

It is rudely shocking  the foreign ministry of SL did not conduct  investigations into any of these incidents even at ministry level. Even women who sought protection daily from the SL foreign embassy  in the Middle East are molested and that is a daily occurrence. No investigations are conducted , implying that women being subjected to sex abuse is a right of officials.
 
This sexual harassment of women in our foreign ministry and missions  without let or hindrance was witnessed again recently as though to prove these crimes are perpetual and natural , and cannot be halted.  

Mind you , it is no less a person than the Director general of the ministry , Pushpakumara  who was the culprit in this molestation .Lanka e news as well as other media reported this disgraceful incident. Yet not a word has been uttered or published regarding this incident by the foreign ministry . Neither was this disgraceful scenario condemned nor repudiated by the ministry . This irresponsible callous attitude  of a responsible ministry is most reprehensible , repulsive and abhorrent  because no less a person than the secretary of the ministry took all the trouble to transfer out the victim of the sexual molestation and suppress the incident instead of taking action against the sex starved criminals  and perverted scoundrels . What’s more ? This shameless despicable secretary is even  arranging to send this ‘Malkumaraya’ (perverted prince on the prowl) to Australia on a scholarship to gratify  his sex starvation  and perverted lust without any hindrance to contaminate that country too , and further disgrace   the motherland.

This senile Malkumaraya alias Kessila kumaraya with  the eternal incurable itch at the wrong place  is due for retirement within a year meaning that he has outlived his utility on earth .  It is worthy of note ,scholarships are awarded only to officers  who have some more time to retire. Then  what is the earthly benefit the government going to gain by awarding a scholarship at state expense to this sex pervert who is suffering from senile decay and considered a spent force  ?

His wife and children are living in Australia . This is because during the period when he was serving in Australia he got them down there abusing diplomatic privileges. Later he left them in Australia  and returned to SL . No probe was conducted into this. 

When this is the factual situation prevailing in the country  , is anybody making speeches on country’s  discipline and state administration of any worth?
 
Let us  wait and watch what the people, trade unions and women’s rights activists  of the country who blame politicians alone for every  wrong have to say in regard to these dastardly and diabolic activities . Where on earth do you find state secretaries who arrange foreign scholarships to culprits against whom there is  also a  complaint at  the women’s bureau of the police ?

Hence, it is a most crucial question ,while  it is a well and widely known fact  these scoundrels  are not bureaucrats but ‘booruwa rats’ nibbling at the very image  and economy of the country , why are such rascals being pampered  ?

By Diplomutt

Translated by Jeff 

---------------------------
by     (2017-07-30 11:10:03)

Don’t target family members not in politics – Namal asks govt

By Yusuf Ariff-July 30, 2017

Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa has requested the government to refrain from targeting family members who are not engaged in politics for “political revenge.”

The UPFA Parliamentarian claims that the government is attempting to exact revenge on members of his family. 

He made these observations during a membership drive for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna in Kotte. 

Namal’s mother Shiranthi Rajapaksa, the wife of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had recently been summoned for questioning by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) with regard to an ongoing investigation. 

However, she had informed through her lawyers that she will not be able to present herself before the CID due to unavoidable reasons and had requested a different date.  

Inamaluwe Sumangala Thera swindled Rs. 10,950 million 

 Jul 30, 2017

From 1996 to 2016, the then Rangiri Dambulla Rajamaha Vihara trustee Inamaluwe Sumangala Thera had swindled Rs. 10,950 million

that was earned through the sale of tickets to foreign tourists visiting the temple, without crediting the money to the Central Cultural Fund, Archaeology Department or the temple development fund, present chief incumbent Godagama Mangala Thera has informed minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam.

The Thera has asked the minister in writing to pay immediate attention to this fraud and conduct an investigation.

Await a detailed report…..

Daya Nettasinghe

Related --Sri Lanka Tribune's video.

The First Rathinam Memorial Lecture:Water for Jaffna by Dr. K. Vigneswaran

Jaffna Geology

by S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole-July 29, 2017, 6:39 pm 

Jaffna is in seeming throes of death, not least because ofthe lack of water. Teachers have fled. We have rote tuition, not education. Street killings are on the rise. That death shows even in the diminishing standards of English.

The First Rathinam Memorial Lecture Water for Jaffna by Dr. K. Vigneswaran.docx by Thavam on Scribd