Sri Lanka's supreme court shoots down tax reforms


Sri Lanka's supreme court has asked the government to either change the bill or hold a nationwide referendum on the proposed legislation.(Reuters file)

One section objected to was proposal to empower tax chief to prevent anyone from leaving the country if that person was suspected of fraud

AFP/Colombo-August 4, 2017

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has effectively shot down a sweeping overhaul of the island's tax system, calling the proposed legislation unconstitutional, the country's parliament speaker told lawmakers on Friday.

Last month Sri Lanka tabled the Inland Revenue bill to widen the tax net and give wide-ranging powers to authorities to crack down on evaders.

But speaker Karu Jayasuriya told parliament on Friday the highest court had informed him that it would not approve the bill in its current form - a legal requirement for the legislation to become law.

The court has asked the government to either change the bill or hold a nationwide referendum on the proposed legislation.

If the government wins the referendum it can bring the bill before parliament, where lawmakers can vote to make it law.

However, official sources said the government was unlikely to seek a referendum and instead, would try to water down the sections deemed at odds with provisions of the constitution.

One of the sections the court objected to was a proposal to empower the tax chief to prevent any individual from leaving the country if that person was suspected of tax fraud.

The court also deemed unconstitutional a clause that would let tax authorities share information with the state attorney general to be used in criminal prosecutions.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has long pushed for a reform of the country's tax system and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera was hoping for the bill to be approved this month.

There was no immediate comment from the finance ministry on the court decision.

The IMF in 2016 agreed to lend Sri Lanka $1.5 billion spread over three years following a balance of payments crisis.

Last month, the IMF released the third installment of the loan after holding up the payment for months over Colombo's failure to meet its bailout conditions.

The government weighs its options

2017-08-04

All in all, the government won last week. The petrol strikers were put down after briefly flirting with uncertainty: we didn’t know what the officials would do, and frankly we were worried they wouldn’t do anything. By resolving their issue without resorting to brute force (for the first time, our president made significant use of those extraordinary powers vested in him by declaring the distribution of fuel an essential service), the bad guys were demarcated as the strikers. Not the government. This was and is true also for the University students: we have grown so used to their rhetoric over SAITM that we are merely tired whenever they demand action on the streets. 

• The truth is that we’ve been selling ourselves for the past 60 years. The truth is that this government is no different to its predecessors.
• Everything that the previous government had a hand in shaping, including SAITM and the sell-out to China and Wilpattu, was effectively turned into campaigns against the President and the Prime Minister.
• Most of these protesters have actually subverted their own aims. Fuel has come to be something of a necessity to the entire country,
• Constitutional amendments are to this government what protests against them are to the Joint Opposition. 
• The fuel strike wasn’t totally unsuccessful, as I pointed out earlier. But it did teach us some lessons. Pertinent, timeless lessons. Predominantly in the political sphere. We can choose to heed them, or we can choose to ignore. Either way, we’ve lost.  

“Sri Lanka to sign Port Deal with China!” screams the headlines from the New York Times, The Guardian, and The Economic Times. The petrol strike was a corollary to what was perceived as the government’s sell-out of strategic assets to foreign entities, which proved so controversial, in fact, that while the strike was ongoing we ended up revising the terms of the agreement with China (regarding the Hambantota Port) from an 80:20 share distribution to a 69.55:30.45, divided between China Merchants Port and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. So the strike wasn’t totally unsuccessfully: we brought up our share of the lease by 10.45 percentage points.   

Notwithstanding the way they inconvenienced the public, and any future action they may take to inconvenience us even further, I personally think they were trying to make an important point. You may argue (as Rajitha Senaratne did at a press conference) that Mahinda Rajapaksa is behind these strikes, that he is financing them with the money he looted from the public coffers (or the deals he struck to build those roads even those who hate him admire), but the truth is that when a set of impoverished, hard-done-by state workers resort to the streets despite the threat of dismissal, they deserve more than a passing glance. Nobody has spoken for them. The truth is that nobody wants to. As I noted in my column last week, we are so shrouded in ambivalence that even those who strike in our country’s name are laid aside.  

The truth is that we’ve been selling ourselves for the past 60 years. The truth is that this government is no different to its predecessors. But the protesters aren’t bemoaning that. They should be, but they aren’t. They are not shouting about the process, but about those who are heading that process. In that sense, these protests are politically motivated. And in that sense, those who chose to remain silent when the previous regime capitulated with the SAITM issue are being selective now.   

Forget this though. In politics there’s something called the opportune moment. Protest campaigns and feel-good slogans are based on that moment. Everything that the previous government had a hand in shaping, including SAITM and the sell-out to China and Wilpattu, was effectively turned into campaigns against the President and the Prime Minister. For the record, they have not been unsuccessful there. Those who have through articles or speeches compelled the state to take a firmer hand against the protesters are, by that logic, caving into what the Joint Opposition wants them to do: diminish their own legitimacy by doing more of what they did in their time.   

Given this it’s no surprise that the government is weighing its options. Trade Unions aren’t elected representatives: they are selected, sometimes by secret ballot, and they can’t speak for the people. The State knows this, which is why it claims that pressure groups can’t override what the people want. But what do the people want? Roughly the same thing the State wants! Its friends are ours, its enemies are ours. The Bills it enacts, the legislation it crystallises and later amends, are all ours. It would be subverting the very basis of democracy if we were to let Trade Unions dictate to the State. And to a considerable extent, we would be inclined to agree.   

These protests are not achieving what they set out to do, not surprisingly. The stark truth is that whatever the protest may be, unless we’re in a totalitarian Orwellian dictatorship, all their arguments, regardless of how cogent they may be, can be trivialised with the simple counterargument “But you don’t represent the people!” Unless you count a particularly unique political predicament (think of Chandrika Kumaratunga’s clumsy handling of the war and the subsequent shift of power in and outside parliament to the Jathika Hela Urumaya, regardless of their numbers), an outside pressure group cannot and will not be allowed to influence State policy.   

Trade Unions aren’t elected representatives: they are selected, sometimes by secret ballot, and they can’t speak for the people. The State knows this, which is why it claims that pressure groups can’t override what the people want. But what do the people want? Roughly the same thing the State wants!

And that’s not all. Most of these protesters have actually subverted their own aims. Fuel has come to be something of a necessity to the entire country, as have doctors and engineers and bus drivers, but these have a considerable impact on the poor. The middle classes will be squeezed beyond endurance when petrol stations run out of petrol, but when doctors vacate their hospitals their absence will be felt mostly by the not-so-affluent, i.e. those who can’t afford to visit a private hospital. The government’s enemy is not the people’s enemy, certainly not all the time. But when you have doctors out of hospitals and when the generator that fuelled up the garment factory you earned your daily stipend from runs out of diesel, you do tend to worry more about your economic plight. We are selfish, yes. But so is everyone else. 

When a prominent yahapalanist Marxist and apologist (yes, they are both, sometimes at the same time) contended some months back that the government must address grievances through constitutional amendments and affirmative legislative enactments, I fired back contending that the ordinary Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher, and whatever-else man, woman, and child on the street will not bother about them without first thinking of his or her daily bread. Constitutional amendments are all fine and well, but without the necessary economic backdrop to them, they will run out of fuel. Now it would be hypocritical of me to suggest that this doesn’t hold valid for the other side: i.e. the nationalist, anti-federalist, and anti-yahapalana side.   

In the end, these protests will only deepen political rifts. Those who support the government, while not exactly salivating over it, will see Rajapaksa and his cohorts behind the protesters

Constitutional amendments are to this government what protests against them are to the Joint Opposition. In both cases, what is ignored is the simple fact that the people will not be placated by political slogans if their economic needs aren’t met. When it comes to the middle class especially (because the middle class has become more politically empowered), no amount of feel-good rhetoric about the future of the country will move them. This means, whether we like it or not, that no amount of fuel strikes and power cuts will awaken the nationalist in us until and unless we can be sure that the economic prerequisites to being a nationalist are fulfilled.   

In the end these protests will only deepen political rifts. Those who support the government, while not exactly salivating over it, will see Rajapaksa and his cohorts behind the protesters. Those who support the Rajapaksa Cabal, and especially those fiercely attached to it, will lambast the government whenever the CEB decides to cut power. We don’t need that, clearly. We need a pressure group movement that’s better organised, not prone to frequent strikes, and who’re genuinely concerned about this country’s plight without ignoring its need for an economic backdrop. 

Regrettable, but that’s the way it is. In the eighties the conventional wisdom was that the economy was more important than the country, which explains why an entire generation grew up hating the arts, ignoring our history, and rubbishing our heritage

And why? Because that backdrop is what conditions us. Regrettable, but that’s the way it is. In the eighties the conventional wisdom was that the economy was more important than the country, which explains why an entire generation grew up hating the arts, ignoring our history, and rubbishing our heritage. “Culture can be salvaged only by selling it!” was what our leaders propagated around town, and we swallowed the pill they gave us. We are still paying for those sins, but until we stop paying, and until we let go of that inferiority complex and colonial hangover we suffer from even today, the truth is that we will continue to be ruffled, troubled, and altered by economics. When that petrol station runs out of fuel, when food shortages and power cuts are the order of the day, and when the generator at your office shuts down and with it your office too, we will eventually bother less about the country.   

The fuel strike wasn’t totally unsuccessful, as I pointed out earlier. But it did teach us some lessons. Pertinent, timeless lessons. Predominantly in the political sphere. We can choose to heed them, or we can choose to ignore. Either way, we’ve lost.   

How come AG who investigated 8600 pages against Ravi within 2 days could not verify culprit Gotabaya’s signature for 2 years?

(Lanka-e-news - 04.Aug.2017, 8.40 PM)    How come the  Attorney General’s  (AG) department which investigated the report on the phone calls of Aloysius contained in  8600 pages   in two days to ‘crucify’ minister Ravi Karunanayake in an unholy haste, could not  verify just a signature of Gotabaya Rajapakse for the last two years  in the fraud involving the  ex defense secretary ?  asked  former provincial council member Baddegama Ananda Lanerolle when he spoke to Lanka e news over the phone. Lanerolle went on to comment further as follows :

It was on 24 th of July the order was given to hand over the mobile phone of Aloysius to the CID . If the phone was handed over on the 2 5th ,  and since 26 th and 27 th were weekend holidays , even  to get print outs  of 8600 pages it takes two more days. The AG in any event after examining  presented those to the Commission on the 2 nd.
     
In other words the AG has examined all these 8600 pages within two days , hasn’t he?  A wonderful enthusiasm displayed and  what concern shown? That is welcome. But , why had  the AG for the last over two years been unable to verify the signature on the letter of Gotabaya which ordered the Urban development authority (UDA) to release Rs. 90 million towards the construction of a mausoleum in memory of Gota’s  parents ?  Why wasn’t the same diligence applied  by the AG in Gota’s  case too ?

It is an obvious fact nobody will have motive or interest to forge the signature of Gotabaya Rajapakse  to give an order to release funds to build a mausoleum for  Rajapakses’ parents . But there is a  more cruel  side to this criminal activity of Gota  ,  that is , the AG’s department had not been able to verify just  a signature  of Gota for the last over two years .  How ridiculous !  It is therefore no wonder the confidence and trust reposed in the AG’s department by the law abiding people have dropped to zero level.’

Lanerolle also questioned , why is the commission of Mathripala Sirisena which is hearing the case against Ravi Karunanayake not taking action against Dilan  Perera? 

If Ravi has committed a wrong he shall be investigated and punished if  found guilty. But there is a graver  issue than Aloysius paying rent for Ravi’s house .That is, Dilan Perera  pocketing all the public funds  after falsely claiming those monies were to be  utilized to give dhana (feast) to pregnant  mothers , and committing a fraud without giving even a mustard seed to pregnant mothers .It is at  president Sirisena’s request  the investigation into the fraud of Dilan Perera was  held back. Similarly the presidential commission is not probing into the robbers who imported petrol adulterated with water. Those unconscionable  robbers are safe. They are not being tracked down. 

Only Ravi Karunanayakes who worked to oust the Rajapakses who are being probed. Now even against Lanka e news , president’s ‘people’ have filed legal action .Instead of investigating the arson committed on your office , is it ethical to investigate those like you who worked to topple the Rajapakses? 

If Ravi had any desire to rob he had a plethora of opportunities , all he had to do was  join with Mahinda Rajapakse saying to strengthen latter’s  force . It is Dayasiris who exploited such opportunities, now allegedly  trying to raise both hands to  oppose Ravi now.

Was it not Ravi Karunanayake who spent his own money in millions and worked indefatigably to oust the Rajapakses when there were some within the UNP itself  playing double games aligning with  the Rajapakses ?

If Ravi had committed a wrong he ought to be punished by the good governance government we installed in power. I do not say that should not be done. But we are not in favor of the moves  to make those who campaigned and worked for Maithripala to put him on the pedestal of president to be maligned and accused even  before they are  found guilty through commissions appointed by  Sirisena,  supported by  his henchmen, Lanerolle emphatically stated with concern.

---------------------------
by     (2017-08-04 15:14:11)

Ravi Plays Dirty And Claims Aloysius Is Anika’s Ex-Lover

Anika Wijesuriya with her father Nahil Wijesuriya

AUGUST 4, 2017

Whilst claiming he was hurt by attempts to assassinate his character, Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Lotteries Ravi Karunanayake himself went on to drag a nonrelated relationship of one of the witnesses, lawyers monitoring the proceedings of the Commission investigating the Bond Scam told Colombo Telegraph.

Day before yesterday when Minister Karunanayake was questioned as to whether he knew that Arjun Aloysius had met his wife Mela and had discussed the leasing agreement of the Penthouse Apartment, instead of giving a clear answer he said, “No, I don’t know about that, but Arjun Aloysius is Anika Wijesuriya’s former lover”.

Subsequently when answering another question, he once again mentioned that Arjun Aloysius was the former lover of Anika Wijesuriya.

Anika Wijesuriya with her father Nahil Wijesuriya

Meanwhile speaking to journalists and media immediately after his grilling, Minister Karunanayake went on to say “I can accept the piercing of the enemy’s arrow. But, the pin pricking of friends is much more hurtful”.

“The irony is that he is the one who used the pin to prick his ‘relation’, according to him,” the lawyers who spoke to Colombo Telegraph said.

However earlier when Anika Wijesuriya was giving evidence before the Bond Commission she was asked if she knew Arjun Aloysius. She said she knew him first through her schooling at the Colombo International School and thereafter as a friend of a person she had had a relationship with. At no point did she claim that Arjun Aloysius was her former lover.

Lawyers representing Arjun Aloysius however never suggested or challenged her if she was the ex-lover of Arjun Aloysius during the time of being cross examined when she was giving evidence. Instead they went on to ask her if she knew a person by the name of Jude Shramantha Jayamaha. Even though they never went on to identify who that man is, he is the man currently serving a death sentence for the famous Royal Park Murder. Anika said she knew him, but no further questions were asked regarding that matter.

“What is baffling is that Ravi Karunanayake who cannot/did not/may not remember who paid for the penthouse, remembers that Arjun Aloysius was Anika Wijeysuriya’s lover. This leads us to believe that Ravi Karunanayake would use any path to discredit someone who crosses him.

a) Anika Wijeysuriya leased her house and signed a legal agreement.

b) Anika Wijeysuriya registered the lease agreement.

c) Anika Wijeysuriya responded to summons by the Presidential Commission.

d) Anika Wijeysuriya gave evidence according to what happened truthfully.

So, what earthly reason is there to discredit her character? YOU DECIDE” the lawyer told Colombo Telegraph.

So, what earthly reason is there to discredit her character? YOU DECIDE” the lawyer told Colombo Telegraph.

Meanwhile a website which is paid around US$ 3000 per month to carry two advertisements of the National Lotteries Board, which comes under Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s purview, used an ad hoc writer to sling mud at Anika Wijesuriya.

Anika Wijesuriya who used two parts of her full name Muthukudaarachchige Vinodini whilst giving evidence as the former owner of the Monarch Residencies Penthouse, is the daughter of business tycoon Nahil Wijesuriya.

Her full name reads as Muthukuda Wijesuriya Arachchige D.A. Anika Vinodini Jayasuriya. After giving evidence her lawyer requested the Commissioners to give a ruling in order to protect her and her family identities. The Commissioners said that they cannot rule in that favour and denied the lawyer’s request.

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MINISTER RAVI KARUNANAYAKE SHOULD RESIGN – DR PAIKIASOTHY SARAVANAMUTTU

Image: Minister Karunanayake checking his nose to make sure is it growing!

04/08/2017

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has followed recent media reports of the proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry to investigate the issuance of Treasury Bonds with increasing concern. The reported allegations of financial misconduct and conflicts of interest are extremely serious and their political consequences graver. Whatever the outcome of the Commission’s proceedings., the allegations are of sufficient gravity to require the immediate resignation of Ravi Karunanayake MP, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The media reports of the on-going hearings of the Commission of Inquiry to investigate and inquire into the issuance of Treasury Bonds during the period of 1st February 2015 to 31st March 2016, (CoI), reveal that Mr Karunanayake is implicated in financial transactions with Mr Arjun Aloysius, a central figure in the high-profile and questionable issuance of bonds by the Central Bank. Witness testimony to the CoI states that a luxury apartment in Colombo was taken on lease by Mr. Aloysius and/or his representatives, and paid for on behalf of Karunanayake, who was then Minister of Finance, and his family. In recorded testimony given to the CoI on 2nd August 2017, Minister Karunanayake noted that it was his wife and daughter who found and procured this apartment and that he personally “knew nothing” about how the apartment he and his family resided in for nine months was paid for and procured.

Without prejudice to the proceedings of the CoI, CPA finds the Minister’s testimony not only entirely implausible, but also deeply damaging to the credibility and reputation of the institutions of government.

This is especially so for a government elected on a platform of good governance and anti-corruption. We firmly believe that this is a view shared by the majority of our fellow citizens, who are dismayed by the persistence of corruption and the current government’s woefully inadequate measures to address it.

CPA wishes to remind the government of its central promise to eradicate corruption at all levels of government and to hold to account anyone who is complicit without fear or favour. We call upon Minister Karunanayake to take the principled step of resigning from ministerial office forthwith, and to cooperate fully with on-going and any future investigations. We believe this is an essential prerequisite for restoring public confidence in the government’s commitment to its mandate, and we reiterate that the failure to do so will seriously impede the realisation of every other aspect of the government’s reform agenda.

Given the hope and expectation raised in 2015 regarding the restoration of good governance and the rule of law, the failure of Minister Karunanayake to resign, and the failure of the government to ensure his resignation, will risk unfavourable comparison with its predecessors. More critically, it will erode the credibility of our public institutions and processes in the eyes of citizens, and fatally undermine broader reforms.

Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu

Executive Director

August 04th 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka:

MORAL DEGENERATES AND A RAVISHED ECONOMY

2017-08-04

WINSTON DE VALLIERE

It's a measure of the man's temperate nature that he accepted the portfolio of Sports Minister although his academic and political track record would justify him being entrusted with tasks at a higher level in the Cabinet. In the 2010 General Election, he received 132,600 preference votes which was the highest received by any candidate in the Kurunegala District.

On 24 July 2013, he resigned from the UNP and joined the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) to contest the Provincial Council Elections. He broke the record of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga of most votes in a Provincial Council Election in Sri Lanka and was elected as the Chief Minister of the province on 21 September 2013. He is the 6th Chief Minister of North Western Province.

And Dayasiri Jayasekera who has switched sides on moral and ethical issues, said last week that he would vote in favour of a No-faith motion against Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake. On the other hand we had Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne saying that he hoped the Foreign Minister would come up with plausible responses to statements made by Ms. Anika Wijesuriya relating to the leasing and ultimate sale of what is said to have been her super luxury penthouse to the Karunanayake family.
The Minister has now said before the Commission of Inquiry into the Central Bank's Treasury Bond scandal that he has had absolutely no knowledge of his family's transaction with Ms. Wijesuriya relating to the penthouse, supposedly using monies jointly owned by him in the family company Global Transportation and Logistics Ltd.

Karunanayake is listed as the Chairman, CEO/Director of the company which is at Liyanagemulla, Seeduwa with assets, the Minister told the Commission on Wednesday, amounting to almost Rs.4.5 billion. To all knowledge, Arjun Aloysius or his family do not have a stake of any nature in this company. Ms. Wijesuriya has allegedly been asked to destroy the documents pertaining to the lease and subsequent purchase of the penthouse. Which she has said she did not do and presented before the Commission.

Despite being the Chairman and CEO, Karunanayake told the Commission that he knows nothing about a major deal that has supposedly been put through using cash from the safe of this company. He also says he does not know whether his wife had gone to the penthouse to meet Ms. Wijesuriya alone or in the company of Arjun Aloysius. We do not know what the Commission will make of all these statements and what

Mrs. Karunanayake will tell the Commission when she is called to give evidence.
Suffice it to say that Arjun Aloysius will also be hauled before this Commission in this context to ensure whether the facts are all accurate. That Karunanayake said he does not know whether his wife went to meet Wijesuriya alone or in Aloysius's company can be interpreted by the Commission to mean that he does know that she did go to meet Ms. Wijesuriya at the penthouse. In that case will the Commission conclude that he after all did know something about the Penthouse and the meeting, information about which was however withheld from him by all parties concerned relating to this massive real estate deal using monies apparently belonging to the company of which he is the Chairman/CEO? We are to take it then that the Chairman of this company, Minister Ravi Karunanayake has been kept in the dark about how its finances have been used.

Whether the Commission will accept all of this as plausible is something we still do not know. Dayasiri Jayasekera is a lawyer in his own right and will know more about the legal nitty-gritty concerning statements of this nature made by a Chairman of a company with assets running into over Rs 4.5 billion.

It has been revealed before the Commission that this text message from Aloysius to his personal secretary had been sent in November last year saying "remind me to ask Hon. MP RK to get a copy of the Monetary Board Paper 28/Nov/2016".

Penthouse deal

Even a Grade 7 student might be well acquainted with these initials by which Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake is commonly known. But the Minister told the Commission he knew of no politicians with those initials. Even if the Minister knew nothing about Aloysius's involvement in the penthouse deal, this SMS might suggest a relationship familiar enough for him to approach the Minister for such confidential high value information pertaining to Central Bank board papers. The next SMS from Aloysius's personal secretary Steve Samuel makes it clear that Aloysius has had that meeting with "RK". Did RK give him that Board Paper in violation of all law and ethics pertaining to such highly confidential State information? Who could this RK be? No prizes for guessing! :

SMS on 1 December 2015:

Good Morning Chairman Hope you had a good meeting with RK. Remind the 1 p.m. haircut.
What did Aloysius want that specific Board Paper for? The public have a right to know all of it under the Right to Information Act.

Whether that will establish a prima facie case in a Court of Law is left to be seen. When Karunanayake says that he does not know whether his wife went alone or in the company of Mr. Aloysius anyone could logically deduce from that statement that it is a tacit acknowledgement of knowledge of the fact that his wife and Aloysius knew each other well enough to be involved in such a high profile deal. So whether a Court will later on accept the Minister's statement that he knew nothing about the deal – or reject it – is yet to be seen.

At this point in time the politician-lawyer Dayasiri Jayasekera has said he will support the No-faith motion against the Minister. What the Court will have to say is still a moot point and we cannot prejudge anything in fairness to the Minister, who after all is also a publisher of a newspaper that was once committed to cleansing society and politics of all the crap within the systems.

The Asian Mirror carried this report yesterday that said:

"Asian Mirror can now reveal the text messages extracted from Arjuna Aloysius' phone by the Attorney General's Department.

Additional Solicitor General Dappula de Livera, on behalf of the Attorney General's Department, informed the Commission that some of these messages had been deleted.

They were read out by Livera before Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake who appeared before the Commission, yesterday.

The messages constantly point to a powerful political figure whom Aloysius refers to as 'RK'.
When asked whether Karunanayake had any knowledge of the politician wWho has the initials 'RK', Karunanayake said he was not aware.

The messages also showed how Aloysius had apparently funded the 'Sunday Leader' newspaper in the recent past and the manner in which the controversial businessman was involved in matters relating to the country's economy.

Following are some of the messages read out before the Commission, their senders and receivers, as given in the Asian Mirror website:

SMS 01

From Ruwan Gallage to Arjun Aloysius

Employees (of Sunday Leader) has stopped from work -
Rs 3 million

(This refers to the salaries of the Sunday Leader staff)
SMS 02

To Steve Samuel

From Arjun Aloysius

Remind me to ask Hon MP RK to get a copy of the Monetary Board Paper 28/Nov/2016
SMS 03

From Steve Samuel

On 01 December 2015

Good Morning Chairman Hope you had a good meeting with RK. Remind the 1 PM haircut.
SMS 04

From Ruwan Gallage

On 22 December 2016

The expected funds have not been realized.

SMS 05 (According to ASG Livera, this was a deleted message)

On 14 January 2017

Outgoing from Arjun Aloysius
To Steve Samuel

Please remind me to speak with RK on PPP set up and meeting with PM tom with US Treasury
SMS 06

To Arjun Aloysius

Social media is a strong weapon these days. Allow us to start our gossip column. We can give a massive support to PM and Hon Ravi K. I am going to cover the cost for two months. 3 to 5 million. Let's do this boss.

A calendar reminder

Meeting boss/RK on proposed auction for the week.

SMS 07

To Arjun Aloysius

From Neil de Silva

Dear Hon Min Ravi coming from the site.

Subani is going to inform the court. Is there a way for us to stop her from going to court?
SMS 08

01 June 2017

Dear Arjun there is Kapila Prasanna in Swarnawahini. He was with previous regime from 2007-2015. He has robbed producing money from Swarnawahini. This guy has been the secretary to S.M. Chandrasena from 2015. He only has GCE O/Ls. What is he doing under you? It is not good for you and PTL and Ravi K. These guys are very dangerous. They may send information.


Under the Right to Information Act one hopes, the President will ensure that no Commission or Court hold back any evidence relating to this case that the pubic have a right to know about. Dayasiri Jayasekera is no one's fool!

Lies Lies And More Lies; I Remember The Day My Father Punched You Mr. Ravi K !

By Achini Ediriweera –AUGUST 4, 2017

Achini Ediriweera

In the midst of all this that is going on regarding Hon. Mr. Ravi Karunanayake, I recall how my father lost his temper and fortunately or unfortunately punched Hon. Ravi Karunanayake on Air on the LIVE National Television program called “Rathu Ira”. This program was telecasted on the Sri Lankan TV channel Swarnavahini.

Somehow everyone of us including my father’s office knew he was going to really get physical before he left for the show. He was furious as he had solid facts as evidence on how Mr. Karunanayake robbed the Lalith Athulathmudali’s funds post our beloved Lalith Athulathmudali‘s assassination.

What happened was Hon. Ravi Karunanayake had just crossed over to the UNP. My father presented papers and evidence of Mr. Karunanayake’s involvements with stealing funds from our beloved Hon. late Lalith Athulathmudali. This was an ongoing feud. When my father presented these facts with evidence, of Mr. Karunanayake stealing from the Athulathmudali’s funds, and Mr. Ravi Karunanayake kept denying it, matters got heated and my father could not stand the fact that he was sitting there and lying in this manner to my father’s face about stealing from the country! Therefore my father unfortunately or fortunately punched him during this live TV show, on air. As for the tape of what became the final episode of this TV show ‘Rathu Ira’, I personally wrote to Swarnavahini recently and requested for this tape to be retrieved from their archives. Unfortunately they wrote back to me stating they never archived things back then. While I am a little puzzled about that response I am hopeful that I could speak to the Director of the TV channel Swarnavahini and retrieve the recording of this episode mentioned.

According an interview of my father Ediriweera Premaratne that was published in the Divaina News Paper on 29 October 1995, Mr Karunanayake first entered the parliament through the national list through the Lalith Pila. That is thankful to those that win enough votes for the political party during an election. Among others who were responsible for winning those votes for the party enabling appointments through a national list was my father.

My father can’t stand people that steal from the innocent man. He would even hit us if and when we take the cars here and there to roam around in our childhood days. He has always told us he will not be that guy to steal from the public. He spoke of what a great sin it is to steal from these innocent people of our county, to rob them of the prosperous livelihoods that they rightfully deserve. He would stress on the fact that it is a sin that generations and generations and generations into future will have to suffer. Ediriweera Premaratne stayed loyal to his mission that is to somehow to help the poor and to work for “them” and to “fight” for “them”. To fight for their fundamental rights of the citizens of Sri Lanka. Poverty is not foreign for Ediriweera Premaratne because that is where he came from. He understood what it felt like to be hungry as a child because he was that child. He tells us and reminds us this every day since we lived in a ‘Colombo 7 world’, as he would like to describe it. Father tells me you do not understand Achini. Your world is not the world of this country. That world you are in only accounts for a very tiny percentage. People have very hard difficult lives. These words were not understood then, but echoes in my head many years later.

Getting back to the point, I do not condone violence at any point. Although these absolute jokers in Sri Lankan politics with that smirk on their faces while they trick and steal from the nation, can really push the buttons of those loyal to the people. Not those loyal to a political party, not those loyal to a political leader, but those loyal to the benefitting the people. With all due respect, our country is not made up of the Colombo 7 crowd.

Moving on…

Think. “yeah! yeah! Mr. Ravi Karunanayake is corrupt”. We have known this since the day he stole from our beloved Lalith Athulathmudali’s funds. Yet he has been allowed to continue just like any other corrupt politician in this country.

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Why is only my father blamed? : Onella

 

 

2017-08-04

Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake's daughter Onella has made an impassioned plea on her Facebook page asking why it was only her father to blame “in such a huge Government?”.

“Just ask yourself? Why only one man’s name comes up all the time in such a huge government?” she asked, making comparison to her father's testimony.

Minister Karunanayake while testifying at the Bond Commission also asked the same question from the Attorney General when questioned about the undated and un-referenced letter sent under his signature.

“Why am I the only one to blame? There was collective responsibility,” he said.

Below is Onella's full Facebook post:

"Am not at all a person who uses social media to express views or thoughts in lengthy status messages but i fell that sadly today it has come to a point where i feel i at least have to voice out my thoughts on the same platforms that my family is getting character assassinated on.

I have seen many articles circulated all around social media about my father for a very long time but for the first time i feel i need to intervene and speak out cause this particular time it is a malicious constant attack on his character that is orchestrated by others who aim to achieve other things trying to make my father a fall man.

I see everyone very easily resharing content on many pages on social media but all have only one name. My fathers name. Does everyone really believe for the last couple years everything in the government is just one man and that we have been getting hit cause we deserve it or that maybe there is a pattern to this madness now?

I know that when situations arise we all want to get to the bottom of things and find someone responsible for it but are u sure that all the sites carry facts or have you ever though that this could be well planned and paid attempts from others in politics who would need to cover up there sins by directing all negative attention to one man?

Everyone is entitled to freedom of speech but with freedom of speech also comes the responsibility to know all the true facts and figures and not only the damaging views that are paid to catch on to all.

I cannot change everyones opinions about how you see my family but i respectfully just ask you to think before you fall prey to these well paid character assassins targeting just one man constantly.

I have learnt bitterly over the years that politics is a dirty game and some in it will stop at nothing to achieve the individual goals no matter who they hurt along the way.

So if you have actually taken time to read through this fully all i want to ask you at the end is please think. Thinking can one man do everything all the time? Can one man always be doing these things jus to get negative publicity or is he actually being framed and made to be the fall man again and again?

Please all i ask you is to think before u form a one sided opinion cause again like i have learnt the hard ways politics is not how it appears to be. Think if u have all the facts cause i know that you will be surprised if u really sit to think whats going on.

Just ask yourself? Why only one mans name comes up all the time in such a huge government?

Again everyone is free to think how they see it from the facts they have but i have now given you a small view from my family's side. So please just open your eyes and think a little because in this instance its not any commission but the media and the public that has been the judge, jury and executioner.

Like my father said after visiting the commission that day and coming out:

"I can accept the spearing of an enemy's arrow but the pin pricking of friends is much more hurtful," she said.

Charge sheet filed against Padeniya: Court calls for written submissions

Lakmal Sooriyagoda-Thursday, August 3, 2017

The Court of Appeal directed both complainant and respondent parties to file their written submissions on September 8 regarding the preliminary objections raised by Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya regarding a charge sheet filed against him over contemptuous statements, yesterday.

At a previous occasion, a charge sheet was, in open Court, served on GMOA President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya by the Court of Appeal for allegedly undermining the Court of Appeal judgment dated January 31 which was delivered compelling the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) to register the MBBS graduates of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine Limited (SAITM) provisionally as medical practitioners in terms of the Medical Ordinance.

However, Dr. Padeniya through his lawyer, had informed the Court of Appeal that his client was not pleading guilty to the charge sheet when it was read out by the Court stenographer.

President’s Counsel Gamini Marapana with counsel Navin Marapana appearing for the respondent, raised preliminary objections against the charge sheet.

However, President’s Counsel Upul Jayasuriya appearing for the petitioners, moved the Court to proceed with the charge sheet since the Court has already turned down the preliminary objections.

Two-judge-bench comprising Court of Appeal (President) Justice L.T.B. Dehideniya directed the both parties to file their objections on September 8.

On a previous occasion, the Court had issued an Interim Order(IO) preventing GMOA President from making or publishing further contemptuous statements/articles scandalising the Court of Appeal until the final determination of this contempt of court action.

Two civil society activists; Prof. Sarath Wijesuriya, the Convener of National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) and Gamini Viyangoda, the co-convener of Puravesi Balaya Social Movement, had filed this contempt of Court action naming GMOA President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya as the respondent.

The petitioners stated that upon the delivery of the said judgment by the Court of Appeal, the GMOA has condemned and openly criticized the said judgment, demanding the annulment or setting aside of the said judgment.

The petitioners further stated, in this backdrop the GMOA headed by Dr. Padeniya has called for a national front and trade union action against SAITM following Court decision in ordering SAITM medical graduates to be registered with the SLMC.

They stated that around April 7, the GMOA had organised an

island-wide trade union action against SAITM, halting all health services including private practice and private health services to stress on the Government to abolish SAITM.

The petitioners stated, the contemptuous statements and comments demonstrate the blatant hatred of the respondent and publication of the same in the said speech indubitably disturbs the Court process and hampers and undermines the authority of the Court of Appeal in respect of the administration of justice, especially in view of the fact that the said speech was published and telecast on several medias and has been uttered by the respondent in a public meeting held under topic of 'Abolish SAITM' on April 4.

The petitioners are pleading that Dr. Padeniya be charged on the offence of Contempt of Court of Appeal under Article 105 (3) of the constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka.

They are further seeking an

Interim Order restraining and preventing GMOA President from committing, making or publishing further contemptuous statements/articles scandalizing the Court of Appeal until the conclusion of this case. They further urge to impose sentence on the respondent as provided for in Article 105(3) of the Constitution.

Not iron again

Friday, 4 August 2017

If politics is the art of the possible, governance is the artifice of the sublime being reduced to the ridiculous in slow, sure, steps. Such as that of a republican government degenerating into a parody of the regime it replaced, while arousing the hopes of a once long-oppressed polity.

The recent spate of protests, trade-union action, strikes, demonstrations, have tried and tested the mettle of the administration as perhaps never before. In what was initially perceived as a reflex action, the government was obliged to crack down hard on a plethora of stakeholders across the political spectrum. But as time goes by, and its stated response is seen as more of a deliberate strategy than knee-jerk tactics, there is growing concern that there might be a return to modalities of the nightmare immediate past… that this Government is beginning to resemble another in less than salutary ways.

What follows is one man’s attempt to recast the tone, tenor, timbre, of that reality in a counterintuitive light. That it is peculiar without intention to be perverse goes without saying – even if what goes without saying also goes without understanding.

Art

In a short sharp sequence shown in slow motion, a film from boyhood has made a lasting impression, the memory of which returns now and then. A deadly snake and a hapless trapped rat are pictured facing off in a terrifyingly choreographed dance. It is a death scene in which one of the creatures is clearly condemned to depart this vale of tears: a moving series of snapshots from which it is so hard to tear one’s eyes away. There is little if any doubt in the mind of the viewer that the reptile will prevail over the rodent. It must. The law of the survival of the fittest is un-re-writeable. That nature red in tooth and claw must be true to itself cannot escape the cinematographer’s lens or sensibilities.

But the voiceover – David Carradine as the kung-fu master, teaching his young apprentice a valuable lesson in the ironies of life and death – invites the audience to consider an alternative reality. That subtle preachment still echoes in an empty corner of my mind. Here’s the gist of it: paraphrased by a perspective pleading selective amnesia; a voice from the past, with an application for all our todays for sure and perhaps some of our tomorrows.

‘Note the predator. It stares unflinchingly at its prey. Its eyes mesmerise. Death moves in, sliding sinuously. Life is not a possibility now. The power of the hunter has captured the hunted in a paralysing stare. The killer is helpless. The serpent is trapped. It is the prey. The small creature has entranced the merciless monster with its pleas. The victim moves in to strike. The snake has the rat in its death grip. It has lost. The dead creature has triumphed. There was no choice but for the snake to move in, hypnotised by the desire of the living thing to trick and trap its attacker…’

Interpretation

In short sharp sequences – as if being shown in slow motion – a filmic story from the painful maturing of Government – continues to make lasting impressions. These are memories being shaped which may return time and again to haunt the midnight repose of deposed tyrants. A strong and powerful Government and a hapless trapped public are depicted facing each other down in a battle of wits and wills. It is a lively scene in which one of the entities clearly has the advantage, the upper hand by virtue of its elected and appointed ethos. There is little if any doubt in the mind of observers that the Government is winning over the governed. It can or must.

The rule that power corrupts and that relative power over their fellows makes monsters of mediocrities is being proven for the umpteenth time. That when things fall apart, the centre cannot hold. Or that when mere anarchy being loosed upon the world an iron fist being smashed in the face of rebellion results, is the proof of the Government’s power. The blood-dimmed tide of military might is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned. The better souls in State administration seem to lack all conviction, while those no worse off for being deposed are still full of themselves as much as they are still full of that awful passionate intensity.

The voiceover – voices in the wildness, media commentators far from the madding crowd – invites their auditors to consider an alternative reality. Their subtle preachments echo in the well of silence. Here is what the voice of the prophet is saying, written on tenement and Facebook walls.

‘Pity the poor power of the prosecutor. The punisher stares unflinchingly at its subject. Its actions arrest attention. Discipline moves in, brandishing shield and truncheon. Safety and security are not the issues now. The power of the persuader has captivated the convicted in a sense-defying embrace. The power is helpless. Its mighty arm has been forced. Government is the victim. The small creatures of rebellion and revolt have inveigled the machinery of state with its protests, strikes, demonstrations. The victim moves in to strike. Brute force has the baying hyenas in a death grip. It has lost. The disciplined creatures and their political puppet-masters appear to have the upper hand. There was no choice but for the powers that be to move in, hypnotised by the desire of dissent to act in open dissidence under the guise of speaking truth to power…’

Application

The time has come for us to see Government in a slightly more counterintuitive light. That conventional wisdom has cast it in a diabolical role more akin to that of its predecessor is a pity. In one sense, the administration had little choice but to respond in the manner that it did. Its rationale in decisions taken which set off the chain of events leading to the student, fuel, and other strikes may be less than clear, or salutary. However once set in its purposes there could be no going back on a path predetermined by forces – and previous choices – beyond the pale… of its own control, as well as that of other observers as well as players in the political arena.

Caught between the rock of the globalism it desires to cultivate overseas and the grassroots changes it declares it seeks to inculcate at home, Government has to wear an iron glove over its silken fist. Where its predecessors strove to don a silken glove over their iron fists, the incumbent administration has been compelled to do the opposite – and run the risk of being perceived as exactly alike.

In years gone by but not time out of mind, the military was a mighty sledgehammer to wield over miscreants who would deny the State its sovereignty over matters of law and order, peace, territorial integrity, and the national interest. Today it is a twin helix being employed for purposes lawful if not mandated, in the same breath as purposes necessary but not welcome. To man ports during work strikes and unman protestors there, to secure fuel depot installations, to partner the Police in the battle against dengue – these are the province of governance deploying its security forces.

But bloody heads and cracked ribs are a bullet away from the terrors of a despotic regime from the nightmare past we thought had passed. If coupled with Police apathy, half-felt poorly-expressed ministerial apologies that plead expediency over etiquette, and the fear even of a shadowy syndrome of the white van era returning, it can sound the death knell for snake and rat alike. It is a different public – protestors, protesting citizenry, and protestant dissenters – that the serpent of the State faces on the mean streets of today.

Death to all tyrants – especially the pseudo-democrats who preach appeasement overseas and practise brutal bludgeoning at home… even if it can claim that the egregious outrageousness of the strikes (never seen during tougher rougher more terrifying times) warranted the pusillanimity of force.