Arming against China

 2018-01-27

Last week, the American Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis, declared a new era: “There has been a return of great power competition -- great power competition, not terrorism, is now the primary focus of US security”. In the new national defence strategy document China and Russia are singled out as “adversaries”. 

 
Although the US is now spending on defence three times as much as China (1.7% of its GNP as against America’s 3.3%), Mattis is worried that the US’s military advantage over its adversary has eroded “in every domain of warfare”. The military, he said, “was coping with “inadequate resources” and he called for Congress to appropriate it more billions of dollars.  
Pro Mattis/Trump analysts are arguing that China could be set on replacing the US as the hegemon of East Asia and will then start projecting military power into other regions, even the West. They claim that military reinforcement of islands in the South China Seas, the Chinese assertion of airspace ownership above disputed islands in the East China Sea and the increase of threats towards Taiwan are the beginning of this. This has to be checked, they say, before it gathers more momentum. 
This doesn’t make sense. China has little prospect of enforcing its maritime claims or developing a force capable of conquering Taiwan -its supposed number one ambition, since it considers the prosperous island to be part of the mainland. 

 
According to the Chinese military’s strategy documents China would initiate a war with Taiwan by bombarding its air and naval bases, missile batteries and command centres with salvos of ground-and air-launched missiles. Thus it would establish air and sea command in the Taiwan Strait, vital requisites to a successful invasion.  

In fact, as Michael Beckley, a fellow of Harvard University, argues in the new issue of the university’s “International Security”, Taiwan could pick off Chinese landing craft as they motored across the Taiwan Strait. Similarly, a sustained bombing campaign would be impossible because Taiwan’s air force and air defences could decimate Chinese bombers.  
In 2000 the Chinese had only a few hundred inaccurate missiles and a few dozen advanced aircraft. Today it has 1,500 accurate missiles pointed at Taiwan and more than 1000 aircraft. If China caught Taiwan off guard it could do immense damage. But it won’t.  

Taiwan has also advanced. It has one of the best early warning systems in the world. Its on-the-ground intelligence inside China is sophisticated. If Taiwan saw that an attack was coming it would quickly deploy its navy and disperse its combat aircraft among 36 airfields scattered around the island. Some of these locations have hangers built inside mountains or 6-foot-thick concrete walls. Taiwan’s air defence system has over 500 long range missile launchers.  

Would a Chinese blockade be effective? No blockade in the past 200 years has worked. Modern states can adapt to supply shortages and civilian populations are usually willing to endure enormous punishment to defy a foreign enemy. 

 
And what would China gain if, in the unlikely event, it was militarily successful? Unlike in a traditional war China doesn’t want to obliterate Taiwan’s cities. It wants to rule over the prosperous island. Reducing Taiwan to a smouldering ruin would not achieve this. Moreover, it would push every other neighbour in the region to be much more vigilant and better armed.  

"Pro Mattis/Trump analysts are arguing that China could be set on replacing the US as the hegemon of East Asia and will then start projecting military power into other regions, even the West. They claim that military reinforcement of islands in the South China Seas, the Chinese assertion of airspace ownership above disputed islands in the East China Sea and the increase of threats towards Taiwan are the beginning of this. "

China then would be effectively encircled by hostile states- Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia- a very counterproductive result.  

Besides Taiwan there are two island disputes. The first is with Japan over ownership of the Senkakus/Diaoyutai islands in the East China Sea. The second is with Vietnam and the Philippines over a string of tiny islands and rocks in the South China Sea.  

Japan may have renounced war-making in its post-World War 2 Constitution but it already has a formidable military. To decimate Japan’s air and naval forces would be a Herculean task. Japan has qualitative superiority and could easily command the East China Sea.  

China has a defence budget four times that of Japan’s but it has more to do than Japan. Japan has to guard against China, but no one else. China has to guard against the West, Russia, Japan and those of its neighbours it chooses to provoke.  

Modern China has not been territorially aggressive and given the above why should it start now? What, for example, would be in it for China to use the islands of the South China Sea as an offensive platform?  
The US should be going in the opposite direction to the one spelt out by Mattis/Trump. It should decrease its forces that are near Chinese borders. It should not hold provocative war games near China and it should not intrude on Chinese waters which it has in the past.  

China should be a friend, Trump keeps saying. But America’s new defence document says the opposite. That circle cannot be squared.  

For 17 years the author was a foreign affairs columnist and commentator for the International Herald Tribune/New York Times.

Sequencing the world

How to map the DNA of all known plants and animal species on Earth


Jan 23rd 2018| Washington, DC









IN NOVEMBER 2015, 23 of biology’s bigwigs met up at the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC, to plot a grandiose scheme. It had been 12 years since the publication of the complete genetic sequence of Homo sapiens. Other organisms’ genomes had been deciphered in the intervening period but the projects doing so had a piecemeal feel to them. Some were predictable one-offs, such as chickens, honey bees and rice. Some were more ambitious, such as attempts to sample vertebrate, insect and arachnid biodiversity by looking at representatives of several thousand genera within these groups, but were advancing only slowly. What was needed, the committee concluded, was a project with the scale and sweep of the original Human Genome Project. Its goal, they decided, should be to gather DNA sequences from specimens of all complex life on Earth. They decided to call it the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP).

At around the same time as this meeting, a Peruvian entrepreneur living in São Paulo, Brazil, was formulating an audacious plan of his own. Juan Carlos Castilla Rubio wanted to shift the economy of the Amazon basin away from industries such as mining, logging and ranching, and towards one based on exploiting the region’s living organisms and the biological information they embody. At least twice in the past—with the businesses of rubber-tree plantations, and of blood-pressure drugs called ACE inhibitors, which are derived from snake venom—Amazonian organisms have helped create industries worth billions of dollars. Today’s explosion of biological knowledge, Mr Castilla felt, portended many more such opportunities.

For the shift he had in mind to happen, though, he reasoned that both those who live in the Amazon basin and those who govern it would have to share in the profits of this putative new economy. And one part of ensuring this happened would be to devise a way to stop a repetition of what occurred with rubber and ACE inhibitors—namely, their appropriation by foreign firms, without royalties or tax revenues accruing to the locals.

Such thinking is not unique to Mr Castilla. An international agreement called the Nagoya protocol already gives legal rights to the country of origin of exploited biological material. What is unique, or at least unusual, about Mr Castilla’s approach, though, is that he also understands how regulations intended to enforce such rights can get in the way of the research needed to turn knowledge into profit. To that end he has been putting his mind to the question of how to create an open library of the Amazon’s biological data (particularly DNA sequences) in a way that can also track who does what with those data, and automatically distribute part of any commercial value that results from such activities to the country of origin. He calls his idea the Amazon Bank of Codes.

Now, under the auspices of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting at Davos, a Swiss ski resort, these two ideas have come together. On January 23rd it was announced that the EBP will help collect the data to be stored in the code bank. The forum, for its part, will drum up support for the venture among the world’s panjandrums—and with luck some dosh as well.

Branching out

The EBP’s stated goal is to sequence, within a decade, the genomes of all 1.5m known species of eukaryotes. These are organisms that have proper nuclei in their cells—namely plants, animals, fungi and a range of single-celled organisms called protists. (It will leave it to others to sequence bacteria and archaea, the groups of organisms without proper nuclei.) The plan is to use the first three years to decipher, in detail, the DNA of a member of each eukaryotic family. Families are the taxonomic group above the genus level (foxes, for example, belong to the genus Vulpes in the family Canidae) and the eukaryotes comprise roughly 9,300 of them. The subsequent three years would be devoted to creating rougher sequences of one species from each of the 150,000 or so eukaryotic genera. The remaining species would be sequenced, in less detail still, over the final four years of the project.

That is an ambitious timetable. The first part would require deciphering more than eight genomes a day; the second almost 140; the third, about 1,000. For comparison, the number of eukaryotic genomes sequenced so far is about 2,500. It is not, though, the amount of sequencing involved that is the daunting part of the task. That is simply a question of buying enough sequencing machines and hiring enough technicians to run them. Rather, what is likely to slow things down is the gathering of the samples to be sequenced.

For the sequencing, Harris Lewin, a genomicist at the University of California, Davis, who was one of the EBP’s founding spirits, estimates that extracting decent-quality genetic data from a previously unexamined species will require between $40,000 and $60,000 for labour, reagents and amortised machine costs. The high-grade family-level part of the project will thus clock in at about $500m.
Big sequencing centres like BGI in China, the Rockefeller University’s Genomic Resource Centre in America, and the Sanger Institute in Britain, as well as a host of smaller operations, are all eager for their share of this pot. For the later, cruder, stages of the project Complete Genomics, a Californian startup bought by BGI, thinks it can bring the cost of a rough-and-ready sequence down to $100. A hand-held sequencer made by Oxford Nanopore, a British company, may be able to match that and also make the technology portable.

The truly daunting part of the project is the task of assembling the necessary specimens. Some of them, perhaps 500,000 species, may come from botanical gardens, zoos or places like the Smithsonian (the herbarium of which boasts 5m items, representing around 300,000 species). The rest must be collected from the field. Dr Lewin hopes the project will spur innovation in collection and processing. This could involve technology both high (autonomous drones) and low (enlisting legions of sample-hunting citizen scientists). It does, though, sound like a multi-decade effort.

It is also an effort in danger of running into the Nagoya protocol. Permission will have to be sought from every government whose territory is sampled. That will be a bureaucratic nightmare. Indeed, John Kress of the Smithsonian, another of the EBP’s founders, says many previous sequencing ventures have foundered on the rock of such permission. And that is why those running the EBP are so keen to recruit Mr Castilla and his code bank.

Banking on it

The idea of the code bank is to build a database of biological information using a blockchain. Though blockchains are best known as the technology that underpins bitcoin and other crypto-currencies, they have other uses. In particular, they can be employed to create “smart contracts” that monitor and execute themselves. To obtain access to Mr Castilla’s code bank would mean entering into such a contract, which would track how the knowledge thus tapped was subsequently used. If such use was commercial, a payment would be transferred automatically to the designated owners of the downloaded data. Mr Castilla hopes for a proof-of-principle demonstration of his platform to be ready within a few months.

In theory, smart contracts of this sort would give governments wary of biopiracy peace of mind, while also encouraging people to experiment with the data. And genomic data are, in Mr Castilla’s vision, just the start. He sees the Amazon Bank of Codes eventually encompassing all manner of biological compounds—snake venoms of the sort used to create ACE inhibitors, for example—or even behavioural characteristics like the congestion-free movement of army-ant colonies, which has inspired algorithms for co-ordinating fleets of self-driving cars. His eventual goal is to venture beyond the Amazon itself, and combine his planned repository with similar ones in other parts of the world, creating an Earth Bank of Codes.

Plenty needs to go right for this endeavour to succeed, concedes Dominic Waughray, who oversees public-private partnerships at the World Economic Forum. Those working on different species must agree common genome-quality standards. People need to be enticed to study hitherto neglected organisms. Countries which share biological resources (the Amazon basin, for example, is split between nine states) should ideally co-operate on common repositories. And governments must resist lobbying from vested interests in the extractive industries, keen to preserve access to land, minerals or timber, which Mr Castilla’s scheme aims ultimately to curtail.

As to the money, that is the reason for the announcement at Davos. By splashing the tie-up between the EBP and the code bank in front of many of the world’s richest people, those behind the two enterprises are not so discreetly waving their collecting tins. The EBP has already been promised $100m of the $500m required for its first phase. The code bank, meanwhile, has piqued the interest of the Brazilian and Peruvian governments.

For the participants, the rewards of success would differ. Dr Lewin, Dr Kress and their compadres would, if the EBP succeeds, be able to use the evolutionary connections between genomes to devise a definitive version of the tree of eukaryotic life. That would offer biologists what the periodic table offers chemists, namely a clear framework within which to operate. Mr Castilla, for his part, would have rewritten the rules of international trade by bringing the raw material of biotechnology into an orderly pattern of ownership. If, as many suspect, biology proves to be to future industries what physics and chemistry have been to industries past, that would be a feat of lasting value.

Kim Jong Un’s slush fund running out as he blows all his money on weapons

 26th January 2018

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the national science centre in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on January 12, 2018. Source: KCNA/via Reuters

FOLLOWING a series of nuclear weapons and missile tests, a critical slush fund controlled by North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un is nearly empty, leaving the Supreme Leader looking for new ways to bolster the economy of the isolated regime, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).

Two anonymous Chinese sources with connections to North Korea’s ruling elite, reportedly told the newspaper that Kim had nearly exhausted the financial handout inherited from his father. They also said the lack of funds was a factor in his decision to participate in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, hoping the move would boost the country’s failing economy.

“Due to Kim Jong Un’s extravagant spending, the slush fund from his father, Kim Jong Il, is running out,” said one of the sources.

SEE ALSO: North and South Korea to unite at Winter Olympics: here are the hidden agendas

“It won’t be easy to control North Korea’s high-level executives, who are [cunning] like raccoons.”

According to the source, who said he was “well-acquainted” with the North Korean elite, the lack of funding is no secret and is discussed amongst the top executives of government. Much of the money has been spent on Kim’s weapons development, he said.

“We can speculate that he spent a lot of money from the number of missile [and nuclear weapons] tests he carried out,” he told RFA.

“Most of the funding for nuclear weapon and missile development is coming from Kim Jong Un’s slush fund.”

A view of the newly developed intercontinental ballistic rocket Hwasong-15’s test was successfully launched is seen in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang November 30, 2017. Source: Reuters/KCNA

North Korea’s leader has conducted four nuclear weapons tests and nearly 20 missile tests over his seven-year reign. He has also spent lavishly on development flagship projects, such as the Ryomyong Street neighbourhood in the capital Pyongyang and the Masikryong Ski Resort in eastern North Korea’s Kangwon province.

Kim’s refusal to stop his nuclear programme led to international sanctions that have crippled the already fragile economy and cut off access to foreign currency.

Following a nuclear test in September, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolutions prohibiting any country from accepting North Korean workers, and on Dec. 22 passed an additional resolution requiring North Korean workers abroad to return home within two years.

SEE ALSO: North and South Korea: Can sport really make a difference?

According to RFA, these latest measures dealt serious financial blow as latest UN estimates suggest over 100,000 North Koreans working abroad send some US$500 million in earnings to the Kim regime annually.

“International sanctions on North Korea have made it extremely difficult to earn foreign cash, and the slush fund is now running out,” the source said.

Kim hopes the decision to participate in February’s Winter Olympics in South Korea will help to improve relations and aid in their financial woes.

“North Korea’s warm gestures toward South Korea have underlying intentions: to use the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics that will be held there from Feb 9 as a breakthrough for their financial difficulties,” another source told RFA.

Medicare Advantage can disadvantage seniors needing skilled nursing

Ronnie Cohen-JANUARY 26, 2018

(Reuters Health) - Medicare Advantage plans might prove to be a disadvantage for U.S. enrollees in need of skilled nursing care, a new study suggests.

Traditional Medicare enrollees were more likely to enter higher-quality skilled nursing facilities than Medicare Advantage enrollees, the study found. The differences were small but significant and persisted even after researchers adjusted for distance and other factors.

“If you enroll in Medicare Advantage, then you might not have as good an option in a nursing home,” said lead author David J. Meyers, a doctoral student in health services research at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

“If it’s important to have access to the best nursing homes, fee-for-service Medicare might be the option for you,” he said in a phone interview.

Americans age 65 or older choose between traditional fee-for-service Medicare, a public health insurance program, and Medicare Advantage programs – commercial insurance plans touted as offering comprehensive disease management and care coordination to help seniors manage health conditions.

During the past decade, enrollment in Medicare Advantage has steadily increased to 31 percent in 2016, the authors write in Health Affairs.

Meyers and his team analyzed all Medicare enrollees age 65 or older who were admitted to a skilled nursing home between 2012 and 2014 and had not been in one the previous year.

Across most ZIP codes, they found that traditional Medicare beneficiaries tended to go to facilities deemed higher quality in a five-star government rating system. The star ratings are based upon safety inspections, patient surveys and patient outcomes, such as whether they returned to the hospital, Meyers said.

(Medicare nursing home ratings are available online at bit.ly/2GhedTA.)

The findings were to be expected, said Yue Li, a health policy professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. But Li, who was not involved with the study, categorized the differences as “very tiny.”

Almost 55 percent of traditional Medicare patients went to skilled nursing facilities that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ranked four or five stars, compared to 50 percent of lower-quality Medicare Advantage enrollees and 52 percent of higher-quality Medicare Advantage enrollees, researchers found.

“One might assume that if you pay more for a Medicare Advantage plan, you get better care, but that might not be true,” Meyers said.

Meyers and Li both hypothesized that the study findings could be a result of Medicare Advantage offering fewer choices of skilled nursing facilities than traditional Medicare.

“It seems like these fewer choices Medicare Advantage plans offer might not be as high quality,” Meyers said.

Medicare Advantage plans generally tend to cost more, though they also may offer appealing benefits, like gym memberships, he said. Nonetheless, enrollees who need skilled nursing may be surprised to find themselves with limited options.

The study was unable to examine copays billed to Medicare Advantage patients who spent time in skilled nursing facilities.

“Usually, when we decide to enroll in a plan, we consider physicians, hospitals,” Li said. “I wouldn’t expect the quality in skilled nursing facilities would affect the decision-making.”

Once Medicare Advantage patients experience health crises requiring expensive care like skilled nursing, Meyers said he suspects they might switch to traditional Medicare. Medicare beneficiaries can change plans annually during open-enrollment periods.

In spite of financial incentives for Medicare Advantage plans to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions, previous research shows mixed results when comparing the two programs’ readmission rates.

A previous recent study found that Medicare Advantage plans appear to disadvantage African-Americans. Blacks covered under private Medicare Advantage plans were 64 percent more likely than whites to be readmitted to hospitals within a month of surgery, the study found.

Statements recorded from several close associates of MR’s family

Saturday, January 27, 2018

The CID conducting investigations into the murder of former rugby player Wasim Thajudeen yesterday informed Court that it has recorded statements from several individuals who were close associates with the family members of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Filing a further report in Court, the CID informed Colombo Additional Magistrate Darshika Wimalasiri that it has also commenced a comprehensive investigation into two Navy vehicles which were used during the time that Thajudeen’s murder took place.

The CID further stated that they have sought an analytical report pertaining to Thajudeen’s mobile phone and laptop as a part of investigation into the murder case.

Further magisterial inquiry was fixed for May 3.

Former Western Province Senior DIG Anura Senanayake, former Narahenpita Crimes OIC Sumith Champika Perera and former Colombo Chief Medical Officer Prof. Ananda Samarasekara had been named as first, second and third suspects of this case respectively. They were arrested over their alleged role in the cover up of evidence in the former rugby player Wasim Thajudeen murder and conspiring to commit the murder. They are currently out on bail.

While delivering the verdict, former Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris on February 25, 2016 ruled that the death appeared to be a murder and ordered the CID Director to immediately arrest all suspects involved in the incident and produce them before Courts. Thajudeen was killed, apparently, in a road accident in Colombo on May 17, 2012. The CID had informed court that investigations conducted so far had revealed that Thajudeen’s teeth had been broken, the bones in the pelvic region also broken and his neck pierced with a sharp instrument prior to his death.

The CID added that muscles in his legs had been cut with a piece of a broken class. Earlier, police maintained that Thajudeen was driving to the airport and had lost control of his car and crashed into the wall of Shalika Grounds at Park Road, Narahenpita, and that his vehicle had exploded within seconds of the crash.

Deputy Solicitor General Dilan Ratnayake appeared for CID. President’s Counsel Shavindra Fernando appeared for the third suspect. 

Go For Political Stability In 4th Edition Of Constitution

By Veluppillai Thangavelu –January 26, 2018

“Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; though with patience He stands waiting…..”  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Year 2017 has come and gone but the constitutional process is still grinding slowly through the Parliament. Due to the current all island elections to Local Bodies. the Constitutional process is on hold at least till April. Due to the unsettled political situation faced by the country anything can happen between now and April, 2018.  The Interim Report submitted by the Steering Committee has generated heated debate for and against.

Opposition leader R. Sampanthan in a recent interview to The Hindu said “We can’t despair, we can’t abandon things. When you take an overall picture of the situation, this is an environment conducive to the resolution of the issues pertaining to the Tamil people.” So let us exercise patience and wait one more year to see whether the process will  be completed.

A Steering Committee (SC) consisting of 21 members was  appointed by the Parliament on April 05, 2016 to draft a new constitution with the Prime Minister as Chairman.

The SC  identified 12 main subject areas and assigned 6  of them to sub-Committees appointed by the Constitutional Assembly (CA). The Reports of the 6 sub-Committees were tabled before the CA on November 19 and December 10, 2016.

The SC submitted its Interim Report on the remaining six subjects that were not assigned to any sub-Committees and contains the recommendations of all 21 members of the Steering Committee which represents the recommendations made in consensus by its members. The SC  has also attached to it the individual observations of a number of political parties, which differ in various areas from the recommendations in the Interim Report itself.

The Interim Report was debated in Parliament on October 30, 31 and November  01, 02 and 07, 2017.  The Interim Report is based on the principle that the country will not be divided, but maximum possible power sharing can be done so that the national question can also be settled once and for all.

Following debate on the Interim Report, the SC will then have to draft a final report, attaching the draft constitution and  CA could potentially have several debates before the final report is drafted.

After the final report of the SC, the CA will debate and vote on this draft constitution. If more than two-thirds of the CA Members approve the draft Constitution then it will be sent to the Cabinet of Ministers. If  the CA Members approve by a simple majority, then Parliament has one month to vote by two-thirds for the draft constitution and send it to the Cabinet of Ministers.

The Cabinet of Ministers will certify whether they intend the draft constitution to be passed only by a two-thirds majority or by two-thirds majority and a referendum. The Bill will then be published in the Gazette at least two weeks before it can be placed on the order paper of Parliament.

If the Cabinet of Ministers certifies that the Bill is to be passed without a referendum, any citizen can, within seven days from the date the Bill is placed on the order paper of Parliament, petition the Supreme Court to ask for a direction that it also be approved by the people at a referendum.

Parliament will then debate and vote on the draft Constitution. If a referendum is also required (either as certified by Cabinet or on the Supreme Court’s direction) it will be held after the Constitution is approved by Parliament with a two-thirds majority.

As to be expected the Interim Report has generated heated debate among both sides of the divide  for and against. Among subjects disputed are in respect of  (i) The nature of the State (2) Giving Buddhism foremost place (3) Unit of devolution and powers of Provincial Councils

Nature of the State

Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is a free, sovereign and independent Republic which is an aekiya rajyaya/orumiththa nadu, consisting of the institutions of the Centre and of the Provinces. Aekia rajyaya/orumiththa nadu means a state  which is undivided and indivisible. Tamil nationalists  claim Aekia rajyaya means Unitary State.  Sinhala nationalists claim that Aekia rajyaya means Federal.

The former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has described the proposals as a conspiracy to dismember the country. He claimedthat proposals contained in the Interim Report  are implemented, what we will be left with will be a fragmented Sri Lanka made up of nine federal states with a very weak central government. The reality is the people of the South are fearful  of the word “Federal” and people  in the North fearful of the word “Unitary.”  So the SC has avoided the use of  these words to avoid controversy.

The Joint Opposition which gives voice to Sinhala-Buddhist nationalists and other pro-Rajapaksa forces opposes  constitutional reform, and in particular, to further devolution and the abolition of presidentialism.

Foremost Place to Buddhism

There are two alternative formulations proposed in the interim report. The  common part of both formulations is, “Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana.”

The second formulation says while treating all beliefs with honour and dignity, and without discrimination, and guaranteeing to all persons the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

It is accepted a  Constitution that gives foremost place to one particular religion cannot treat all its citizens equally. Only a secular constitution that will treat all citizens of Sri Lanka on an equal footing will be ideal. The Nepal’s constitution is now both secular and federal.

Read More

Wigneswaran dumbfounded when questioned on the colossal funds in billions received from Canada sans government’s knowledge!

(Lanka-e-News - 26.Jan.2018, 10.00AM) Revealing the details of the funds received by the Provincial council (PC) of the North without the knowledge of the government from foreign countries, was refused by the Northern PC chief minister C.V. Wigneswaran  during a media discussion held in Jaffna on the 21 st.

When a journalist questioned the chief minister about the sum of Rs . 12000 million (Rs. 12 billion) received from Canada based on the widespread rumors afloat , the chief minister replied those monies were not provided by the Canadian government but by several Tamil Organizations in Canada.

When Wigneswaran was questioned how much funds were received , he said , Rs. 12000 million was requested but only Rs. 2500 million was  received last year , and this was with the knowledge of the members of the entire Northern PC. 

Responding further to the questions posed by journalists as regards the development carried out , Wigneswaran said , since no permission has been obtained from the Tamil Organizations in  Canada to spend that money , those are in the bank accounts in Sri Lanka . 

It is following a media exposure in Canada by a newspaper, the journalists posed these questions to the chief minister. 

However the chief minister had still not furnished an answer pertaining to the opposition that was mounted by the members and chairman of the PC with regard to the sum of Rs. 40 million granted by the PC for cooperative development in the North apart from the sum mentioned in the above paragraphs. 

The chairman of the Northern PC had asked for a detailed report to be submitted to the PC in connection with the cooperative development activities engaged in  for the Rs. 40 million received .

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by     (2018-01-26 04:36:04)

PM urges masses to prevent the return of corrupt regimes

• Harsha lashes out at Kotte MC Chairman Janaka Ranawaka

By Skandha Gunasekara-Saturday, 27 January 2018

Likening the Unity Government to a glass mirror, transparent and true in its governing, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday urged voters to prevent the return of a corrupt regime by ensuring the change brought about at the 2015 Presidential election is maintained.

“Our Governing can be compared to a mirror. The people see exactly what we do. We are transparent in all our dealings and activities. We have no hidden agendas unlike the former regime,” Wickremesinghe said, addressing an election rally in Kotte.

It was time for the masses to decide if they wanted to maintain the freedom brought through the 2015 Presidential election, he said.

“This election will decide if the masses want keep and further the change that came about after the 2015 Presidential election that saw freedom of speech and expression established and nepotism abolished, or if they want to go back. This Government functions in a transparent manner. Let us make sure that the former corrupt regime, full of goons and thugs, does not return.”

UNP Electoral organizsr for Kotte and National Policies and Economic Affairs Deputy Minister Dr Harsha De Silva, who also spoke at the rally,  said that the Kotte Municipal Council (MC) had gone bankrupt under Former Council Chairman Janaka Ranawaka.

“The Chairman and his Deputy awarded contracts and took bribes, but none of the projects ever took off. Ranawaka had authorised the illegal construction of a number of buildings, and now they cannot be completed as they are not in line with regulations,” said Dr. De Silva.

The Deputy Minister further said that of the 30-odd apartment complexes being built within the jurisdictions of the Kotte Municipality, at least 20 would have to be halted or stopped entirely as they had not been given proper authorisation according to regulations.

“They had attempted to build a 24-storey building down Epitamulla Road in Kotte – a very narrow road. Residents signed a petition and submitted to us and when we investigated we found out that 12 floors was the maximum height of a building allowed down such a narrow road,” Dr De Silva said.

He then went on to say that the UNP would not tolerate corruption among any of its candidates.

“If I find a UNP in the Kotte MC is corrupt, I will not hesitate to show him the door and sack him,” Dr De Silva asserted.

Commission recommends filing criminal cases against Gota, Senadhipathi and 11 others

Saturday, January 27, 2018

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry has recommended filing criminal cases against 13 individuals including former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi over the Avant Garde case.

The final report of Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC) was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

The other individuals against whom the Commission recommends filing criminal cases over the Avant Garde case include former Additional Defence Secretary Damayanthi Jayaratne, former Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Limited (RALL) CEO Major General K.B. Egodawela, former RALL Chairman Major General Palitha Fernando, former Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, former Mayor Dhanasiri Amaratunga, former Mayor Janaka Ranawaka, former MP Duminda Silva,

Western Provincial Councilor Upali Kodikara, former Navy Commanders Jayantha Perera and Jayanath Colombage and Rohanaweera De Zoysa.

The Commission has held that the state officials among those mentioned above are deemed not fit to hold any office in the public service hereafter. It observed the former Navy Commanders, who acted in a manner that Avant Garde Maritimes Services gets undue benefit, have been recruited to the company at higher salaries after their retirement.

It has proposed taking legal action against the deployment of RALL employees at election work and crediting those expenses to RALL, depriving a considerable income to the Navy by handing over the floating armory project to Avant Garde and not issuing permits under the Firearms Ordinance to the weapons possessed by the RALL.

It has also recommended that the Auditor General must be given full authority to audit the business undertakings with majority shares to the Government in the same manner that the public enterprises are being audited.

Sri Lanka AG files charges on two cases probed by Presidential Commission 

Sat, Jan 27, 2018, 12:24 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


Jan 26, Colombo: The Attorney General has instituted legal action on the first two cases based on the findings of the Presidential Commission appointed to probe serious acts of fraud and corruption.

The Attorney General based on the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate serious frauds and corruption filed charges on Friday (25) against several persons including Former Deputy Minister Sarath Kumara Gunaratne in the Colombo High Court.
Six persons including Sarath Kumara Gunaratne have been accused of misusing a sum of nearly 12 million rupees allocated by the Treasury for the development of the Negombo Lagoon to hold the final election rally of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Negombo city grounds and misusing the Fisheries Corporation money to print books and leaflets for the ex-president's election campaign.

The information regarding the misusing of funds for former president's election campaign were first revealed during the Presidential Commission inquiries and later the CID conducted investigations based on the recommendations of the Commission.
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A Personal Appeal To Austin Fernando

January 27, 2018

For Personal Priority Attention Please



Austin Fernando Esq.
Secretary to the President,
Presidential Secretariat,

 

Janadhipathi Mawatha,
Colombo 1.
Dear Sir,
Supporting the President’s Call for Assurance of Good Governance

I was glad to receive the invitation for a discussion with the President on 22^nd January 2018. I had planned to make use of this opportunity to bring to the kind attention of the President and Yourself, some Issues requiring priority personal attention. Regrettably the meeting was cancelled late that morning. I submit this letter in pursuant to the aforesaid plan and to seek essential leadership action from you in the above regard.

 

On many occasions, the President has spoken of how the assurance of good governance, rule of law and independent justice systems under his watch, have led to the risks of international sanctions, which could have crippled our economy and the sovereignty of Sri Lanka, were avoided by his strategic leadership action and confidence building international relations strategies.

In the above context, I am unsure as to whether the authorities have brought to your attention, a new challenge that has emerged, which if not addressed with priority in a timely manner, can bring back the risks of creeping sanctions, which can again damage the forward march of the state, the economy and negatively impact on economic activities and the common people.

The challenges referred to arise from Sri Lanka being classified by the Financial Action Task Force within the light grey area of classifications, as an” other monitored jurisdictions”, along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Vanuatu, and Yemen – refer http://www.fatf-gafi.org/countries/#high-risk .

If you have not been made aware of above and had not reviewed the action steps planned to be taken by all connected stakeholders in a collective and committed initiative to prevent the possibility of Sri Lanka, being further downgraded following the next review by the International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) to “dark grey” area classification; and instead in fact assuring that Sri Lanka will be upgraded from the current classification; it may be opportune for you to take strategic action on behalf of the President in a timely way with required priority attention.

I had in addition planned to stress at the planned meeting, the importance of the following additional strategic steps being leadership directed under your oversight.

1. The strategic importance of early action being taken

a) to ensure that serious violation of Financial Action Task Force recommendations and the misuse of or engaging in irregular and unauthorized foreign exchange transactions damaging the financial stability, international classification and sovereign rating of Sri Lanka, are made a predicate offense under the money laundering legislation. This has become essential in the face of the Foreign Exchange Act No 12 of 2017 de-criminalizing the misuses of and illegal uses of foreign exchange. This reform is essential in order that several high profile investigations now in progress by the law enforcement agencies, regards the large scale violation of Exchange Control Law and associated money laundering offenses are to be continued, suspects prosecuted and perpetrators brought to book. You will recollect the many submissions I made to you in this connection, when the bill to enact the new Foreign Exchange regime was in progress; and the assurance you conveyed that the relevant amendments will be incorporated during Committee Stage amendments, whereas such amendments were not incorporated in the adoption of the Bill.

b) Create by Statute a Serious Frauds Office and an Independent Public Prosecutor. The Serious Frauds Office so created must absorb the present activities and progress all the pending investigations before the Financial Crimes Investigation Department of the Sri Lanka Police. These strategic steps are essential in the face of legal cases now before courts challenging the legal validity of the Financial Crimes Investigation Department and the challenges posed by not having a dedicated special Resource to take independent decisions on high profile prosecutions of serious crimes and progress them with due diligence and professional attention.

c) To enact a standalone Proceeds of Crime Act

d) To legislate and empower law enforcement authorities in the course of any investigation to call upon suspects to provide asset and liability declarations, sworn affidavits, audit and other validation certificates from independent third parties,

e) To legislate that any person, making a false declaration, giving a false statement, submitting a false affidavit, statement or document, or misrepresenting, misleading or misdirecting law enforcement authorities in the course of any investigation, is committing a serious criminal offense punishable by a mandatory jail sentence. (eg. in the USA such an act is considered a “Felony”)

f) Compulsorily require all public servants and all persons contracting with or engaging in any economic or administrative transactions with the State to be bound to report to the relevant authorities all instances of non compliance with laws and regulations they are aware of.

Read More

Corruption poser to SLPP and Rajapaksa leadership

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Can the Bond issue catchword be replaced by PRECIFAC? This is emerging as the possible campaign issue for both the SLFP and the SLPP. President Sirisena’s loud campaigning against corruption, with the immediate target of the Bond issue and the UNP, could well move towards the charges based on the Presidential Commission on Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC) findings, which are being revealed with much concern for the SLPP and its Rajapaksa leadership.

President Sirisena speaking at a poll rally at Panadura on Thursday, said parliament should discuss both the Bond issue and PRECIFAC Reports before February 10, to show any commitment of the main parties there to fight corruption. He believed they were not ready for such a debate and true exposure, which was the reality of their position on corruption, while he was determined to proceed with this fight.

The battle to gain control of a majority of local bodies in the coming local government poll is the material of politics this week with increased rivalries among the three main contenders – the UNP, SLFP with UPFA, and the SLPP. President Sirisena has a bigger role in the battle, having to be strong in his campaign against both the UNP and SLPP, with the first being the coalition partner of the government that he leads, and the other the strategic opponent of the SLFP led by him and challenged by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was defeated by him in January 2015.

The largely attended public rallies addressed by President Sirisena in this campaign give an impression of going back to the anti-Mahinda Rajapaksa campaign of the Common Candidate for the Executive Presidency in January 2015, with his key policy slogans being the fight against corruption. This is somewhat of a tightrope for the President with the necessity to show his determined opposition to the corruption of the Rajapaksa years, as well as the emergent corruption of the UNP as seen in the Central Bank Bond issue.

This clash with the UNP was seen by his long and tape recorded statement to the Cabinet this week, and storming out of the meeting, to be persuaded to return later by the UNP leader and coalition partner Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe; who later cautioned his members in government, to refrain from public attacks on the President. While some pacification was achieved by this in what was a major threat to the unity of the ruling coalition, the politics of this week did see President Sirisena taking on the UNP even more in his campaign against corruption; with his public request to the Prime Minister to help him to fight corruption, which issue has certainly grown beyond slogans on the Bond issue revelations.

The Local Government election that the Joint Opposition (JO) and SLPP have described as a national referendum on the record of the ‘Coalition of Unity’ is moving on to a major clash between the formal SLFP leadership of President Sirisena and the SLPP or ‘Pohottuva’ campaign led by the once defeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The strategy of the rivals is to seek the majority of the rural SLFP vote, which has remained the strength of the SLFP for many years. The large crowds at the meetings attended by the rival leaders give little indication of the actual public strength of the two leaders and their parties. Political analysts see a bigger support for Mahinda Rajapaksa on crowd sizes, but they are also aware that in local government polls the government in office certainly has a bigger draw, other than in major urban centres such as Colombo.

An important aspect in what seems to be a tightly fought out election, will be the role of the JVP, that could hold a balance in areas where there is a strong fight between the UNP and either the SLFP or SLPP, with its slogan that all three of these runners cannot be trusted as they have been part of the failure in government through several decades; and it is time for the public to think of new political leaders. The slogan is certainly interesting, and recent criticism of the JVP by Mahinda Rajapaksa shows the message could be having an impact among voters.

Single largest

As the Blue Party fight between the SLFP plus UPFA’s “Hand” and Betel Leaf” symbols and the SLPP’s ‘Pohottuva’ symbol makes headway in rivalry, the UNP remains the single largest party in all areas, especially in the majority Sinhala areas, and with support from smaller parties of the minorities in alliance with it. The UNP faced with a major issue on the Bond issue, is seeking to draw voters by its claim of good record on economic development in the past three years and the efforts to overcome the major debt burdens brought to the country by the Rajapaksa Regime. The ability to remain undivided, despite considerable criticism from both the SLFP and SLPP, as well as the present and past presidents, shows the UNP retains its considerable strength, led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, which saw the election of President Sirisena in January 2015.

However, the UNP showing considerable strength in its unity may face further problems if more material on the Bond issue comes into wider public discussion in the campaign. It certainly has to face up to the reality of the disadvantages of its Deputy Leader, Ravi Karunanayake, remaining in its front ranks, although there are no formal charges against him on the Bond issue. It is important for the party leadership to learn that public impression is not built only on formal charges, but on the overall image conveyed by the person, and the RK image is certainly not one that is green for the UNP today.

The PRECIFAC case

As the campaign centred on the fight against corruption moves on, there are signs the JO and SLPP may be more concerned about the revelations and actions that can come from the findings of the Reports PRECIFAC, presented to the President and now before Parliament.

The loud and determined attacks on the Bond issue and the UNP is a good means for the JO and SLPP, and its Rajapaksa leadership, to keep public interest away from the many charges it would have to face, once the government takes serious action on the charges and issues in the PRECIFAC reports. Among those reportedly found responsible for and involved with acts of fraud and corruption in these reports are former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his brothers - former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and former Minister Basil Rajapaksa, former ministers Wimal Weerawansa, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and many other high ranking persons in the former government.

It is reported that the Attorney General’s Department is already studying the possibility of instituting legal action against persons involved in a range of frauds such as the free or low rate TV advertising on ITN for Mahinda Rajapaksa as a candidate in the last Presidential Poll, with higher charges for candidate Maithripala Sirisena, Basil Rajapaksa on frauds involving the Divi Neguma projects, similar allegations relating to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and other ministers and leading government personalities on misappropriation of public funds, and serious acts of fraud.

If brought out with speed and a clear legal commitment to bring whoever is responsible for such fraud and corruption to justice, it will be a major success for President Sirisena, in his new moves to take control of Economic Policies after the Local Government polls. He has already given indications of the need for such action against those responsible, in his recent Polonnaruwa election rally, where he referred to how Mahinda Rajapaksa did away with the 'Ten Giants' or ‘Dasa Maha Yodayo’ of his government after he won the war against the LTTE, ad among the ‘Giants’ were him in the Cabinet, and how MR carried on the government through his family.

This situation also raises the big issue of the UNP still having control of the Police and the Departments of Justice – the Attorney General, Legal Draftsman - which have seen very little action taken against corruption in the past three years. President Sirisena has made personal references to this at Cabinet meetings, but there have been very little signs of progress. The situation that prevails after the Local Polls, will lead to the government, having to continue with serious action on PRECIFAC as well as those involved in the Bond issue.

The Coalition Unity

The post polls situation will also have to deal with the coalition between the UNP and SLFP-UPFA in government.

The agreement that brought them together ended on December 31, 2017. Questions are raised in parliament whether a new agreement has been reached. If not, the size of the Cabinet will come down to 30.

This will be the next major issue facing President Sirisena and the UNP after the rivalry of the polls gives way to the needs of government. 

Sirisena takes dig at MR, UNP

• Claims out of Rs. 10 trillion public debt during last 10 years of MR regime, only Rs. 1 trillion can be accounted for by way of assets and balance missing
• Alleges Govt. losing revenue due to companies linked to Ministers and MPs getting concessions
• Blames UNP for disagreeing to SLFP proposal to debate Bond and PRECIFAC Reports before LG Polls
• Says a coalition of VVIP rogues is scheming to avert legal action against those responsible for bond scam; promises to expose the elite mafia soon 
• Urges people to support him to root out corrupt politicians
• Describes Ravi K’s attempt to make a statement in Parliament as “suicidal”

By Nisthar Cassim-Saturday, 27 January 2018

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday took his fight against corruption to a new height levelling serious charges on his coalition partner the United National Party (UNP) and his nemesis and predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Dropping a bombshell during the first breakfast meeting with editors and media heads for the New Year and barely two weeks before crucial LG polls, the President yesterday alleged almost the entirety of foreign funding received in the last 10 years under during Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime was unaccounted for.

He also claimed that the Treasury was losing revenue due to companies linked to Ministers and MPs getting concessions, and blamed the UNP for disagreeing to a Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) proposal to debate reports of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the controversial Treasury bond issuance and the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption, and Abuse of Power (PRECIFAC) before the 10 February local government elections.

Sirisena alleged that a coalition of VVIP rogues is scheming to avert legal action against those responsible for the bond scam, but promised to expose the elite mafia soon whilst urging the people to support him to root out corrupt politicians.

The President said of the foreign loans of Rs. 10 trillion obtained in the last decade, only Rs. 1 trillion can be accounted for by way of assets, and charged that the balance was missing.

 “We are aware that Rs. 10 trillion came into the country in the last 10 years of the Rajapaksa regime, and it should be somewhere, but what is shown is only one trillion. It should be on records in the Finance Ministry, but its documents show only Rs. 1 trillion. The other nine trillion is missing. This is a major puzzle,” said Sirisena.

However data dished out by President appears incorrect when compared with Central Bank figures which put Sri Lanka's total outstanding debt at Rs. 10.3 trillion of which only Rs. 4.6 trillion is foreign.

However stressing to the editors and journalists present that that he was speaking with responsibility, Sirisena said: “We have to clearly know exactly what happened to foreign loans received.”

He added that the Government was also down as some private companies with links to Ministers/MPs were getting benefits. This has been done in a systematic manner to avoid disclosure, he added.


The President noted that though successive annual budgets make specific allocations to Ministries and State institutions, only 50%-60% are actually given and used.

Coalition of VVIP rogues on both sides closed the book

Focusing on the contentious bond scam, Sirisena faulted his coalition partner the UNP for disagreeing with the SLFP to debate the Commission’s report prior to the 10 February LG polls. “The SFLP recommended the debate be held early, but the UNP declined,” said Sirisena who is the head of the SLFP. At one point during his initial remarks, President said that “both sides closed the book” meaning the UNP, the SLFP as well as the Opposition  since the PRECIFAC reports point to alleged corruption by many Ministers in the previous regime.

However, Sirisena alleged that a coalition of VVIP rogues were scheming to avert any legal action against the bond scam and other frauds. Assuring he will reveal the elite mafia, the President urged people to support him to root out corrupt politicians.

“I left the ministerial post in the last government and became the common candidate with the promise of ending frauds, bribery and corruption. I have to oppose these things without thinking of tomorrow. I am being subject to all kinds of criticism. Ensuring good governance is not an easy task but I will fight my way and do my best. Legal action will be taken against those found guilty in the two commission reports.  These will be done irrespective of who is involved, in whatever party they belong to,” Sirisena said.

No pages missing

Noting that though many persons in the Government and the opposition were angry about the steps he has taken in his fight against corruption, the President said he will not give up.

He recalled that after receiving the Bond commission and PRECIFA reports, the Opposition had continuously urged to make it public and hold a debate immediately.

“I think the demand to make the reports public was for political reasons, but in my view it is significant as it concerns the economy of the country. Therefore, it’s necessary to address various issues raised in the report,” he said.

 “Within three days, I went through it and made a statement with regard to it after consulting the Attorney General, the Central Bank, and senior legal experts and senior public servants. This statement wasn’t drafted by me but a collectively prepared one, which is a first in my near 50 year political career. Thereafter the bond commission and PRECIFAC reports were presented in Parliament. However, surprisingly these parties are now silent after the reports were made public as both expose their corruption and frauds,” Sirisena said.

He denied the allegation that some pages were missing or withheld but added that the full documents could fill two lorry loads.  There are certain contents in the report and documents which have to be safeguarded in secrecy, he said, as they will be required at the time of taking legal action.
Response to Ravi K’s suicidal statement

Sirisena also responded to attempts by former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake to make a statement in Parliament to clear his name and faulting the President’s original statement. “First, the Prime Minister cautioned [Karunanayake] not to make a statement. Thereafter, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya ruled him not to make the statement. If he had made the statement it would have been suicidal,” he said.

“I left the former government to fight against corruption and bribery. It was on that platform, that I was elected. I have to oppose these things without thinking of tomorrow. I am being subject to all kinds of criticism including from MP Ravi Karunanayake,” he reiterated.

Cabraal denies President’s claim of unaccounted debt

Former Central Bank Governor NIvard Cabraal who was in office under President Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, yesterday denied incumbent Maithripala Sirisena's allegations.

"Sri Lanka has diligently and faithfully recorded all foreign borrowings in accordance with our laws and regulations as well the terms of issue, during the time of the previous government," Cabraal told Reuters.

Serving as Central Bank Governor between 2006 and 2015 and a close ally of former leader Rajapaksa, Cabraal said the president may have made "this irresponsible statement to sling mud at the previous regime".

Reuters report said two officials at the Finance Ministry who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said Sirisena's statement on the foreign loan was wrong.

Under the previous government from 2004-2015 led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka borrowed Rs. 5.17 trillion of total loans including Rs. 2.16 trillion ($14.06 billion) of foreign loan.

"Sirisena's office did not respond when asked if the numbers were correct. However, it confirmed that the president stated the numbers. He made the comments to a group of local editors,  Reuters reported.

I am a political creature, will remain so irrespective of positions: President

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday kept speculation of a second term wide open, saying it was too early to make a decision, though confessing he is a political creature and will always remain so irrespective of positions.

He made this remark during a breakfast meeting with editors and media heads when he was asked about his decision to seek a Supreme Court ruling on the term of his Presidency and whether he was keen on a second term to finish his crusade against corruption and establish Yahapalanaya.

Sirisena said his accession to the Presidency was unusual as his predecessors were first either a Prime Minister or an Opposition Leader. “I wasn’t either of those; nor did I have any agenda to be one. In 42 days, I went from being a Minister to President. I have taken the responsibility to fulfill the role of the incumbent President. Whether I am contesting the presidential election in two years or not, it is not my goal to take such decisions today. I am focused on and keen to deliver on the current responsibility amidst challenges. I am not playing any games either,” he said.

However, Sirisena added: “I will do politics as long as I live. I am a political creature and will do politics with or without positions.”