Bond Scam: Mr. Prime Minister, Facts Are Stubborn! 

By Rusiripala Tennakoon –JUNE 15, 2018

Rusiripala Tennakoon

“You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time..”   – Abraham Lincoln

Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe was the Minister in charge of the CBSL when the infamous Bond Scams were perpetrated there in 2015 February and 2016 March.  He still continues as the Minister in charge of the CBSL. He is also the Prime Minister of the country.

A Presidential Commission of Inquiry has completed an investigation and the findings of the Commission are now published in a report by them.

During the court proceedings now in progress (according to action taken by the Attorney General), many revelations concerning direct involvements of politicians, parliamentarians and even Ministers of the Government keep on surfacing causing alarm and shock waves among the public.

One of the main persons responsible for the wrong doing wanted by the Courts for judicial action is evading arrest. He is the former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka who served there until the completion of his term even after the Bond Scam was exposed. The persons responsible for his appointment, continuation in office amidst various public protests and reprimands by Parliamentarians, are maintaining a dead quietness about his disappearance from the scenario.

Public have a right to raise an issue in this regard. Isn’t there any responsibility falling on those who made this very special appointment amidst heavy objections and criticisms to produce him for purposes of jurisdictional.

In the context it is relevant to recall certain references made in this regard at different forums.

First we will quote from the Presidential Commission Report:

CHAPTER 26

THE HON. PRIME MINISTER’S ROLE IN MATTERS RELEVANT TO OUR MANDATE

Mr. Arjuna Mahendran was appointed the Governor of the CBSL, on 23rd January 2015. 

Thus, the appointment of Mr. Mahendran was made before the period of our Mandate commenced and we have no jurisdiction to determine the merits or demerits of that appointment. 

However, we cannot be insensible to the fact that, there have been concerns expressed in the public domain with regard to the propriety of Mr. Mahendran’s appointment following reports of his alleged intervention in the Treasury Bond Auction held on 27thFebruary 2015 and his relationship with Mr. Arjun Aloysius who has close connections with Perpetual Treasuries Ltd, which obtained the lion’s share of the Bids accepted at that Auction. 

Concerns have also been expressed in the public domain, with regard to whether the fact that, Mr. Mahendran is not a Citizen of Sri Lanka, made it unlawful or unsuitable for him to have been appointed the Governor of the CBSL. 

Therefore, we decided to briefly look at these issues, though we will not, in view of the confines of our Mandate, venture to arrive at any determination on these issues. 

When Mr. Mahendran gave evidence before us, he stated that, he had been working in Dubai in January 2015 and that, he had received a telephone call from the Hon. Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, MP, who had invited Mr. Mahendran to accept appointment to the office of the Governor of the CBSL. 

In these circumstances, the Commission of Inquiry asked the Hon. Prime Minister whether he had invited Mr. Mahendran to accept appointment as the Governor of the CBSL. In reply, the Hon. Prime Minister stated, “Yes. It is correct that sometime in January 2015, I Invited Mr. Arjuna Mahendran to serve as the Governor of the CBSL of Sri Lanka (CBSL).”

In this connection, we note that, the Hon. Prime Minister is also the Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs under which the CBSL has been placed. 

Next, in view of the requirements of Section 12 (1) of the Monetary Law Act which states that, an appointment of the Governor of the CBSL has to be made by the President on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, the Commission of Inquiry asked the Hon. Prime Minister whether Mr. Mahendran was appointed on recommendation made by the then Minister of Finance and/or on a recommendation made by the Hon. Prime Minister, as the Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs under which the CBSL has been placed. 

The Hon. Prime Minister replied, “Upon the formation of the new Government in January 2015 there was a general consensus within the Government that Mr. Mahendran should be appointed to the post of Governor of CBSL. I discussed the proposed appointment with the then Minister of Finance who agreed that Mr. Mahendran was the most suitable candidate. Accordingly, the then Minister of Finance with my concurrence recommended to His Excellency the President that Mr. Mahendran should be appointed. His Excellency the President acting upon the said recommendation appointed Mr. Arjuna Mahendran as the Governor of the CBSL.”

Thereafter, the Commission of Inquiry asked the Hon. Prime Minister the reasons why he considered Mr. Mahendran to be a fit and suitable person to be appointed the Governor of the CBSL. 

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Main goal of government is to provide relief to people, not party politics - Minister Mangala

Sat, Jun 16, 2018, 07:08 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


June 16, Colombo: Despite the huge debt burden inherited from the previous administration, this government did not neglect the welfare of the people and the government's main goal is to provide relief to the people and not party politics Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera said.

Addressing an event held on Saturday (16) at the Matara Divisional Secretariat to award compensation to the people of the district who were affected by floods in 2017, the Minister said the good governance government came to power giving a bunch of promises to the masses.

The main promise was to increase the salary of public servants by Rs. 10,000 and within the first 100 days, the government was able to fulfill that promise.
In addition, the present government has been able to increase the 1% of GDP spent on education by the Mahinda Rajapaksa government to 3% by 2018. It is hoped to increase it to 6% by 2020.

Additionally, the government's intention is to increase the present allocation of 3.5% of GDP for health to 5% by the year 2020.

The present VAT imposed on private hospital services will be abolished from next week as part of the government's program of giving relief to the people.

The present government has been able to increase the Samurdhi allowance threefold.

All this is done by the government while managing high debt burden inherited from the Rajapaksa government, the Minister said.

The total external debt of Sri Lanka has to pay this year alone is 1.9 trillion Rupees and 83% of those loans were taken before 2015.

Foreign debt Sri Lanka needs to pay in the next two years is 4.6 trillion rupees and that includes the loans taken by the government in 2012, 2013 and 2014 at high interest rates.

The government has to tax the public to pay all these debts and the problem is that most of this tax, or 82%, is still paid by ordinary people indirectly while direct taxes from the rich is only 18%.

The best example is that in Sri Lanka, which has a population of 20 million, only 400,000 have filed taxes.

The government's intention is to bring this ratio of indirect to direct taxes to 60%-40% by 2020.

"Amid all these difficulties, the government has not ignored the welfare of the people. What you are receiving today is the result of that efforts of the government," the Minister said.

"During the previous government the relief was given to the government supporters but today at no time we looked at party colors to provide relief," he said.

He noted that when looking at the last local government elections about 75 percent in Matara district voted for the SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna).


"But what matters to us is providing relief, not your politics," the Minister said.

International community still bothered about Rajapaksas?

By Gagani Weerakoon- JUN 17 2018

President Maithripala Sirisena has alleged that certain interested parties were interfering in the investigations into the Central Bank Treasury Bonds scam, by exerting undue influence on law enforcement authorities. He made these revelations, in an interview with our sister newspaper, the Sunday Mawbima, in response to a question as to whether high level political interference could be inferred from a statement he made recently, where he had said that he was being stifled and not being allowed to carry out his work in his capacity as President.
President Sirisena pointed out that as far as he was concerned he would not in any way interfere with law enforcement authorities.
The President added that the best example of undue influence on law enforcement authorities was evident in interference with CID officers, the Attorney General’s Department and the CBSL – the parties responsible to take legal action in relation to the ongoing investigations into the Bonds scam.

When queried as to whether there was interference with regard to the non-disclosure of names of certain UNP politicians involved in the scam, President Sirisena replied in the affirmative: The details of which were mentioned in the relevant B report submitted to Court.

The President said that it was advisable for the law to take its own course so that law enforcement officers could act freely and carry out their duties.
It was revealed in this column last week how investigating officers have come under pressure to not reveal or publicize names in the backdrop of names of top politicians being revealed in connection with the Central Bank Treasury bonds scam.

It was also mentioned Director - Criminal Investigations Department (CID) SSP Shani Abeysekera and IGP Pujith Jayasundara were summoned by a top political authority and were ordered not to include politicians’ names when filing ‘B’ reports with regard to the case against Perpetual Treasuries owner Arjun Aloysius.

Currently, two names, those of former Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara and State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe, have been revealed, in ‘B’ report filings, as those who received funds from either PTL or other companies belonging to Aloysius. Speculation is rife that politicians belonging to many political parties have received funds as campaign money from Aloysius during and after the last General Election held in August 2015.

According to reliable sources, the CID has finalized investigations in connection with another woman politician, who allegedly received funds from Aloysius. While, personal bodyguards and campaign managers were involved in the transactions that took place between Aloysius and Jayasekara and Senasinghe, the CID officials have questioned the son of the woman politician who was involved in the deal.

Maithri’s advice to G-16

With USA President Donald Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong-un having a so-called historic talks to end long-running rivalry, now some are expecting two political heads in Sri Lanka would do the same.

Former State Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said at a media briefing last week that Sri Lanka’s ‘Trump and Kim’ would work hand- in-hand prior to the Presidential Election by December 2019, with reference to President Maithripala Sirisena and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“We are confident that President Sirisena and Rajapaksa would join hands and begin to work collaboratively by December 2019,” he said.

The Group of 16 who left the Unity Government to sit in the Opposition met President Sirisena who assured them that there will be drastic changes in the Party on 2 September. The President, upon hearing speculations that there is a split in the Group of 16 was reported to have requested them to remain united.

Eleven of the 16, excluding MPs Susil Premajayantha, John Seneviratne and Anura Priyadarshana Yapa had met the President on Wednesday and discussed the current political situation in the country.

Some among them are said to be considering joining former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, while the others insist on remaining with the SLFP.

Political sources said they had informed the President that they were keen to secure their political future, and therefore the entire party should quit the Government and highlighted the fact that the SLFP was riddled with confusion.
The President asked them to remain united and participate in the re-organizing of the party. These SLFPers are reported to have taken a swipe at Ministers Duminda Dissanayake and Mahinda Amaraweera for contradicting a statement made by SLFP General Secretary Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa.

The group also believes that the SLFP will not be able to win the hearts of the people or undergo radical changes by 2 September, as long as some SLFP members continue to remain in the Unity Government with the United National Party (UNP).
The group also held several rounds of discussions with various political parties.

Meanwhile, former Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who spearheads the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), ruled out the possibility of accommodating the members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) as a distinct political group under the SLPP banner.
However, he said the MPs who quit the Government could join the SLPP-led alliance as individual members rather than as a separate political group.
“It is not possible for us to allow them to stay within the SLPP as a separate political group. Instead, they can join hands with us as individual members,” he said

President 2020

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was in Kandy last week compared the Government to a plough being drawn by a bull and a buffalo.
He said this after paying homage at the Dalada Maligawa and underlined the fact that this Government would be defeated because it had not solved any of the issues faced by the people and had no proper plan of development.
“This Government is similar to a plough being drawn by a bull and a buffalo. They pull in different directions. It is unable to control underworld activities not only in Colombo but also in Kandy,” he said.

“The Kirivehera prelate was shot. They can find out who shot him by asking the prelate, who is said to be recovering. Someone may have had a reason to kill him. The social media is coming out with various fabricated news and are falsely accusing Gotabaya Rajapaksa of having committed various crimes”.

 Rajapaksa said religious leaders were also being side-lined by this Government.
“The Vesak Poya Day was changed, May Day was changed, and even the Poson Poya has been changed. There is even an issue about the Ramadhan festival. All religions have been ill-treated,” he said and added that usually matters discussed between a foreign ambassador and a State official were not normally released, but it had happened with various interpretations.
Rajapaksa said a presidential candidate would be named at the correct time, just like President Sirisena who came into the fray quite suddenly.

“The presidential candidate will be named under my directions,” he said.
Meanwhile, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa  who was also in Kandy last Friday (15) said as a leader who identifies the thoughts and wishes of the people, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa would choose the most suitable individual as the next presidential candidate.

He said this while speaking to reporters after a meeting with the Chief Incumbent of the Getambe Rajopawanarama Temple in Peradeniya, Ven. Keppitiyagoda Siriwimala Thera.
He stated that the country’s people’s force is aligned with Mahinda Rajapaksa and that even the forces that were the basis for his defeat have now realized they were wrong.
The former Defence Secretary said that Mahinda Rajapaksa would take the correct decision at the right time.

Atul Keshap’s alleged statement

These comments on the 2020 Presidential candidate were made at a juncture where an article by a Jaffna-based Tamil newspaper to the effect that outgoing USA Ambassador Atul Keshap had expressed America’s displeasure over Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s candidacy went viral.

The United States Embassy in Colombo is not confirming or denying that Ambassador Keshap, in his farewell call on former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had said that the US and Western countries will not be supportive of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, if he contests the Presidency in 2020.
The report first appeared in a Jaffna-based Tamil language newspaper ‘Kaalaikkathir’ and was repeated in the popular blog site dbsjeyaraj.com.

The site reported that during the discussion between the Ambassador and the former President “the most significant issue was about the possible presidential candidacy of ex-Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. ‘Kaalaikkathir’ quoting very reliable sources said that the US envoy had in ‘clear, unambiguous and definite’ terms told Mahinda Rajapaksa directly that the western nations including the USA would not favourably regard Gotabaya Rajapaksa being nominated as a Presidential candidate”.
Ceylon Today then spoke with the US Embassy’s Public Affairs Department and emailed questions to them.

Our first email was as follows:

From CeylonToday
The website dbsjeyaraj.com has an article quoting a Jaffna based newspaper as reporting that Ambassador Atul Keshap had told former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the US Government would be opposed to a Gotabaya Rajapaksa candidacy in a forthcoming Presidential Polls when the two of them met privately.

-Does the Ambassador confirm the meeting?
-Did he discuss the possibility of the former Defence Secretary contesting the elections
and did he express an opinion about the fitness of the candidate?

The response from the US Embassy was as follows:

Thanks for your query.
The Ambassador meets routinely with political leaders, civil society and community leaders.
The Embassy does not discuss the contents of private meetings publicly.
You may attribute the response to the US Embassy.

Ceylon Today then sent in a follow up email:

The website dbsjeyaraj.com has an article quoting a Jaffna-based newspaper as reporting that Ambassador Atul Keshap had told former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the US Government would be opposed to a Gotabaya Rajapaksa candidacy in a forthcoming Presidential Poll when the two of them met privately.
Please respond as to whether this report is true and accurate or whether it is false. It will be in your interest to respond as if this is allowed to stand as the truth it will amount to the US Government interfering in Sri Lankan affairs.

The response to that from the Embassy was as follows:

Thanks for the follow up query.
The Ambassador meets routinely with political leaders, civil society and community leaders. The Ambassador honours the confidence of private meetings and does not discuss the contents of such meetings publicly.
You may attribute this response to the US Embassy.
Thanks.

Meanwhile, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, issuing a media statement confirmed that he had met Keshap last Sunday for a “cordial discussion”. He went on to say that “some points that were discussed in a cordial manner have been distorted and publicized by various media. This information has not been released officially by the Media Unit of the former President”.

America stops war games in South Korea, starts a new game in Sri Lanka

Rajan Philips-June 16, 2018, 8:43 pm 

The greatest admirer of President Trump is the man himself. No known political figure speaks more highly of one’s own achievements than Donald Trump. In Trump’s own estimate, his greatest presidential achievement could be his Singapore summit meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, even though it may not be enough to qualify him for a Nobel peace prize, that he covets so much if only because Barak Obama was given one for merely being elected as the first non-white American President. There is universal agreement that the Trump-Kim summit has at least removed the threat of a nuclear misadventure between the US and North Korea. The fact is that the imminence of a nuclear threat was in itself the work of Trump and Kim going mano-a-mano at each other and trading insults like two overgrown juvenile delinquents.

The summit, however, did show that the two men are capable of mature behaviour in the company of each other, although much of the American media take on the summit is that Kim Jong-un got most of what he wanted and that Trump got little or nothing in return. What surprised most commentators and caused much concern in defence circles in the US, South Korea and Japan, was Trump’s cavalier announcement after the summit that he was going to stop the ‘war games’ that American and South Korean armies periodically carry out as exercises for military preparedness in the Korean peninsula and the South China seas. Trump’s reasons, that they are provocative and expensive, left defence experts scratching their heads.

Sri Lanka is safely out of the way of anything that might happen in the Far East or across the Pacific, but that did not prevent the circulation of news stories about a different game that the Americans may be starting to play in Sri Lanka. As widely reported and re-reported in the media, the outgoing US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Atul Keshap, apparently used the opportunity of the departing courtesy call on former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, to caution him about the advisability of the much touted Gotabhaya Rajapaksa candidacy for the next presidential election. Whether the reported conversation actually transpired or not, the news about it has been more than enough to let the game begin! That is the game of (alleged) US involvement in presidential prospecting in Sri Lanka.

The new Ugly American

By all appearances, the prospects for transforming (not abolishing) the executive presidency are withering away. They are giving way to the prospecting for potential candidates. Even as it is much touted, the candidacy of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (GR) is also the most unusual as well as controversial. The unusualness is in his being a dual citizen of Sri Lanka and the US. As was suggested yesterday, delightfully tongue-in-cheek by Lucien Rajakarunanayake, the US government, the State Department and Foreign Service staffers may be concerned about one of their citizens aspiring to become the Head of State of another country. In the era of dual citizenships, the old caricature of the Ugly American might be taking different meanings. Is GR an ugly American, or a nice Sri Lankan? Conversely, is he a nice American and ugly Sri Lankan?

Plausibly, the American concern could be that from a Sri Lankan standpoint, the GR candidacy, insofar as he is an American citizen, could be interpreted as American interference in Sri Lankan affairs. More pungently, GR could be viewed as America’s Trojan horse in Sri Lankan politics. Even the Yankee-Dick UNP could raise that slogan. After all, GR took a sojourn in California while his younger brother Basil was doing all the leg work for the SLPP’s impressive victory in the local government elections in February. GR returned to the old island when it became evident that SLPP is not a lame horse but a good electoral race horse that you can safely bet your citizenship on. Could this have been the basis for Mr. Keshap’s reported admonishment to Mahinda Rajapaksa?

The more potent view, however, is that it is not GR who is being the agent for American interference in Sri Lanka, but it is America who is palpably interfering in Sri Lankan affairs by trying to veto GR’s efforts to secure nomination as the SLPP’s presidential candidate. At the same time, while Ambassador Keshap’s alleged views on GR should not be interpreted as the official views of the US government, there is also no escaping the fact that Keshap’s views are indicative of the general thinking among US Foreign Service officials. While Keshap might have been bold in taking a parting shot as the outgoing Ambassador, his successor, Aliana Teplitz, coming in from Nepal, will be more circumspect in the unfolding election period. Nonetheless, a shot has been fired across the embassy bow and no one is taking it as fake even though it was first sighted in news reports all the way north in Jaffna!

The US Embassy is reported to have issued the standard non-committal non-denial. There has been no reported denial directly by the other party to the discussion – Mahinda Rajapaksa. His spokespeople, notably GL Peiris – the Professor turned ventriloquist’s dummy, have issued muted denials. The man himself, GR, has been quoted as saying that if Atul Keshap "actually made the controversial comments he was reported to have made, he was not fit to be the US Ambassador." Is this the disapproval of an American citizen of his country’s envoy behaving badly in another country? Or, is that all for outrage by an aspiring Sri Lankan President at the highhandedness of an American Ambassador in Sri Lanka?

Anti-imperialism has provided more powerful manifestations in Sri Lanka when imperialism and nationalism, not to mention international socialism, were grounded in altogether and objectively different material conditions. The current manifestations in an entirely different set of global circumstances are not only muted but are also pathetic. Not surprising indeed when a dual American citizen aspires to be President in one’s old country and when America is constrained to send as ambassadors its citizens of non-American origin even though the current American President has his own xenophobic views about who is qualified to be a real American.

Polemics apart, are there other reasons for muted rejections of what in earlier times would have been vehemently condemned as unwarranted American interference? The absence of strong objections and unsolicited legal opinions about the ease with which GR could renounce his US citizenship, have given rise to other speculations. Soon after the 1956 elections, Prime Minister Bandaranaike was known to have made a joke of asking the local MI5, established by his predecessor, Sir John Kotelawala, if they had a dossier on him before proceeding to disband it. Jokes or no jokes, no current Sri Lankan politician, let alone the most well-known Sri Lankan-American dual citizen, will dare ask an American embassy official if there is a dossier on him. Any intelligence dossier on SWRD Bandaranaike would have been entirely political, for the man was scrupulously clean to have anything personal about him.

The same old question

Fast forward sixty years, hardly any SLFP/SLPP, or Sri Lankan, politician will have a dossier that is more political than personal. And for real dossiers on Sri Lankan politicians, you have to reach out not to foreign embassies, but to local finance companies. The alleged perpetual bondages of over a hundred parliamentarians have naturally given rise to questioning the wisdom of removing presidential powers and transferring them to parliament. The contemporary wisdom seems to be that it is easier to find one honest man and give him all the powers, rather than giving them to an assorted body of 225 members where finding an honest man would be more challenging that a picking a needle out of a haystack. What is conveniently forgotten in this assessment is that for a long time our parliament used to have far more honest parliamentarians than dishonest members. Historically, Sri Lankan parliament(s) have committed many political blunders but they were honest blunders and none of it was committed for the personal benefit of any of its members.

It is more than a coincidence that the corruption of parliament and parliamentarians began and was accomplished after Sri Lankan was dragged without too much kicking and screaming from a parliamentary system to the current, or pre-19A presidential system. The connections between the concentration of presidential powers and the corruption of parliament are more causal than co-relational. It is unfortunate that the latest JVP attempt to transform the presidency through the 20th Amendment is being viewed solely in terms of the ability of political alliances to win or lose presidential elections, and not at all in the light of experience of forty years of presidential rule.

So it is a case of sour grapes that the UNP, which brought in the presidential system, is now supporting its transformation because it has not been able to win a presidential election after 1988. And the SLFP that did not quite oppose the presidential system, except the provision for electing the president directly by the people, is now more for retaining the presidency and direct elections, because it has mostly successful in presidential elections after 1994. The cynicism in this assessment is further reinforced by the personal animus that only Ranil Wickremesinghe can manage to create among his many detractors.

Whether it is historical irony or poetic justice, the only political grandson of Sri Lanka’s biggest media magnate is now finding himself to be the main target of vituperative attacks by the more upstart media organizations. In the old days, whatever the UNP did through private entrepreneurs the SLFP nationalized. Bus transport and the Lake House are shining examples. The Rajapaksas did something clever which the older families of power would have found rather distasteful. Rather than nationalizing media outlets and creating a public hue and cry, the Rajapaksas sent their new rich henchmen to buy out noisy media critics. Everyone made money and there was no apparent cause for political grief. But the real result was creeping and stifling authoritarianism.

The only achievement of the yahapalanaya interregnum (Hector Abhayavardhana called the 1965-1970 UNP government an interregnum, without anticipating 1977!) is that it stopped the Rajapaksa authoritarianism in its tracks. Its consistent failures since winning power have made the return of the Rajapaksas a great deal easier than it should have been. They are cocky about winning even without having to show that they will be different in a new government than they were in their old government. Their main problem seems to be in deciding which Rajapaksa should be sent to open the innings. The outgoing American Ambassador, not familiar with cricket etiquette, chose to stomp on the pitch on his way out. But nobody is crying foul!

Mahinda-US ambassador discussion -herein is true story; Gota with Chinese intelligence performing Chinese acrobatics in Colombo !

-analysis by Wimal Dheerasekera

(Lanka e News -15.June.2018, 10.30PM)  The media report that there was a discussion between the US Ambassador in SL and Mahinda Rajapakse regarding the American citizenship of Gotabaya and his fielding as a candidate for the presidential election is mendacious  , according to reports reaching Lanka e News.

The media that is pro Rajapakse primarily reported that America does not accept Gotabaya contesting as presidential candidate , neither his appointment as president , and it is bitterly opposed to that . It also revealed the US Ambassador Athul Keshap told Mahinda not to field Gota as presidential candidate.

Mahinda’s official media spokesman Rohan Welivita issuing a communiqué furnishing a reply , said , the report is distorted , and Mahinda does not accept responsibility in that connection.   While taking precautions to refrain from saying the report is  plainly  false, he  indicated without saying in so   many words ,the misleading report was conveyed  to the media by Mahinda’s private secretary Uditha Loku Bandara

This meeting was the first  Mahinda had with Keshap after the former was thrown  out lock , stock and barrel by the people at last  elections. That is when Keshap was about to leave the country at  the end of his contractual period.

What truly transpired during the discussion between Mahinda and US ambassador….

Based on the  report of the Embassy received by Lanka e News , what was discussed was  something different .Mahinda had requested US ambassador Keshap to  expeditiously take a decision in regard to the application made by Gota to cancel his US citizenship.

 Keshap has replied that task is outside his purview . However as he is readying to leave SL  ,he has told Mahinda to make a request to his successor  who will be coming here.  Nothing beyond on Gota ‘s issue  had been discussed ..

Racketeer Gammanpila who does not know even the Lankan laws interpreting US laws is a joke…

In any case Gotabaya hasn’t  so far fulfilled  the basic requirement that if he is to contest presidential or parliamentary election he cannot have citizenship of another country or a dual citizenship.

Notorious liar Gammanpila who holds the ignominious distinction of having   never won a case as  a lawyer and who roams the  streets touting for clients , and better known as an accused appearing more frequently on the dock in court and less frequently on behalf of  clients , convening a media briefing blabbered , because Gota has submitted an application to rescind his US citizenship , that would suffice for him to contest elections in SL.

Gota once told the media , that after visiting the US Embassy and making an  application to cancel the US citizenship , within two weeks the decision can be secured. But now , Mahinda the elder brother has requested the US Embassy to expedite Gota’s visa application which has taken several months to process. 

The actual legal position – when can a US citizen  cancel  his citizenship…

A US  State lawyer speaking to Lanka e news revealed as follows:

America accepts dual citizenship in relation to  Israel only , and not any other country .

Gotabaya has a basic US citizenship .It is only in SL his dual citizenship is accepted. US of course does not accept such a thing. If   citizenship is to be terminated while being in America that will not be permitted. The request can only be made from an outside country.

If any  citizen  makes a request to withdraw his basic citizenship , an extensive investigation is conducted in that regard. The main reason  for this is  the concern when  the citizen of that country loses his/her citizenship whether he /she will become stateless and thereby insecure.

The US government specially focuses on , whether the citizen is trying to escape from the arms of the law by withdrawing his citizenship.  Say , if there is a divorce suit , cancellation of citizenship will be disallowed.

Already , the Tamil Diaspora and the organization have filed several cases in various states against US citizen Gotabaya that he is responsible for the war crimes committed in SL  .

In addition , special advisor Ryan Goodman who special counsel to the general counsel of the US Department of Defense had forwarded a detailed report to the US Congress fastening the blame on  Gotabaya for the war crimes in SL. This being  most serious, it is only a fool will think  Gotabaya will be granted his request in a fortnight putting aside all those grave  incriminations . According to the  explanation offered by the US State lawyer ,  the  ‘Lawyer always in the dock’ Gammanpila’s  lop sided interpretation should be dismissed as a joke with the contempt it merits.

One month Chinese military training for Gota…

It must be probed whether the US has developed a friendly  attitude to Gota who is its own citizen.  Gota being  a US citizen , US is aware by making him the SL president  it can use him . Then why is US  reluctant to make this move ?

It is Gotabaya who overturned this favorable situation .End of last year , the PLA National Defense University , Beijing invited Gota and gave him special in house training for about a month. The Beijing National Defense University which was in the  Chinese Peoples Red Army military academy and the political academy were amalgamated , and in the first half of  the  nineties  it was made the apex  Chinese Institution which trained military and political leaders.

In short it was an Institution where rejects were polished. Gota was given lodging for about a month in that Institution and while  obliterating all his shortcomings he was brainwashed during training.

 If Gota’s conduct in the recent past is analyzed one can understand what is the  training he has undergone. Moron Gota who behaved differently during  the BBC interview then  is now a better   dressed and  more deceptive but  captivating  Gota before the media .

2 Chinese intelligence officers with Chinese money in Colombo..

China did not stop at that. Already two Chinese intelligence division officers have been sent to Colombo to render assistance to Gota.Though we have even the names of these two officers , we believe this is not the time to reveal them . Moreover China is pumping enough and more  funds to Gota .

In order to make things easy , China has sent an ambassador to Sri Lanka who is a confirmed Chinese political stooge , which action  no other country would resort to. China usually when appointing ambassadors selects officers of its foreign service trained in that sphere ,and does not make  political appointments . But the present  Chinese ambassador in SL is not such an officer . He is a communist party political figure.

Today , websites are being launched , Tabloid newspapers are being started , organizations are being commenced under various names to make Gota the president,  but all these are out of funds pumped in by China.

Gota who is gazing at America, is somersaulting elsewhere and  performing Chinese circus acrobatics  in SL.

America which is for India and appearing on behalf of India within the zone , has not only  been  most cautiously watching the somersaults of Gota and his circus performance , but is even watching now.

The US Congress delegation that arrived in SL recently ,had questioned the chiefs of the good governance government on the circus acrobatics  of China within SL. Indian P.M. Modi too told ‘ you are not only putting SL but even India in jeopardy’ direct to the face of SL president when he toured India ‘

In the circumstances, it is only  a political ignoramus who would assume the US citizenship which is  a stumbling block to Gotabaya ‘s  becoming the president will be cancelled by the US officials even in  two years, let alone two weeks.

An officer of the diplomatic division of the US Embassy in Colombo revealed to a journalist , cancellation of Gota’s citizenship may take three months or three years .

A solution via our Kangaroo court if US cannot …

Gota and his lawyers have by now understood the true picture .Hence , they are seeking other dubious and devious methods to circumvent the SL law.  They are trying to use the president who is eating from the same  plate with Gota secretly , to file a petition in the Supreme court requesting an interpretation on the legal clause  which bars those with dual citizenship from contesting elections. It has been planned to enlist the pro Rajapakse stooges , namely judges Eva Wanasundara , Priyantha Jayawardena and Buwaneka Aluvihara and secure  an interpretation of the law favorable to Gota.  For any reason , if the president is averse to this , another ploy has also been devised.   

There are only two ways by which interpretations can be had on constitutional clauses. One , by the president asking for an interpretation from the SC . The other is , in another  case that is being heard in a  court , that court can request an interpretation from SC in regard to an ambiguous  clause which is  in conflict with the constitution  .

In case president who is already embattled and most despised supports Gota to find an escape route , he is certainly going to  incur the wrath of the people. Hence he may keep himself out of it. Gota who has realized this possibility has enlisted the  lawyers to implement his second plan.

When a petition is filed in the appeal court to examine the clause that prohibits a dual citizen from contesting elections , the appeal court will have to request the SC for an interpretation on it. It is their hope that would  open the escape route for Gota via that ploy.

 No matter what , in conclusion what needs to  be said is  , as regards the appointment of a presidential candidate , more than the good governance government it is the pro Rajapakse opposition which is in a deep quandary. This is because they can never think of winning presidential elections except by fielding  a Rajapakse. Moreover , irrespective of whatever divisions or differences that may exist and  whoever the Rajapakse may be , after seizing power , the Rajapakses will  as sure as the sun rising  in the East always, will join together to form a  family regime to commit plunder and  murder again.

By Wimal Dheerasekera

Translated by Jeff

Refuse and recuse in Cloud-Cuckoo-Land

J’ACCUSE! In an incendiary editorial, a writer once accused the government of his republic of a cover-up as regards the career of an army general staff officer in a scandal that smacked of crimes against state and humanity. While neither such a case nor a time have come – yet, perhaps it behoves democratic-republicans to ask why so many magistrates of late have been recusing themselves in the face of a plea and a process to establish justice with peace? Or will dissenters critically engaging with realpolitik be constrained to ask whether their refusal is for a fear of their lives under a present dispensation that has failed to establish safeguards for its citizens – including its members of the third estate – in the face of an ethos of terror of the unknown, which we all thought was a thing of the past?

Friday, 15 June 2018 

I had a dream. That there were monsters ruling the land in the disguise of being military champions. But then some knights in slightly tarnished armour rode to the nation’s defence and liberated us from our saviours. And all was well again. At least for a while. And peace and justice shone over all creatures great and small for about 100 days…

Then over the course of the next brace of years or so, all things bright and beautiful began to come under a cloud. The sun still shone, but all things wise and wonderful showed a slight veneer of corrosion at the edges. There was a regrettable patina in the air in which a newly liberated people desired in some cautious measure to breathe the polluted air of growth, development and progress again – even if it came under the smog of ogres’ manufactories.

Sad to say, it was the very people of the land who wished for peace with justice who felt the pinch most. Previously they had no peace, but at least there were parks to walk in and pretend all was well. Today, they still walk on less well maintained lawns all right, and somehow sense the absence of justice – and the rot has spread (or at least re-emerged), as if someone forgot to take out the trash leftover from the former dispensation.


Reality bites

In my dream, I had a bitter taste of the above reality. Recently, a family hosted a birthday party for a well-beloved little boy they had been blessed with. Friends and well-wishers came from far and wide to meet him and greet him with good fortune and gifts. Their cars, unfortunately, were not a welcome presence in the neighbourhood. For parked line astern as they were, they impeded the progress of an ogre who had a taste for fast-food – or so he later admitted – and was passing through, using the byway as a shortcut to the Big M.

So there was something of a small traffic jam in the midst of cakes and ale. The well-meaning partygoers, including yours truly, momentarily abandoned the merrymaking to attempt unclogging the arteries. But the congestion had caused such inconvenience to the thug with an appetite for McDonalds that he emerged from his trishaw with a two-foot metal rod. And threatened to smash all the parked cars (“okkoma kudu karanawa”) – I suppose that’s what betrayed his identity as a ‘kudu mudalali’.

We are peace-loving people in our sunny suburban borough. But when two-bit thugs darken our threshold, we stand up for our rights. Sadly, justice was not to win the day. The little monster – really, no more than a pocket Hercules; but try reasoning with an inebriated hobgoblin brandishing a deadly poker – threatened to introduce our noggins to the sharp end of his business card. I’m a drug lord of the underworld, he said. I’m in a hurry to get some junk food into me, he said (all right, I translate). I’m prepared to smash all of you to kingdom come… and if you take me to the cop shop, I’m prepared to take my chances, he said, because the HQI is a good friend of mine… I will not interpret that as being representative of peace with justice – and then I woke up to the dream we’d all been having together in Cloud-Cuckoo-Land...


Respect bates

We’ve been dreaming that the monsters are gone. But they’ve only gone underground. And as with good men, so with bad. You can’t keep them down. They keep cropping up like bad pennies. And some of them had never really gone underground to begin with. Like old soldiers, they never really die; they just fade away… to live and terrorise another day.

Once upon a time, the evil ice giants of the northern territories feared such men. And rightly so. For they were the wrath of god to return the sceptre to its rightful throne – the sovereignty of the state and its people. But when the deliverer’s masked slipped and the nation glimpsed the serene face of a demon, that’s when the hoi polloi first began to feel the heat. For there were no ice giants in warmer southern climes, were there? Just democratic hobbits whose habit was to dissent at any departure from true republicanism. And some of them felt constrained to ask, “So, who’s the terrorist now?”

The questions continue to spring on the lips of truth seekers. Who is he, what is he doing? Why do justices of the peace run miles from him, relegating the lost people of the land to peace without justice? What men or gods are these, that the princes of the people fight shy of prosecuting him with the full force of the law made available to them… in fact, by them? What flights of fancy, what struggle to escape, what mad pursuit of pragmatic politics has empowered the return – or ostensible return – of the prince of darkness?

For the plight of the people at present is a bitterer pill than a suburban peace lover bowing before the police protected plunderer of joy at children’s parties. The powers that be themselves have had to eat humble pie at the re-emergence of this once powerful bureaucrat in a tin hat. And if greybeards and such eminent magistracies as the law of the land are fleeing at not his presence but they very mention of his name. Why then we can be sure that it is not Gandalf the Grey come to bless the land but Sauron resurrected like a fiery wizard from his own ashes. But you can bet your bottom dollar it’s not hamburger from a US franchise that the Hun from Hambantota is after, even if he bears an uncanny resemblance to a two-bit thug whom everyone in the neighbourhood fears. For even if you win your argument about the place of proper parking in public by daylight, it is what the police and politico protected ogres can do in the night that keeps sensible citizens from interacting too closely with the kind of thug in mufti whose name shall not be spoken out aloud. 

(Journalist | Editor-at-large of LMD | Writer #SpeakingTruthToPower.)

RTI Commission Orders SriLankan Airlines To Release Info Relating To Massive Financial Losses

JUNE 16, 2018

In a twenty page Order handed down under the RTI Act on 12thJune 2018, Sri Lanka’s RTI Commission hasruled that two termination agreements entered into between SriLankan and AerCap which caused great losses to SriLankan Airlines are to be released as they have been completed and concluded.

Even though SriLankan argued otherwise, the Commission has stated that the existence of a confidentiality clause in the said agreements do not, by themselves, establish the applicability of the RTI exemptions as that is a contractual obligation per se.It pointed out that the Public Authority has failed to prove what precise portions of the agreements with AerCap related to information given by a 3rdparty to the Public Authority and ‘treated’ as confidential at the time as required by the RTI Act.

However, purchase agreements of SriLankan with Airbus SAS to buy four A350 aircrafts have not been included within the Order to disclose as negotiations in regard to its cancellation are still ongoing. Three aircrafts were to be delivered in 2020 and one aircraft was to be delivered in 2021. The Commission had commented that this is an ongoing process and that ‘commercially sensitive information’ may be in issue, including inter alia, pricing and price revision mechanisms.

Responding to the appeal filed by the Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka and its President, Captain Ruwan Vithanage, the Commission also directed that Sri Lankan Airlines release details of salaries and other allowances and/or benefits of the CEO of SriLankan Airlines Limited, Head of Human Resources (HHR) of SriLankan Airlines Limited and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of SriLankan Airlines Limited. Also to be disclosed are the information related to and/or connected to the cost of personal flying training for the A320 jet conversion borne by SriLankan Airlines Limited and/or any party for the CEO, Mr. Suren Ratwatte.

In the Order, the Commission has stated that this is information which, by its very definition, ‘directly relates to the financial accountability and transparency of the Public Authority in the expenditure of public funds. This is all the more so by virtue of the pre-eminent position that it holds as the country’s national air carrier and in the context of widespread public concerns in regard to financial management of the Public Authority.’ It has emphasized that ‘where the public purse is concerned, and the alleged financial irregularities of a particular Public Authority are under scrutiny in an Appeal before us, this Commission will be particularly watchful of the public interest.’

In addition, the RTI Commission has directed that the Memorandum of Understanding dated 28th July 2016 with PIA, the Wet lease agreement dated 04th August 2016 with PIA and the Wet lease extension agreement dated 02nd November 2016 with PIA ‘comes within the ambit of information that may properly be released under this Act.’ It has been pointed out that a confidentiality clause cannot prevent information disclosure after the contract/agreement had been awarded, where the accountability of public funds and the transparency of the Public Authority is in issue.

The RTI Commission has further ordered that relevant Board Minutes, Board Papers, reports by aviation consultants are to be released subject to Sri Lankan establishing that relevant portions of those documents need to be severed from the rest to protect commercial confidence harming the competitive position of a third party or confidential information given by a 3rdparty as allowed by the RTI Act. If information is severed, that will be subject to the RTI Commission making sure that it is done in accordance with the RTI Act, it has said.

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THE ASH AND TEARS OF NOROCHCHOLAI

Is the country’s only coal power generation plant unhealthy to live around? Residents in Norochchalai complaining of respiratory illness and skin rashes worry that it might be

The watered - down ash dump

By Dimuthu Attanayake-17 June, 2018

Shashikala Harshani is a young mother living in the village of Illanthadiya, Norochcholai, bordering the Coal Power Plant that has been subject to much controversy. When Shashikala’s little girl was born, there was a patch that appeared on her skin, which looked like a kind of rash, on her hand. “We have shown it to doctors and they said it will go away with time. But, it has been five years now. Some doctors say this might be caused due to ash from the power plant, but nobody is sure,” she said.

Noordu Kumari is another resident of the area, who gave birth to a baby with a similar patch on her leg. “It was smaller when she was born but grew bigger with time. The doctors say it will go away,” she repeats.

Young children born with these skin patches have been one concern for the inhabitants of the villages adjoining the Lakvijaya Power Station in Norochcholai. Villagers believe there is a co-relation between these skin conditions and respiratory issues prevalent in the population living around the area and the power plant, even though no causal link has been scientifically established so far by medical experts.

This, however, doesn’t do much to allay the fears of villagers living around the coal power plant, whose three turbines supply 900 megawatts in total to Sri Lanka’s national grid. With an energy crisis looming and the cleaner, cheaper hydro-power capacity no longer sufficient to meet the national demand for power, the Lakvijaya coal power plant in Norochcholai has stepped into fill this gap, in spite of constant breakdowns at the power generation facility.


Residents living around the Norochcholai power plant are convinced that their ailments are somehow linked to the coal power plant, especially since coal and ash particles are constantly floating around the villages. Villagers tell frightening stories of how an expectant mother in the area has been admitted to hospital three times due to different complications so far, and how even this could be linked to the pollution in the area. Concerned residents have also resorted to drinking only bottled water to avoid drinking ground water that they suspect might be contaminated by coal dust.

Unlike in the past, residents make it clear that they have no other issues with the Lakvijaya plant. “If we don’t have to deal with ash or coal dust, we don’t have any other issues with the power plant,” they tell reporters on a visit to the area. But this is a big enough problem.

One of the main grievances related to the power plant has been related to the large amount of ash and coal particles that blew in with the high windy season last year.

Villagers had to protect their eyes and faces from the particles that rode in with the wind. This year, they say the situation is much better, although some particles still reach the villages.

Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice, Hemantha Withanage said the main issues with the plant is related to the fly ash and bottom ash produced during the power generation process. Fly ash and bottom ash are by products of the coal combustion process, where fly ash is fine particles that escape combustion chambers with exhaust gases, while bottom ash is a non- combustible residue which collects at the bottom of the broiler.

“On average, the plant produces 2.5 million metric tonnes of bottom ash per year and 1000 metric tonnes of fly ash per day. When the electrostatic precipitator (ESP), which filters the fly ash breaks down, fly ash is released to the atmosphere, through the chimneys,” he said.

Detrimental to health

Withanage explains that bottom ash contains heavy metals, arsenic, nickel, copper and mercury, which are harmful to human health. “To prevent the seeping of these metals to the soil, they should be deposited on a layer of sodium bentonite and covered by a trampoline from the top,” he said. According to him, if mercury mixes with the area’s water table, the water is no longer safe for drinking. Mercury can also be fatal to humans if it accumulates through the digestive tract.

“Therefore, the hair and nails of the people in the area should be tested for the presence of mercury. We are hoping to carry out a study into this. This is actually the duty of the Ceylon Electricity Board( CEB) and the Ministry of Health,” Withanage said.

But energy authorities claim the issue is being addressed.

Speaking to Sunday Observer, Secretary to Ministry of Power and Energy Dr. Suren Batagoda said the likelihood of ash and coal particles being carried with the wind has been 100 per cent reduced now because Lakvijaya workers pour a soluble cement solution on top of ash piles. A chemical is also added to harden the surface on top of the ash pile “When the pile is backoed, this seal breaks but it can be quickly re-made,” he says.

Prevent particles blowing

Dr. Batagoda further says blocks of ash and certain coal piles will be covered with a trampoline to prevent the particles from blowing in the wind towards residential settlements. He also added that the ash was now being sold to a company which had already taken away 50 percent of it. “The rest will be taken away next month,” he pledged.

“There are also plans to make cement blocks with the ash. Therefore, problems related to ash will be minimised and there is no need to build an ash disposal site,” Dr Batagoda added. The CEB would also start construction on the long-awaited wind-barrier soon, Dr Batagoda said, adding that the barrier will be 75 feet high and will prevent the wind from carrying particles to adjacent villages. Speaking of the ESP facility that breaks down, he denied reports of its frequency breakdowns, saying that it only happened once. “Sometimes, ESP is switched off for cleaning purposes, and some fumes are released as a result. That’s all,” he said.

An Environmentalist, who wished to remain anonymous says there can be an adverse impact from the heavy metals which can be washed onto the ground with water, from these piles of ash. “Soil and the water of the area should be assessed. If the soil has heavy metals, the vegetables grown in the area may not be safe.

And these vegetables are consumed in most parts of the country,” he said. He added that about 580 kg of mercury is produced per year in the process of coal power generation, with no system to arrest its entry to the surrounding environment. In other countries, there are mercury and toxic substance elimination standards for coal power plants, he said.

The environmentalist added that globally recognised safe threshold for ash or dust as a particulate matter is 50 micro grams per cubic metre. “According to a study, approximately 80%t of the fly ash particles are less than 10 microns and 35 per cent of the coal particles are less than two millimetres. Even now, this particulate matter can be outside safe limits,” he said. He further said that these small particles are not visible to the eye, yet they can affect human health adversely.

He said that though the CEB was urged to have four air quality meters around the power plant, this had not yet been done. Pouring water or chemicals on top of the ash and coal piles could not stop non-observable particles from escaping.

Toxicology impact

Environmentalists also explain that there was a toxicology impact from coal and fly ash. The heavy metal concentration in this fly ash, including that of selinium and arsenic is found to be beyond the threshold which can breach the body’s cell walls and attack human organs. Persistent pollution would be hazardous to the health, they warn.

The elderly and the children are more vulnerable and asthma and skin disease among them is a common occurrence of people living in close proximity to power plants.

According to an article published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, USA by Yang et al, infants born to mothers living 20 to 30 miles downwind from the Pennsylvania power plant were 6.5 %t more likely to be born with a low birth weight and 17.12 % more likely to be born with a very low birth weight.

Withanage said the Mae Moh power plant in Thailand had similar issues with ash, which led to 600 deaths in the 2007/2008, mainly due to asthma.

Director General of Health Services, Dr. Anil Jasinghe told the Sunday Observer that he would request the regional Director of Health Services and Epidemiologist to study the situation in the area. He further observed that people should not be living within such close proximity to the power plant.

However, the farmers are proud of their cultivation lands, most of which have been in the families for about three generations. For most of them, land is their livelihood and an important part of their existence. “We have enough water here, and most vegetables other than carrot, beans and leeks grow in this soil. When the rest of the country floods, we provide them with vegetables,” they said.

Farmers in Paniadiya are exposed to the particles from piles of coal that is stacked bordering their farms. They claim these particles make it increasingly difficult to grow crops such as chillies, ladies fingers, melon, pumpkin and other crops that have their harvest above the earth. “There has been a reduction of the harvest and leaves burn when coal dust falls on them,” they said.

In no way ready to move away from the power plant, the villagers say they have everything they need and they are self sufficient where they are, “Where else are we supposed to go?” they ask.

Withanage says the operations of this power plant violates several laws of the country. “As per 98th clause of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance, this is a public nuisance.

Also, this has violated Environment Impact Assessment ( EIA) law and has operated without the Environment Protection License, a requirement under the National Environment Act. Both Coast Conservation Act and the Marine Pollution Prevention Act is also violated,” he said.
However, Lakvijaya contributes 40% of our daily needs to the national grid, and up to 60 % during the dry season.

Thus, shutting down the power plant is not an immediate option to address the issues. Although, three Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants are in the pipeline, which is considered a mode of relatively cleaner power generation since they do not produce ash, according to Dr. Batagoda these will not commence power generation for a few more years.

P. L. Fernando, from Illanthadiya says, “I know Colombo depends on this plant for power generation but we can’t die for their sake.” Even residents like Fernando admit however that coal dust in the area had seen a reduction of late.

According to a report by International Energy Agency (IEA) 2010, coal power contributes to 42% of the electricity generation in the world. However, green policies of most developed countries have seen a gradual shutdown of coal power plants, a lengthy process even they are struggling with.
Carbon Brief notes that electricity generation via coal peaked in 2014, with world doubling its coal power capacity since 2000, as a result of growth in India and China, while there is a wave of retirement of coal power plants across UK and US.

The developed world is moving towards cleaner energy, while the developing world struggles with balancing clean energy and meeting its power demands. Sri Lanka needs a solid power policy that will ensure energy security and at the same time grant people a safe environment to live.


Pix : Susantha wijegunasekera