GARRISON AGAINST GOTA – HARIM PEIRIS

19/06/2018

The press has been full of reports that outgoing US Ambassador Atul Keshap has cautioned and advised former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the nomination of his brother and US citizen Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as candidate for president in 2020, faces a variety of legal and other obstacles, based on the sum total of which, the United States would not consider the same favourably. The fact that this information was first put out and confirmed by the former president’s office, indicated that the Rajapaksa media team initially at least believed that, being seen unfavourably by the West, is an electoral gain.

This is in line with the messaging of the unsuccessful Rajapaksa campaign in 2015, which strained to cast that election as a Rajapaksa versus the West, a Sri Lanka versus Geneva election. Though in actuality, the 2015 election turned out to be Rajapaksa verses the rest of the political parties and the result is history.

US citizenship provides jurisdiction

Skimming through social media reactions to Ambassador Keshap’s observations, a small section of social media users has rather predictably called on the US to mind their own business, that Sri Lankan politics is the sole preserve of Sri Lankans. This does hold true, but only with the confines of and the context of the fact that, no nation lives in isolation by itself, but within the community of nations which imposes certain norms, treaty obligations and an ever-increasing body of international law commitments on nation states. The majority of social media users though are aware of the legal implications and rights of national jurisdiction over citizens.

The real, legal right which the US Ambassador excised over Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was and is his jurisdiction over him as a naturalized US citizen. Being a citizen of a country places certain legal obligations on the citizen and more importantly provides the State with jurisdiction over its citizens.
US law particularly exercises extra-territorial jurisdiction over its citizens, namely that their actions in overseas territories still make them liable to the US under its own laws. Further US law does not permit its citizens to hold political office in foreign governments. An official position like a ministry secretary is allowed, a political office is not. A US green-card holder, who is merely a permanent resident, may do so but not a citizen. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is a dual, US citizen and also a Sri Lankan citizen, thereby being subject to the concurrent dual jurisdiction of both countries.
Ambassador Keshap reportedly made the observation that the skill set required to lead a military and security establishment, where orders are followed without question are not the skills required for managing democratic diversity in a pluralistic society.

There have been claims by some JO stalwarts that US citizenship can be renounced at any time. But US citizenship is not like a job, which you simply resign by sending in a letter. Renouncing US citizenship requires that you leave with a clean slate. US law does not permit its citizens to get out of potential legal jeopardy by simply renouncing citizenship to remove US jurisdiction. In that instance, the US refuses to grant such a release. Accordingly, the various allegations against Rajapaksa, including in the US, regarding especially human rights violations would need to be resolved before US citizenship is cancelled.

19th Amendment, foreign MPs, judges and presidents

The political landscape post the 19th Amendment to the Constitution is somewhat different from the period of the two terms in office. One feature of the 19th Amendment is the specific stricture and prohibition on foreign citizens being members of Parliament.

One MP lost her seat as well through the courts for being a foreign citizen. While the 19th Amendment is silent on the specific issue of a foreign national or a dual citizen being head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the laws of natural justice, the original intent of the framers of the constitution and common law if not common sense would create a fairly convincing constitutional fundamental rights case that a foreign dual citizen is ineligible to be Sri Lanka’s president under our constitution.

After all our basic response to even the Geneva UNHRC resolution for foreign and Commonwealth judges, despite the tradition of Commonwealth commonality of a call to the Bar and the legal profession, is that foreigners cannot be allowed to preside over Sri Lankan judicial processes. It would be weird if they can preside over our state and government. It stands to reason then, that we cannot allow a foreign or dual national to be president.

Precedent of 2010

Political observers would recall how on the polling day of the 2010 presidential election, Wimal Weerawansa, then a rather vociferous minster in the Rajapaksa Government, went on national television while polling was going on, to claim that a vote for the then opposition presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka, a US permanent resident or green card holder, would be null and void because he is ineligible to be president and a vote for him would be a wasted vote.

The broadcast was only stopped when the Election Commissioner intervened following protests by General Fonseka’s campaign and the UNP.

However, Wimal Weerawansa whose monolingual eloquence of speech, has never been in doubt, makes a compelling argument that a foreign citizen (he actually argues even a resident, who is merely a long-term visa holder of sorts) could not and should not be elected the head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Sri Lanka.

No doubt Weerawansa’s verbal heroics in 2010, may well come back to haunt the JO and the Rajapaksas in the run-up to the 2020 elections.

DN.

Avant-Garde corruption case: Gota’s revision petition fixed for support

Lakmal Sooriyagoda-Tuesday, June 19, 2018

A revision application filed by Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa seeking an order to stay the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court proceedings pertaining to Avant-Garde corruption case was fixed for support on July 2 by Court of Appeal today.

Through this petition, Gotabaya Rajapaksa also challenged Colombo Chief Magistrate's decision to refuse preliminary objections raised by him regarding the Avant-Garde corruption case. 

The Bribery Commission filed a corruption case against former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and seven others for allegedly causing a Rs.11.4 billion unlawful loss to the government by giving permission to Avant-Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Ltd to operate a floating armory.

In his revision petition, Gotabaya Rajapaksa challenged Chief Magistrate's decision to refuse preliminary objections raised by him and Chief Magistrate's decision to fix the matter for trial.

COPA exposes failure of 26 ministries, state institutions

... faults CIABOC, Parliament, Presidential Secretariat, PM’s Office

* Review of financial management and performance

By Saman Indrajith-June 19, 2018, 11:52 pm 

Findings of the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), tabled in Parliament, yesterday, revealed serious lapses on the part of 26 out of 51 ministries which the watchdog committed studied, in respect of financial management and performance. 

The COPA report assessing the financial management and performance of 837 institutions, covering the financial year 2016, was tabled in Parliament by committee’s Chairman Finance and Mass Media Deputy Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna. 

According to the report, 26 ministries have failed in updating their registers on fixed assets. There are 40 ministries which have not settled the balance of advance accounts for more than a year; 28 ministries have been noticed for not conducting annual board of survey reports as stipulated.

 The COPA findings show that 29 ministries have failed to respond to the audit inquiries on time while some of them have not disposed of condemned vehicles within the stipulated period.

At least three audit management committee meetings had not been held by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), says the COPA report. No action has been taken as regards the recommendations on excesses and shortages etc revealed by the Board of surveys. 

The COPA report observes that Parliament has not updated Fixed Asset Register.

Fixed Assets Register on computer accessories and software has not been maintained on up to date basis. Inventory Book, Stock inventory and Losses Register were not maintained on an up to date basis. Annual action plan has not been prepared. Replies have not been received to all audit queries raised by the Auditor General within a period of one month. 

The Presidential Secretariat, too, has failed in maintaining the Fixed Asset Register, Fixed Assets Register on computer accessories and software and Losses Register on up-to-date basis. Commitments have been made in excess of the provisions of approved limits. There have been outstanding loan balances on the Advance Account remaining over one year. No action has been taken to clear time expired deposits in the General Deposit Account as per the provisions of Financial Regulation 571. The settlement of Ad hoc Interim Imprest had not been done as per the provisions in Financial Regulation 371.

The report observes that the Prime Minister’s office has made commitments "exceeding the provisions of authorised approved limits."

The committee has examined 19 government special spending units, 51 ministries, 92 government departments, 25 District Secretariats, nine provincial councils, 215 provincial council special spending units and departments, 46 provincial council authorities and statutory institutions, 23 municipal councils, 41 urban councils and 271 Sabhas.

Sri Lanka’s weapons of mass deception– Rajapaksa machinery

 

“One’s days were too brief to take the burden of another’s errors on one’s shoulders. Each man lived his own life and paid his own price for living it.”
~Oscar Wilde 

2018-06-20

Mahinda Rajapaksa and his clan have fine-tuned that aspect of political dynamic that could be solely responsible for delivering an ailing political entity into super-action mode and achieve the results that such an action desired. This fine-tuning of the Rajapaksa-propaganda machinery did not take place yesterday when they were in the opposition. They have achieved or they thought they have years ago, that lofty goal of mass deception and political hoodwinking so that they could be in power forever. Yet, they failed. Vexing of the masses to such an intolerable extent has its own inherent disadvantages. What appears on the shallow surface does not necessarily happen to be deep enough to make the gullible masses suffer to an unending degree.

• Figures cannot be distorted and stats don’t lie
• Carnage of people’s rights is not an option for a civilized nation
• Financial cleanliness should be a manifest characteristic of an acceptable leader  
• Sajith and Navin should remember the sense of duty and responsibility of power  

Nevertheless, the current euphoria they have artificially created about a sibling of Mahinda Rajapaksa and the accompanying message that he would be the next Presidential candidate will not hold any water come the day of reckoning. Their lies and exaggerations have to be met with facts, figures and statistics. Facts are not figments of imagination of some wishful-thinking activists; figures cannot be distorted and stats don’t lie. A phoney image created around a demonic political character cannot and should not last, at least for the sake of our nation’s staunch commitment to democracy and freewill. That phoney bubble will burst; it’ll shrink and disappear but it would not happen automatically. It must be made to happen by human hand. And that human hand can be provided only by the United National Party (UNP).

Almost all the alleged atrocities committed by the Rajapaksa regime could be attributed to this particular member of the Rajapaksa family. Some of the alleged atrocities amount to murders in broad daylight; some to abduction and torture of journalists; some to spraying bullets on protesters whose sole demand was cleaner water; some amount to violation of fundamental human rights; all possible human right violations have been alleged against this individual and now they, the so-called Viyathmaga (path of intellectuals) are paying Pooja to this individual hallucinating about a return to chaotic rule of the Rajapaksas when all of the above outrages were deliberately committed in order for them to remain in power and ransack the country’s coffers and treasures. The carnage of the people’s rights is not an option for a civilized nation.

The hallucination on the part of the now-defeated Pohottuwa politicos will continue their selfish and utterly-destructive politricks unless and until a sufficiently motivated group of counter-organizers band themselves and stop this sacrilegious wolf that comes in sheep’s clothing. It is only possible; it is more of a national urgency that these leftovers of the Rajapaksa era are made politically immobile forever by all means available within the frame of democracy and human rights. Their donors must be approached; their so-called intellectuals and academics must be met at debates and present counterpoints to each and every demented point and arguments they make; their frontrunners and grassroots supporters, if any, must be converted to more humane, reasonable and sensible men and women. It is no easy task. The propaganda machine, their ‘weapons of mass deception’ are much more potent and sharp than what the UNP has managed to deploy as at present.

In such a dangerous scenario, the government must be objective, detached and aloof of politics. But the UNP as a political party, with its newly-resuscitated politburo with a new and charismatic National Organizer (Navin Dissanayake), should be able to launch a robust public relations campaign. If the party leader is not ready, then disregard his un-readiness; the officials of the party have inherent duties and responsibilities to take action without creating divisions within the party framework. A scrupulously defined and vigorously activated campaign of positive image-building, party-branding and professionally-crafted messaging need to be paid attention to.

If a coalition candidate, Maithripala Sirisena, backed by the anti-Rajapaksa majority in the country coupled with an overwhelming bulk of minority voters against Mahinda Rajapaksa, the most difficult-to-defeat person of the Rajapaksa family, could emerge victorious, a clean and charismatic candidate from the United National Party stands more than a fighting chance to gain victory at the next Presidential elections in 2020. What is essential is a strategic view of the whole operation and excruciatingly diligent execution with the right people on ground to operate a campaign.

Some of the alleged atrocities amount to murders in broad daylight; some to abduction and torture of journalists; some to spraying bullets on protesters whose sole demand was cleaner water; some amount to violation of fundamental human rights

Where do you find such candidates or a candidate? Navin Dissanayake, the charismatic current national organizer and Sajith Premadasa, Deputy Leader of the UNP are qualified, experienced and transparent leaders whom the electorate would accept as alternatives to the Rajapaksa clan. There is no such second-tier leader among the siblings of the Rajapaksas. Financial cleanliness should be a manifest characteristic of an acceptable leader. In a sea of corruption, nepotism and naked corruption,
it is quite hard to find one without a murmur of these ignoble traits. However, subject to future findings, both Sajith and Navin stand out as ‘clean’ among the potential candidates for the prize of presidency. Could they endure a gut-wrenching and vicious vitriol of the Mahinda-led opposition? Can either of them withstand the born-again merchants of corruption who now appear before the public as saviours of the country’s treasury which they themselves pilfered when they were the switch-holders of the government machinery? These poachers of the people’s will should be stopped now. Because this government failed to do so when they had a better than good chance at the beginning of their term in 2015, the urgency of the matter is even more exaggerated and compelling.

These questions will have to be answered in the coming few months. It is inevitable that more and more exigencies would emerge as a result of transparency and accountability facilitated by the current administration, as against the last one which advocated policies for a closed society as was evidenced in countries run by dictators and military personnel, and the unhindered interest shown by the social and formal media.

The weight and burden of leadership is very heavy. Some leaders manage to carry it with stoicism and detachment while others stumble because of the sheer heaviness of it. Greatness dwells in those who carry it without a murmur of complaint; they have chosen to carry that weight and are prepared for the consequences; those who complain and choose to lay the blame on his or her colleagues and other bedfellows will fall by the wayside. History is filled with these charlatans who had happened to be there when the time arose whole those who succeed as great leaders are the ones who pursued to carry that weight.

Human life is hard; no one will give power to you; you have to pursue it and get it. The charms of power might try to benumb you for a moment or two, yet you have to carry on regardless remembering that the power you carry on your shoulders has enormous responsibility and a strong sense of duty intrinsically residing within that. Both Sajith Premadasa and Navin Dissanayake have to show that they have not only the desire to hold power; they need to remember the sense of duty and responsibility of that power.

The writer can be contacted at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com 

The case of our concealed subservience to China

Real issues ignored in Lankan public discourse

Our media poverty

 Wednesday, 20 June 2018


If one takes a close look at the general trend of discourse and debate that has been going on in Sri Lanka, one cannot but be disconcertingly astonished at the poor quality of the island’s print and digital media. The days of quality and erudite journalists are over, it seems.

The stark striking poverty of media discourse is such that all focus is diverted to petty and parochial internal issues of power struggle. On the other hand, something far more fundamental and overridingly serious has been happening to our economy over the last decade and the trend goes on right now. I hardly notice any serious discussion of this except for the Economics Column of one of our weekend English newspapers.

The Sinhala language newspapers are the worst (I am unable to access the Tamil language media). I doubt the swabhasha papers ever seeking to recruit writers on economic or social policy into their fold. One notices some degree of racism in these papers. The internal power struggles going on in the country is the only meat on their table. The situation is little different in the TV media, which is reached by millions of people. There, astrology takes a significant chunk.

The large mass of Sri Lankan people are kept in ignorance. Media feeds into that ignorance and a kind of vicious cycle is in force. Pick most of the formally-educated Sri Lankans and you will notice a foolish nonchalance on their part. I am part of the diaspora and I find hard to find many fellow diasporans who have an awareness of real issues facing Sri Lanka.

If it is politics, it is all about the power struggle-whether between persons and parties or between ethnic groups. Should they have jailed Gnanasara? Will Gota have a chance? Who is the best presidential candidate for 2020? These are might issues for the generality of Sri Lankans
The economics fundamental
These discussions would come to nothing if they take just one fundamental issue that our country is facing. Our whole being as a nation of people would depend on the sustainability of our economy; its viability; its capacity to provide for the population in the long run and to upkeep and expand services needed by the people.

Can’t we have better and more schools or health services? Better modes of transport? All such questions would depend on whether the economy can have space for that. If the economy slides on low growth we slide down as a nation and we face the pain of living and feeding our families.

Even these elementary truths are hardly reflected in the public discourse. In Parliament, except for a very few, MPs are blank on these matters. Recently, Mahinda Rajapaksa said that if they come to power they will reduce taxes by 20%. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe asked him how he is going to find the funds to fill the gap that results in tax reduction. Probably Mahinda thought it was an unnecessary question. The public are waiting for a response from Mahinda.
Loans from Beijing
If a proper discussion on the economics fundamental takes place, a most dangerous red flag will be raised. How many of you bothered to read the following news story that appeared in our newspapers a few days ago? I quote:

“Sri Lanka has obtained loans from China amounting to more than Rs. 1,029 billion ($ 8.2 billion) in the period 2005 to 2017, information obtained by the way of a Right to Information (RTI) application revealed.

“The loans have been taken from the China Development Bank Corporation and the Export-Import Bank of China and have been for major projects such as highways, power plants, water supply and sewerage schemes.

“More than Rs. 188 billion from these loans went for the work on the Hambantota Port Development Project with the total amount obtained in 2007 of around Rs. 34.2 billion while for Phase II of the project loans amounting to around Rs. 154 billion were obtained from the Export –Import Bank of China in 2012 and 2013.

“In 2005 and 2006, more than Rs. 72 billion was obtained for the Puttalam coal power project. Of this Rs. 30.2 billion came as preferential buyer’s credit and around Rs. 15.9 billion as a buyer’s credit facility.

“Other loans obtained during the previous regime between 2007 and 2015 include funds for the Moragahakanda Development project (Rs. 28.69 billion), purchase of 100 railway passenger carriages (Rs. 3 billion), 15 diesel multiple units (Rs. 4.9 billion), bunkering facility and tank farm project at Hambantota (Rs. 7.4 billion), Mattala International Airport project (Rs. 21.7 billion), MA 60 aircraft project (Rs. 4.63 billion) and procurement of materials for lighting Uva Province (Rs. 3.7 billion).

“Loans had also been obtained for the Colombo-Katunayake express way project, Northern Province power sector development projects, northern road rehabilitation projects, greater Kurunegala water supply and sewerage project and Hambantota hub development project.”
Our sovereignty threatened
My previous critique of our media is vindicated when I realise that Sri Lankan media had not to date carried any discussion or interpretation of these statistics. Isn’t this, alone, frightening? An instance of a self-imposed massive wall of ignorance? The statistics constitute a red flag for the Sri Lankan political economy. We are unobtrusively losing our sovereignty as a nation.

There are many negative things about Beijing loan offers. First, that country does not scrutinise the relevant project for its feasibility. It does not insist on a cost-benefit analysis. It is generally different with American or EU loans. The latter countries want to ensure that the receiving country’s economy benefits; it also wants to ensure that the loaned money is repayable by the project itself.

The second precondition is to guarantee repayment. The Chinese don’t seem to be bothered by such preconditions. Why isn’t Beijing bothered even about repayment potential? That’s where the secret lies and we shall spot that later.

Surely, Hambantota Port Project would never have passed either of the two tests. As we now know, that port is a dead duck. Surely, the International Airport in Mattala would not have passed either of the tests? Another empty project! The International Convention Hall in Hambantota? Where does anybody have conferences there?

The Chinese are famous for just dishing out unscrutinised and unsecured loans off the Exim Bank. They have done this in Africa, Caribbean Islands, and now in the Pacific Islands. From this looseness follows a second aspect, namely that the lack of scrutiny is such that China wouldn’t bother if the loan signed up for contains an element of corrupt money as commissions. This, perhaps, explain the keenness of recipient countries to go for such generosity. Big money can be pocketed by politicians over spurious projects.

Thirdly, China has its own unique manner of recovery: When time comes for repayment the recipient country cannot pay up. The donor, thereupon, opts to become an owner of some facility in the country. Port City loan repayments were partly made by Colombo giving up land for the Shangri-La Luxury Hotel and also giving up the land that housed the former Defence Ministry at Galle Face including the spot where the statue of SWRD stood. Also, Port City, when it functions, will have control by Chinese. Hambantota loan repayment has, probably, been partly paid up by the Sri Lanka Government giving up a huge portion of land as a 99-year lease.

The Opposition cries foul but can they suggest any other way of paying back? Why did they not make provision to payback when their leaders opted for those irresponsible loans? No word on that; yet the JO protests as though they are the good boys. At least the present Government used an institutional device of some modicum of joint ownership.
Pacific Islands
Beijing has done similar deals in Africa, Caribbean and in Pacific Islands. The latest is China’s inroads to the Pacific islands. Last night, I watch an ABC TV program that showed how Vanuatu has been targeted. Massive infrastructure is coming up over there. There is also an International Convention Centre. For what, asked the program presenter. Vanuatu has only a small tourist inflow. How can that Government ever payback the Conference Hall?
Taiwan’s warning
In today’s Australian Newspaper, there is a published warning by Tawan Foreign Minister, Joseph Wa, asking Australia to be extremely mindful of China’s growing dominance in the region. True, the reader has himself to be mindful of the fact that Taiwan and Beijing are foes. On the other hand, what Wa states is of a serious nature. Wa calls for “strategic rebalancing of Asia-Pacific democracies to counter the growing influence of China.” Wa urged Australia to conduct freedom of navigation exercises in the disputed South China Sea region.

What China has done in the South China Sea, says Wa, “is a template for what could happen in other parts of the world, including the Pacific”. Wa points out how China has come to militarise the South China Sea in incremental stages. First, they brought in sand and made up new land areas. Next, came constructions over them. Then, China started putting in military installations. Finally, came up radars, missiles and aeroplanes. All these were done in little stages that were ignored by the world until now when it is too late.

(The writer can be reached via sjturaus@optusnet.com.au.)

President’s henchman who caused huge losses dwarfing bond scam free – no seals, no Commissions..! Gamarala, TRC and Mangala silent !

(Lanka e News -20.June.2018, 7.00AM) While President Pallewatte Gamarala is shouting and screaming with all his might from roof tops about the Treasury bond losses,  the Attorney General on the other hand  told court the loss due to the bond scam is Rs. 688 million while also revealing  that former Telecom Regulatory Commission Director General Anusha Pelpita was sentenced to jail for causing  a loss of Rs. 600 million to the TRC  in connection with distribution of Sil Cloths during the Rajapakse corrupt nefarious decade, and the TNL of Shan Wickremesinghe was sealed for non payment of a small license fee.  

Meanwhile the blue brigand rogue cum president’s henchman had cheated the TRC in a sum of Rs. 3000 million ! without paying the dues for five long years , yet he has been allowed to carry on his TV channel services without let or hindrance. When it was probed why this racketeer is given this  special   concession it was  discovered , this crook is Gamarala’s  coordinating secretary,  Jaffna . His name is A.S.Kuganathan , and he runs a television channel via cable network  under the name of A.S.K. Cable vision .  He obtained a license from TRC in 2013 but  he is carrying on the business violating the television channel’s  terms and conditions.

The conditions for issue of TV license stipulates separate licenses shall be obtained for every new center that is established in addition to licenses issued to one  main station which carries out the television service as well as the signal station. However  , this Jaffna coordinating secretary of the president has been running several separate main stations in Chilaw, Mannar, Trincomalee, Mulaitivu, Batticaloa, Kalmunai, Hatton , Kadawatha and Kotahena without obtaining separate  licenses in accordance with the requirement  stipulated above.

There is no establishment from which the telecommunication  equipments were purchased or any record that those have been legally imported . All those are robbed goods.

Hence, under whose patronage did the henchman of president Gamarala carry on the illegal television channel service , and who gave the permission ?  

In addition this President’s henchman is a tax evading rogue….

When obtaining the initial license  under the TRC regulations , he has to pay 25% tax on the value of the service supplied,  a 2 % Cess on the turnover, 15 % Vat (after 2016) , a 2 % nation building tax. That is a total of 44 % tax out of his  income must be paid to the government .

Shockingly , it is the coordinating secretary of the president Kuganathan of all people who has not paid these taxes !

It has been publicized his website has  250,000 viewers, but when paying taxes he has revealed the number is only 3500. After the initial payment of Rs. 3000.00 is made he charges   Rs. 300.00 to Rs. 600.00 , Kuganathan had said. .

Based on his own revelations and his actual  number of viewers  , he must then pay at least a sum of Rs. 50 million as taxes monthly .(Taking Rs. 450.00  as the average monthly installment ), whereas he has paid a paltry sum only in respect of  3500 viewers. If the tax he has to pay to the government is computed on the basis of Rs. 50 million per month , the sum he has to pay to the government for the last  5 years is a whopping Rs. 3000 million ! That is president’s coordinating secretary has cheated the government under  the president himself  in a sum of Rs. 3000 million. What an irony !

What fraction  of this Rs. 3000 million  the government was deprived of went to line the pockets of Gamarala ( the  kickback  that enabled the  culprit to escape) will only be known if and when it becomes possible to seize  another Gamarala’s chief of staff when counting the bribery amount in another car park.

Electricity Board posts used illegally

These are routine open robberies of the Blue brigand rogues. What’s more ! in addition Kugan  had outrageously violated the laws taking advantage of the president’s patronage he enjoys. .

As far as we know , nobody can use the posts belonging to the Electricity Board to fix their wires because those are  owned by the Board. But to Kuganathan those laws don’t apply, and he doesn’t care two hoots for them , for  in Jaffna , Mannar     and Hatton where his cable TV channels  are telecast  it is the Electricity Board posts which have been used to  support his  cables

Needless to say this is most dangerous . In Jaffna because one of the cables caught fire two houses were burnt down. Even after this destruction there is no powerful being to intervene and avert the unlawful actions of Kuganathan . Naturally this is because Kuganathan is the Jaffna coordinating secretary of the president , the highest in the hierarchy and who is expected to safeguard laws and the country as a whole.

The pictures herein will attest to the grave illegal activities of President’s Jaffna coordinating secretary

Complaint to CID

Abeywardena a resident of Ratmalana has lodged a complaint with the CID with evidence  pertaining to the corrupt activities of Kuganathan .

The CID had told the complainant  since this is not a criminal charge  , it has forwarded its investigation  report to the relevant Institutions which are empowered to take action in this regard. The question is what are the Institutions which have the powers ? These Institutions are the TRC under the president and the mass  media ministry . 

Handing over the investigation to the TRC under Gamarala is tantamount to entrusting the case to the rogue himself or his mother to deliver a verdict. The mass media ministry under Mangala is a dead loss. As Mangala is also the finance minister this probe into this tax fraud  comes  under his purview . The CID had handed over the case to the mass media ministry and the TRC as far back as  16 th February, yet no investigations have been initiated so far . The relevant documents  are hereunder …

Kugan’s ASK thrives in frauds ; Shan’s TNL , Welivita’s CSN and people’s LeN crippled by  bans.

By a special correspondent

---------------------------
by     (2018-06-20 01:39:27)

SLFP, UNP in dire straits after LG polls debacle

Govt. partner comes out with unpalatable truth

 

By Shamindra Ferdinando-June 19, 2018, 11:53 pm

Megapolis and Western Province Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka says the SLFP and the UNP haven’t taken steps to shore up the yahapalana administration even four months after the debilitating local government polls setback.

Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) stalwart has said that both the SLFP and the UNP haven’t initiated proper restructuring process to enable them to face future electoral challenges.

Ranawaka said that the JHU, too, was not happy about its performance at the Feb. 10 LG polls.

The minister said so in response to Hiru TV queries on live political programme Salakuna on Monday night.

Ranawaka warned the SLFP and the UNP of dire consequences unless tangible action was taken to rectify major defects ahead of forthcoming Provincial Council, presidential and parliamentary polls.

In a wide ranging interview, Ranawaka said the government could not avoid Provincial Council polls ahead of the presidential poll scheduled for Nov/Dec 2019.

The JHU contested 2015 August 17 parliamentary poll on the UNP ticket

At the onset of the interview, Ranawaka declared that the previous Rajapaksa administration had robbed the national economy and caused the isolation of the country in the wake of the successful conclusion of the war in May 2009.  Hiru sought an explanation from the minister as to why the electorate voted overwhelmingly for Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by the Rajapaksas at this year’s Feb. 10 Local Government poll if they were defeated at January 2015 presidential poll over corruption charges and foreign policy blunders. Ranawaka claimed that the outcome of the Local Government polls didn’t reflect what the minister called a national trend.

Acknowledging that Provincial Council polls to three regions hadn’t been held as scheduled last year, Ranawaka said that terms of three more Provincial Councils would end in Oct this year and the remaining three next year before the presidential poll.

Declining to comment on the UNP strategy, Ranawaka said that it would have major impact on the overall performance of the government.

The JHU leader regretted his failure to convince the SLFP and the UNP leadership to reform the National Unity government in the wake of Feb. 10 defeat. The minister explained how his 47-point reform agenda failed to attract required attention of President Sirisena and PM Wickremesinghe. Had they adopted the well intentioned proposal, it could have been implemented with the help of young lawmakers in the run-up to the presidential poll.

Ranawaka said the government would have to pay a very heavy price at Provincial Council polls for not taking his 47-point strategic plan seriously.

Commenting on Feb 10 outcome of Local Government polls, Ranawaka asserted that the SLFP suffered a far worse defeat than the UNP. The minister explained that the SLFP had experienced such a devastating debacle it was not in a position to contest another election. If the UNP lost another election, that party, too, would suffer the SLFP’s fate; Ranawaka said reemphasising that both the UNP and the SLFP were in dire straits. Ranawaka stressed on the importance of the UNP and SLFP leaderships taking serious note of the developments and challenges.

Responding to a query as regards him publicly criticizing UNP leader and PM Wickremkesinghe in the wake of Feb 10 defeat, Ranawaka said the country needed a quality leadership that recognized professionalism and work towards building a respected judicial system. Ranawaka rejected what he called the family practice of the previous administration and current decision making process.

One time Sinhala hardliner categorically denied that there had been an attempt to replace PM Wickremesinghe in the wake of Feb 10 polls defeat. The minister said that whatever the problems within the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe coalition, there wouldn’t be any rapprochement with the Rajapaksas.

Responding to queries as regards the preparations for 2019 presidential election, Ranawaka said that no one believed twice President Mahinda Rajapaksa could be defeated at the 2015 January presidential poll. But, they were proved wrong, he said, explaining that those who worked for the 2015 government change remained committed to yahapalana principles.

Asked whether the JHU would accept PM Wickremesinghe as the UNP’s presidential candidate, Ranawaka declared their support would depend on the UNPer’s ability to convince them. The JHU leader discussed the failure on the part of the government to address contentious issues and the treasury bond scams that led to heavy drubbing at Feb 10 polls.

Ranawaka declared that the Rajapaksas lacked a new plan or new voters and were essentially pursuing the same destructive and corrupt policies and strategies.

Commenting on the prospect of wartime Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa contesting the next presidential poll, Ranawaka insisted that the JHU wouldn’t seek a clandestine understanding with them under any circumstances. They wouldn’t be allowed to triumph at the next national level poll, Ranawaka vowed, adding that the JHU was continuing consultations with the UNP as regards polls strategy. Ranawaka expressed confidence that a winning formula could be found ahead of the presidential poll.

Hiru repeatedly asked how the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government expected to find solutions in less than two years after failing over the past three years.

Ranawaka alleged that massive coal robbery perpetrated by the previous administration was far bigger than the treasury bonds scams involving the Perpetual Treasuries. Ranawaka also referred to the Avant Garde Maritime Services (AGMS) to highlight special status given to a private enterprise at the expense of state revenue.

Asked whether the JHU was maintaining links with Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanessara thera recently imprisoned for threatening wife of media personality Prageeth Ekneligoda missing since January 2010, Ranawaka said that the thera quit the JHU way back in 2005 when the party threw its weight behind the then PM Mahinda Rajapaksa contesting Nov. 2005 presidential poll. Ranawaka said that the thera backed UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe at the presidential poll.

Ranawaka alleged that the law hadn’t been properly implemented in respect of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa though he was under investigation over various cases. Ranawaka claimed that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had been given special status thereby causing erosion of public confidence in the judiciary, the minister said. The minister discussed the responsibility on the part of the parliament and the judiciary to restore public confidence, he said.

IUSF anti-SAITM protest hampers traffic in Rajagiriya

(File Photo) 

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Roads surrounding Rajagiriya are reportedly hampered with traffic owing to an anti-SAITM protest launched by the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF).

The university students are protesting the bill passed in Parliament approving the extraction of South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) MBBS students to the Kothelawala Defense University (KDU).

The protest march is due to proceed towards the Parliament.

Commuters are advised to use alternate routes to avoid the traffic congestion. 

Mafia Groups Rule The Roost at CEB

2018-06-20

It is reported that mini electric power plant owners, who are CEB engineers, are filling their pockets by providing electricity to the nation. When the Ceylon Electricity Board was established in 1970 the total power output was 265 Megawatts. This comprised of 192 Megawatts from Hydro power and 73 Megawatts from thermal power. During this time there were only 70,644 consumers. The cost of generating one unit of electricity was cents 9 and distributed among the consumers at cents 15 a unit.   

Mafia Groups Rule The Roost at CEB.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Welikada Prison Incident: CID to check phone records of 12 persons

KAVINDYA PERERA- JUN 19 2018

Colombo Additional Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage has granted approval to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to obtain telephone records from 12 individuals related to the deaths of 27 inmates at the Welikada prison complex in November of 2012.

The twelve individuals in question also include Jagath Alwis, Major Generals Shantha Dissanayake, Ruwan Kulathunga and Sunil Manawadu, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Anura Senanayake, SDIG Nimal Wakishta, Former Prisons Commissioner General P.W. Kodippili, Police Narcotics Bureau Inspector Neomal Rangajeewa, Prisons Commissioner Emil Lamahewa and Indika Sampath.

The Colombo Additional Magistrate gave this order following a request made to that effect by the CID when the case related to the said incident was called up at the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court today.

The suspects who are currently remanded in the case were produced in the Court by prison officers.
Submitting a progress report on the case, the CID informed the Court that empty cartridges and 161 firearms related to the incident had already been sent to the Government Analyst (GA) and that those reports were being obtained as parts due to scientific sections being erased due to a long time being needed to obtain the full report.

The CID told the Court that in order to confiscate illegal cell phones and drugs in possession of the inmates, the Special Task Force (STF) had launched a search operation at the said prison on 9 November, 2012. After that a group of inmates incensed at the move to search the prison premises, had broken the armoury of the prison before getting hold of weapons and firing back at the STF. In the ensuing clash between the prisoners and the STF, 27 inmates had been killed, the CID told the Court.

Taking the submissions into consideration, Colombo Additional Magistrate Liyanage ordered Police Narcotics Bureau Inspector Neomal Rangajeewa and Prisons Department Commissioner Emil Lamahewa who are in remand prison related to the case to be further imprisoned till 3 July.
The CID arrested the duo related to the case on 28 March.

‘At Least During the Internment …’ Are Words I Thought I’d Never Utter

I was sent to a camp at just 5 years old — but even then, they didn't separate children from families.

Left: A Japanese-American woman holds her sleeping daughter as they prepare to leave their home for an internment camp in 1942. Right: Japanese-Americans interned at the Santa Anita Assembly Center at the Santa Anita racetrack near Los Angeles in 1942. (Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images/Foreign Policy illustration)

BY GEORGE TAKEI-

 JUNE 19, 2018, 9:00 AM

Imagine this scene: Tens of thousands of people, mostly families with children, are labeled by the government as a threat to our nation, used as political tools by opportunistic politicians, and caught in a vast gray zone where their civil and human rights are erased by the presumption of universal guilt. Thousands are moved around to makeshift detention centers and sites, where camps are thrown together with more regard to the bottom line than the humanity of the new residents.

That is America today, at our southern border, which asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants alike are seeking to cross. But it is also America in late 1941, in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, when overnight my community, my family, and I became the enemy because we happened to look like those who had dropped the bombs. And yet, in one core, horrifying way this is worse. At least during the internment of Japanese-Americans, I and other children were not stripped from our parents. We were not pulled screaming from our mothers’ arms. We were not left to change the diapers of younger children by ourselves.

Photos of children in cages and camps today so strongly evoke the wartime past that former First Lady Laura Bush drew a stark parallel in an op-ed in the Washington Post. “These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history,” Bush wrote. She reminded us that there are dark consequences to such camps for their residents: “This treatment inflicts trauma; interned Japanese have been two times as likely to suffer cardiovascular disease or die prematurely than those who were not interned.”

When a government acts capriciously, especially against a powerless and much-reviled group, it is hard to describe the terror and anxiety. There is nowhere to turn, because the only people with the power to help have trained their guns and dogs upon you. You are without rights, held without charge or trial. The world is upside down, information-less, and indifferent or even hostile to your plight.
And yet, with hideous irony, I can still say, “At least during the internment …”

At least during the internment, when I was just 5 years old, I was not taken from my parents.

My family was sent to a racetrack for several weeks to live in a horse stall, but at least we had each other. At least during the internment, my parents were able to place themselves between the horror of what we were facing and my own childish understanding of our circumstances. They told us we were “going on a vacation to live with the horsies.” And when we got to Rohwer camp, they again put themselves between us and the horror, so that we would never fully appreciate the grim reality of the mosquito-infested swamp into which we had been thrown. At least during the internment, we remained a family, and I credit that alone for keeping the scars of our unjust imprisonment from deepening on my soul.

I cannot for a moment imagine what my childhood would have been like had I been thrown into a camp without my parents. That this is happening today fills me with both rage and grief: rage toward a failed political leadership who appear to have lost even their most basic humanity, and a profound grief for the families affected.

How do political leaders convince themselves of the virtues of such a policy? History shows it doesn’t take much. After Japan dropped its bombs, the political scapegoats were obvious. As America geared up for war, the administration needed some way to show that it was being tough on Japan, as it had little military success at the early going to trot out. Being tough on Japan easily translated into being tough on the Japanese here in America. No matter that most of us weren’t even Japanese nationals; nearly two-thirds of those imprisoned were U.S. citizens, after all. But as the Wartime Relocation Authority made clear, “a Jap is a Jap.” That was their own “zero-tolerance” policy.

But how to justify the sweeping internment of 120,000 people, when none of us had actually done anything wrong?

It was Earl Warren — the same man who as chief justice would forge a famously liberal Supreme Court — who helped move that along. Warren was the attorney general for the state of California at the time, and he had designs on the governorship, which he won in late in 1942. Warren took the absence of evidence of sabotage or spying on the West Coast by any Japanese-American as justification to declare that this was evidence that we must be planning something truly hidden and deeply sinister.

It was a lie, and a big one, but it was one repeated enough, and said with enough conviction, that rest of the country went along with it. We were the murderers, the thugs, the animals then — and since you couldn’t tell the good from the bad, you might as well round up everyone in the name of national security.

Whenever I draw parallels between today’s border actions and the internment camps of World War II, I am flooded with comments “reminding me” that it was a Democrat, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who signed Executive Order 9066 and set the internment into motion. This only underscores my point, however: The United States’ flirtation with authoritarianism is not tied to any political party. Even people of good heart and conscience can be swept up in the frenzy. Earl Warren was a Republican, and while he ultimately came to view his role in the internment to be one of his greatest follies, at the time neither he nor others in government — with rare exceptions, like Ralph Carr, the governor of Colorado — saw anything wrong with what he’d done.

But unless we act now, we will have failed to learn at all from our past mistakes. Once again, we are flinging ourselves into a world of camps and fences and racist imagery — and lies just big enough to stick.

There are at least two big lies right now. The first is that there’s a law on the books passed by the Democrats, and that the Justice Department has no choice but to enforce it. This lie passes the buck and confuses the public, offering a diversionary talking point to dutiful lieutenants willing to toe the White House line. Like FDR, Donald Trump has wide latitude in setting the priorities of law enforcement, and there is no law that says we must have “zero tolerance” for children at our borders, just as there was nothing that said all persons of Japanese descent, even children within orphanages, were to be rounded up and relocated.

The second lie is that those at our borders are criminals, and therefore deserve no rights. But the asylum-seekers at our borders are breaking no laws at all, nor are their children who accompany them. The broad brush of “criminal” today raises echoes of the wartime “enemy” to my ears. Once painted, both marks are impossible to wash off. Trump prepared his followers for this day long ago, when he began to dehumanize Mexican migrants as drug dealers, rapists, murderers, and animals. Animals might belong in cages. Humans don’t.

I wish that those, like me, who lived through this nightmare before didn’t have to sound the alarm again

. But as my father once told me, America is a great nation but also a fallible one — as prone to great mistakes as are the people who inhabit it. As a survivor of internment camps, I have made it my lifelong mission to work against them being built ever again within our borders.

Although the first camps for border crossers have been built, and are now filling up with innocent children, we have a chance to ensure history does not repeat itself in full, to demonstrate that we have learned from our past and to stand firmly against our worse natures. The internment happened because of fear and hatred, but also because of a failure of political leadership. In 1941, there were few politicians who dared stand up to the internment order. I am hopeful that today there will, should be, must be, far more people who speak up, both among our leaders and the public, and that the future writes the history of our resistance — not, yet again, of our compliance.

India-US relations come under strain as ties with Russia develop

• India’s reliance on Iran for oil, and on Russia for defense equipment, could be choked due to the unilateral sanctions by the US 
• Russia’s share of arms imports falls from 79% between 2008-2012 to 62% in 2013-2017 

2018-06-19

Relations between India and the United States, which were on the upswing following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its aftermath, have now come under strain due to President Donald Trump’s eccentric trade and defence policies. 

After declaring India as a strategic defence partner in 2016, the US has been pressurizing India to snap its traditional defence ties with Russia and buy weapons systems from the US mainly. 

Recently, when India decided to buy Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile units instead of the failed US PAC-3 interceptors, the US threatened to impose sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). 

CAATSA is a US federal law enacted in 2017 to impose sanctions on Russia, Iran and North  Korea. 

Recently, when Turkey rejected the PAC-3 and opted for S-400, the US threatened sanctions. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the House Foreign Relations Committee that the US was making efforts to “keep the Turks in a place where they will never acquire the S-400.” 

Unilateral US sanctions have damaged Washington’s relations with the European Union and other parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) also. 
However, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told Parliament that India would go in for the Russian air defence system even if it attracted US sanctions. She pointed out that CAATSA could not be applied to India as it abides only by UN and not US sanctions. 

And Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the media: “In all our engagements with the US, we have clearly explained how India and Russia’s defence cooperation has been going on for a long time and that it is a time-tested relationship.” 

She added that India has received numerous defence assets from Moscow and that such cooperation would continue with the $ 5.5-billion S-400 deal. 

Despite the US bid to capture the Indian arms market, Russia is still India’s largest arms supplier, accounting for 62 per cent of arms sales to New  Delhi over the past five years, according to the Stockholm-based International Peace Institute (SIPRI). 

“It must be noted that S-400 is an advanced weapon system and it is virtually impossible for India to procure a comparable system from any other country. However, the bottom line is that some discernible shifts are there in the Indian foreign policy lately – one may say, a rethink or a course correction. India is asserting its strategic autonomy,” former Indian Ambassador M. Bhadrakumar told Russia Today. According to experts, the S-400 Triumf is capable of firing three types of missiles to create a layered defense, and integrates a multi-function radar, autonomous detection and targeting systems, missile launchers and command posts. It can bring down aircraft at a range of up to 400km. On the other hand, the US PAC-3 has failed said expert Bharat Karnad in a piece in the The Citizen.  The Trump administration is interested in selling to India, F-18 and F-16 fighter planes. The companies making them have offered to assemble these planes in India as part of Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign. The US is also marketing 22 Sea Guardian Unmanned Aerial Systems for US$ 2 billion. 

The ambitious Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) is the key platform to elevate the Indo-US defense relationship from a buyer-seller engagement to a partnership model, to co-develop and co-produce key defense technologies, it is pointed out. 

Of course, if implemented, these US schemes are advantageous to India. But the US cannot monopolize India’s purchases nor can it dictate what India can buy and from where. That has been made clear to Washington. 

“Buying from the US comes with lot of attached baggage. Just too many do’s and don’ts, inclusive of the uncertainty attending on the spares supply, which can be stopped at any time on congressional whim and an administration’s fancy. And worst of all, the PAC-3 does not work as advertised,” Bharat Karnad points out. 

Despite the US bid to capture the Indian arms market, Russia is still India’s largest arms supplier, accounting for 62 per cent of arms sales to New  Delhi over the past five years, according to the Stockholm-based International Peace Institute (SIPRI)

Jeopardizes Indo-Iran ties 

US sanctions on Iran have put India’s interests in Iran in jeopardy. India is involved in the construction of the Chabahar  Port which is a vital link to Central  Asia. Iran is a significant source of oil for India. US sanctions will render the use of US dollars illegal by August 2018. 

As India takes over the Chabahar Port under a lease agreement, the ramifications of the sanctions on Chabahar could result in banks backing out due to fear of US sanctions. 

India’s reliance on Iran for oil, and on Russia for defense equipment, could be choked due to the unilateral sanctions by the US on various important entities, personalities and institutions in these countries, observers point out. 

US-India trade war 

India has decided to suspend trade concessions and raise import duties on 30 products from the US by up to 50% in a mirror response to Washington’s “impetuous move” to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, a report said. 

“The new measures will see a 50 % tariff increase on motorcycles with engine capacities of over 800cc, while apple imports would be charged with a 25 % levy. Imports of almonds and walnuts would see a 20% levy. The total tariff increase on all products in the list will amount to an estimated additional US$ 240 million in import fees. The sum is roughly equivalent to the damage India would suffer from Donald Trump’s protectionist measures,” the report added. 

Strengthening ties with Moscow

Meanwhile, India is building upon its relations with Moscow. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi in May and discussed Russia’s agreed weapons exports to India, estimated to be worth $ 12 billion. 

Russia’s share of arms imports had fallen from 79 % between 2008-2012 to 62% in 2013-2017, according to SIPRI, causing concern in Moscow. 

In a tweet sent out prior to his visit, Modi confirmed that he would seek to “strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia.” 
Prior to Modi’s visit, India’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and the BJP leader Ram Madhav also visited Russia to strengthen political and security ties. 
However, India and Russia have issues to thrash out. India had decided to quit the Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project, mooted for over a decade. “New Delhi is apparently dissatisfied with both the timelines and the characteristics of what would have been a groundbreaking, jointly produced jet, and a new model for Russia’s post-Soviet aerospace industry,” Russia Today said. 

But there is cooperation in the nuclear field. Russia has completed nuclear reactors 3 and 4 at Kudankulam,  India’s largest nuclear power station, and wants to complete reactors 5 and 6 by the start of the next decade. 

“The success of the (Kudankulam) project could determine the path of the country’s energy industry – a relevant concern for a rapidly growing economy, and a population that is expected to overtake China’s within five years,” Russia Today said. 

Then there is the trilateral nuclear development project in Bangladesh, namely, the US$ 13 billion Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, where Russian engineers will supply the technology and the Indian side will provide some of the financing and management, Russia Today added. 

India dilutes importance of Quad 

Meanwhile, India has diluted the importance of the “Quad” in its Indo-Pacific strategy. The Quad is a new group involving India, US, Japan and Australia, which is primarily meant to safeguard US and Japanese interests in the Indo-Pacific region. 

India’s Ambassador to Moscow, Pankaj Saran had told The Hindu that the Quad is not central to India’s policy on the Indo-Pacific region. Modi would have assured Putin that India was not part of any US-led alliance directed against it. This should be music to the ears of the Chinese too.