By

Rasika Jayakody

Although Yoshitha Rajapaksa was never a politician like his father, brother and uncles, the junior Navy officer never failed to make headlines after his father fell out of power in January, last year.

Despite being a military officer, Rajapaksa addressed meetings organized by Tharunyata Hetak and Nil Balakaya, the youth wing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa. All three sons of the former President were heavily involved in the affairs of these two organizations. Although Yoshitha Rajapaksa was not allowed to engage in activities related to politics, he was above the ordinary military law when his father was in power and no senior officer in the service had the audacity to initiate action against the young officer. That was one reason why Rajapaksa drew the attention of many circles, including civil society activists, who called for action against him.

In the Rugby sphere, the Sri Lankan Navy team, led by Yoshitha Rajapaksa, gained an unchallengeable position in local Rugby tournaments as the team wielded immense authority over the entire system. When the Rajapaksas led the team, the Navy rugby team was almost invincible. It was a Herculean task to defeat the Navy team in a local Rugby match when the Rajapaksas were in power. There was a strong sense of fear, not only among rival teams but also among referees, when the three Rajapaksa sons were on the field representing the Navy team. Such fears were justifiable in the light of what happened to certain prominent players who defied their authority, wittingly or otherwise, off the field!

Their other major area of passion was the sports broadcasting of the country. Carlton Sports Network was launched in March, 2011, nearly a year after former President Rajapaksa secured his second term. The name ‘Carlton,’ needless to say, is closely linked to the Rajapaksas. The house the Rajapaksa family occupied in Tangalle was known as the ‘Carlton bungalow’ and the pre-school former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa formed also had the same name. Accidentally or not, the TV channel launched in March, 2011 happened to ‘Carlton Sports Network’.

There were strong signs from the outset that the TV channel was operated with the blessings of top-notch members of the previous government. There were serious allegations in some sections of media that resources belonging to state TV channels were channeled into CSN, a private TV broadcaster whose office was located in Battaramulla, in the vicinity of the Parliamentary complex.

The TV channel’s high profile links to the previous government became evident when it was awarded television right to broadcast cricket matches – a privilege exclusively enjoyed by the state run Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) at the time. Television rights for cricket matches were one of the major avenues of income for the state broadcaster and it was a major setback for the SLRC in terms of revenue. J.C. Weliamuna, senior lawyer and the former head of Transparency International Sri Lanka, commenting on the matter in 2012 said the state had lost approximately 3000 million rupees in revenue as a result of awarding rights to CSN for 125 million rupees.

Nishantha Ranatunga, a close ally of the Rajapaksa, was the founding CEO of the controversial private TV station. He was the same Nishantha Ranatunga who functioned as the Secretary of the Sri Lanka Cricket, until the appointment of the interim committee headed by Sidath Wettimuny. Yasara Abeynaike, a girl known as the ex-girlfriend of Yoshitha Rajapaksa, was the Channel Head overlooking its programmes and operations. Interestingly, none of the Rajapaksa sons ‘officially’ served as directors of the TV channel.

Alleged involvement

However, the alleged involvement of the Rajapaksa sons in the affairs of the TV channel surfaced when Upali Dharmadasa, the then President of the Sri Lanka Cricket, spoke to BBC Sandeshaya about granting television rights to CSN channel.When asked by BBC Sandeshaya about the ‘rationale’ behind giving television rights to CSN, Dharmadasa said the SLC did not make the decision because the channel was owned by the President’s sons.

“Are we supposed to reject a company because it is an organisation owned by the president’s sons,” Dharmadasa asked the BBC Sinhala service journalist who asked the question. This was one instance where the cat jumped out of the CSN bag. However, no one was in a position to inquire into the matter further because the law enforcement mechanism had been emasculated by mighty political powers of the previous rule.

Dharmadasa, during the interview, insisted the deal between CSN and SLC was struck without any political influence and that proper tender procedure was followed. He also revealed that CSN agreed to pay more than the actual bid price they offered in their tender after SLC held discussions with the channel.

“Nothing illegal or unlawful has taken place,” Dharmadasa maintained.
However, the fortunes of CSN reversed when a new government came to power in January, last year. The Rajapaksas were no longer in a position to influence the law enforcement system and the Police Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) was entrusted with the task of probing into the matter. The state run SLRC was given the broadcasting right for cricket channels and CSN came under scrutiny from law enforcement authorities.

The FCID recorded detailed statements from all key stakeholders of the matter and even Yasara Abeynaike, the ex-chief of the channel who was later given a diplomatic posting to Australia, was summoned to the Police. Rohan Welivita, Media Spokesman of the former President, functioned as the CEO of the private television channel during the time of the probe. Apart from recording statements, the FCID officers even visited the TV channel’s office and examined their important documents and office emails.

According to the statement issued by the Police on Sunday explaining the circumstances leading to the arrest of the former President’s second son, the emails exchanged among members of the company’s top management suggested that the young Navy officer functioned as the Chairman and the main decision-maker of the company. Although he was never an ‘official member’ of the director board, the Police said they had enough ‘e-mail evidence’ to suggest that Yoshitha was heavily involved in the administration of the company.

On the other hand, the same statement also added the company raised an initial capital of USD 2.3 million through a transaction from a foreign company. The Police said the alleged transaction was illegal and it amounted to an act of money laundering. That was why Yoshitha and other suspects in the inquiry were charged under the money laundering act when they were produced before the Kaduwela Magistrate on Saturday.

The Police also said the statements given by the suspects to the FCID failed to deny their complicity in the act in a convincing manner. The statement added the Police were also investigating into various allegations against the suspects including preparation of fraudulent documents, breach of trust, offences under customs act and violations of the Company Act.

When contacted by the Daily News, a senior Police Officer said the FCID would proceed with the investigation and forward its findings to the Attorney General’s Department for further action. He said, based on the findings of the FCID, the AG’s Department would make a decision whether to indict the suspects or not.

Separate inquiry

Yoshitha’s CSN controversy surfaced in the aftermath of a separate inquiry conducted by Navy into the conduct of the young officer who joined the military force soon before the conclusion of Eelam war. Speculation was rife among Navy officers last week that Rajapaksa would be summoned before a military court for allegedly abusing his position in violation of the Navy Act.

The Navy conducted a full-scale investigation into the charges leveled against Yoshitha and the investigation report has already been referred to the President. Navy sources said they were ready to take further action on the young officer, based on the President’s decision.

“However, according to the findings of the inquiry, there was enough room to believe that the President will decide in favour of a Court Martial. Multiple allegations against the Navy officer and alleged violations of the Navy Act were examined during the inquiry,” a senior Navy officer involved in the investigation told the Daily News at that point commenting on the matter.

Rajapaksa was accused of having held the position of Chairman of a private company, Carlton Sports Network (CSN), while being a military officer. It did not require a lot of wisdom to understand that a junior Navy officer, even in his wildest dreams, could not start a TV channel with a government salary. Holding such a position while being a military officer is directly against the military law which expects a high level of discipline and transparency from servicemen.

“Another allegation leveled against him is that he had allegedly undertaken many foreign tours, without obtaining written permission from the Navy. Not even a Navy Commander has enjoyed such privileges,” Navy sources said.

Navy has initiated a separate investigation to ascertain as to how Lieutenant Yoshitha had allegedly gone overseas nearly 30 times without permission from his higher authorities. At that time not even top officers had undertaken foreign trips without written permission.

Misused money

Sources said that the findings of the internal investigations carried out by the Navy have proven that a large amount of money had been spent by the previous government for foreign tours and training programmes of Yoshitha Rajapaksa. Highly placed Navy sources said he attended three training programmes in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Sri Lankan government. Media Minister Gayantha Karunathilake, speaking in Parliament last week, revealed that the government had spent Rs. 220 million for overseas courses followed by Yoshitha during the period between 2007 and 2010. During some official foreign tours of the former President, Yoshitha, despite being an inexperienced young officer, acted in the capacity of the Personal Assistant of his father, the former President.

In another interesting turn of events, the Media Minister informed Parliament yesterday that Yoshitha Rajapaksa the son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had been inducted into the Sri Lanka Navy bypassing mandatory educational qualifications of the GCE Ordinary level and had been sent for extensive training in the United Kingdom and Ukraine at state expense.

He said that even though Rajapaksa had failed to obtain minimum results at his ordinary level exams after two sittings, a mandatory qualification to enroll in the Sri Lanka Navy, he had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant soon afterwards. He said this warranted a further investigation.

Political drama

It is no surprise that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the UPFA MPs supporting him are trying to dub the Navy officer’s arrest as part of a “political witch-hunt”. The former President expressed his views on the arrest to reporters when he visited his son at the Welikada Prison on Sunday. Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa too said it was an attempt to curb the activities of the ‘joint opposition’, formed by UPFA dissidents.

On Monday, a group of UPFA MPs, including Dullas Alahapperuma, Udaya Gammanpila, Gamini Lokuge, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, C.B. Rathnayake and several others visited the Welikada prison to Monday to show their support to the President’s son. Speaking to reporters, they dubbed Rajapaksa as a “political prisoner.” However, they hardly make any remark referring to the ‘gravity’ of the allegations leveled against the Navy officer for allegedly violating not only the money laundering act but also the Navy act.

In protest of the move to arrest Yoshitha, the Joint Opposition, on Monday, announced that it would boycott all State events including the February 4th Independence Day celebrations. Until that moment however, no one knew that the joint opposition was planning to participate in the Independence Day ceremony. They also indicated that there would be island-wide demonstrations calling for the release of all “political prisoners”, including the former President’s son.

Addressing a press conference in this regard on Monday, Dinesh Gunawardena said that the boycott would continue until Sri Lankans get back their true freedom and democracy. “All political opponents of the UNP government are being hunted down, this must stop, and we will continue to boycott all State events until Sri Lankans get their rightful freedom,” Gunawardena said, launching a scathing attack on the government.

Meanwhile, Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa claimed that Yoshitha had been arrested without any proper evidence to prove his involvement in the private TV channel. “They are trying to get Mahinda Rajapaksa out of politics, and they think the best way to do this is by targeting his children, because that is what will affect him the most,” he said.

Weerawansa also claimed that Yoshitha Rajapaksa was not the chairman of the Carlton Sports Network, while adding they would launch island-wide demonstrations soon demanding Rajapaksa’s release as he was a political prisoner. Weerawansa’s remark made it clear that the joint opposition, which is on the verge of forming a new party, wanted to use to arrest as an opportunity to earn sympathy from its potential voters.

One person who is truly concerned and worried about Yoshitha Rajapaksa’s arrest is his father, the former President. When his son was taken away in a prison bus on Saturday, the former President was seen looking at the unfolding even with tears welling up in his eyes. Rajapaksa sounded highly disappointed when he addressed a meeting at Pannala, in the Kurunegala district, two days after his son’s arrest. In his brief speech to a group of Local Government representatives in the district, Rajapaksa even fired cannons at President Sirisena, leader of his own party, probably to vent his anger and frustration.

“Madam Bandaranaike did not allow a General Secretary to remain in his position for more than three years. We did not learn those lessons from her. I allowed President Sirisena to serve as the General Secretary of the party for 13 years. I only realized the gravity of my decision when he ate hoppers with me and jumped over to the opposition.

I did not take action against some top figures of the present government when there were issues. For instance, when former President Premadasa’s daughter was found with counterfeit notes, I told authorities to drop the matter, considering the service rendered by Premadasa. When the incumbent President’s son got involved in a problem in Pasikuda with a daughter-in-law of a Police officer, we didn’t proceed that matter. Consequences of such acts keep haunting us now.
My son has been charged under money laundering act. That means the sports channel has been in the business of selling drugs; not in the media business.

Children should be kept out of revengeful acts. Not only my sons, every child should be treated in the same manner. Some in the present government talk as if I was the only member in my Cabinet and I made the decisions alone. Even the present President was a minister in my Cabinet and they pretend that they have forgotten everything. But I must tell the government that our political journey cannot be stopped by such revengeful acts,” Rajapaksa said in his speech while pledging that he would proceed with his political journey. In other words he said he would continue with his plans to form a separate political party to contest the Local Government election.

This brief speech made by the former President was significant due to several reasons. While trying to defend his son, Rajapaksa openly admitted that he interfered with the country’s law enforcement system when he was in power. Rajapaksa also indicated that under his Presidency, he was the authority giving orders to the Police on the manner in which they should proceed with criminal cases. The former President’s remark was nothing, but a serious indictment on his own administration and an act of shooting himself in the foot.

Commenting on CSN and charges of money laundering, the former President gave out the impression that he was trying to hoodwink his own Local Government representatives on the country’s legal system. One has every reason to believe that the former President, being a lawyer himself, is well aware of the fact that drug trafficking and selling was not the only way of money laundering. It is widely known that many legitimate businesses, including media and entertainment, are being used across the world to cover up illegal activities such as money laundering.

On the other hand, Yoshitha’s arrest sends strong signals to influential sons, daughters and relatives of all politicians belonging to all camps that nothing is eternal and ‘political’ fortunes are something that can be reversed at any time. It can be construed as a wake up slap for them for more financial transparency, more discipline and more humility – highly important qualities that will save them in the face of an unexpected reversal of fortunes.

Courtesy:Daily News