(Excerpts From the “Sunday Politics” Column in the “Sunday Observer” of October 15th 2017)

Gowers Corporate Services, the controversial legal and consultancy firm linked to parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, is making headlines again with Ornella Iresha Silva, a Director of the Company and a former Private Secretary to Rajapaksa, being arrested by Police at the Airport, earlier this week.

The money laundering case involving Namal Rajapaksa is significant as it is the most serious court case against a member of the former first family, at the moment.

Although some of the family members are under investigation for more serious cases, the Attorney General’s Department is yet to indict them.

Knotty

The story of Gowers Corporate Services is knotty and convoluted.

It all started with a company named HelloCorp, initially a fully owned subsidiary of ExpoLanka Holdings, which was later acquired by the young parliamentarian, who was the heir apparent in the Rajapaksa administration.

HelloCorp was formed in 2002 as one of the first Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) companies in Sri Lanka, offering service to local and overseas clients.

At the time of the company’s formation, Rajapaksa was a Grade 11 student of the S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, who had little interest in business and politics.

During the period 2012-13, one of its flagship clients was SriLankan Airlines, with which HellopCorp had a business agreement for coordinating services.

Around that time, SriLankan Airlines was run by Nishantha Wickremasinghe, the brother of former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa and maternal uncle of Namal Rajapaksa.

It can be safely assumed that HelloCorp’s lucrative agreement with SriLankan was the ‘flash’ that caught the eye of the young Rajapaksa.

Ornella and Senani

The 31-year-old Parliamentarian, according to a B report filed in court by the Police Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) in this regard, had taken over HelloCorp through Gowers Corporate Services. At the time of the transaction, the directors of GCS were Ornella Iresha Silva and Nithya Senani Samaranayake, two close associates of Namal Rajapaksa.

Ornella was the Private Secretary to the young Parliamentarian and Samaranayake was the controversial air hostess attached to SriLankan Airlines, who was released to work for the Presidential Secretariat at an exorbitant salary.

GCS was first owned by NR Consultancy Pvt. Limited, a legal consultancy firm owned by Rajapaksa. Then the company ownership was transferred directly to Rajapaksa.

Directors and key executive staff of NR Consultancy were Lakshman Namal Rajapaksa (Holder of all shares), Nithya Samaranayake (Director), Ornella Iresha Silva (Legal Officer), Sudarshan Ganegoda (Director), Sujani Bogollagama (Chief Executive Officer), Dilrukshi Mahanama (Accountant) and Vasitha Pinnawala (Project Officer).

The FCID informed court that the ownership of HelloCorp was acquired through laundered money, using a trove of false invoices and documents to prove that NR Consultancy had sufficient avenues of income.

The company which is at the centre of the money laundering charges is NR Consultancy and that is why legal actions have been filed against its directors and key executives.

It is also important to understand that these directors were selected not because of their professional or educational qualifications, but rather due to their personal relationship and affiliation with Namal Rajapaksa.

So, on the surface, it seemed they formed a close-knit circle of friends making multi million rupee deals through a few lesser-known companies.

The first complaint in this regard was lodged by former JVP Parliamentarian Wasantha Samarasinghe who also leads an organization named ‘Voice Against Corruption’. In his complaint, Samarasinghe alleged that MP Namal Rajapaksa had bought shares of a company named Hello Corp and set up a company called Gowers Corporate Services while being an MP with Rs.125 million earned through illegal means.

Indictment

It is in this context that the Attorney General’s Department, based on the FCID’s findings, filed indictments against Namal Rajapaksa, Indika Karunajeewa, Sujani Bogollagama, Iresha Silva, Senani Samaranayake and Gowers Corporate Services on 11 counts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for their alleged involvement in money laundering amounting to Rs.30 million in a company (Gowers Corporate Services) owned by Namal Rajapaksa.

However, the second, fourth and sixth accused Indika Karunajeewa, Iresha Silva and Gowers Corporate Services were not present in Court when the case was taken up for hearing, but represented by attorneys. It was later revealed that Iresha Silva was not in the country and had avoided contact with the Sri Lankan law enforcement authorities.

This led the Attorney General’s Department to seek the Colombo High Court’s intervention to arrest Iresha Silva.

Interpol warrant

Taking into consideration the facts presented by the Attorney General’s Department, Colombo HC Judge Piyasena Ranasinghe issued a warrant through Interpol for the arrest of Silva over her alleged involvement in the money laundering case.

A day after the warrant was issued, Silva was arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport, in Katunayake, upon her return from the Middle East.

It was not entirely clear if Abu Dhabi authorities had executed the Interpol Red Notice or she departed on a direct flight to Colombo to be arrested on arrival by local authorities.

Her lawyer Sampath Mendis, however, informed court that Silva decided to return to the country in order to face the High Court trial.

After being produced before the Colombo High Court, Silva was ordered to be released on a cash bail of Rs. 500,000 with a surety bail of Rs. 5 million. The Court further issued an order directing the Controller of Immigration and Emigration that the accused be prevented from leaving the country.

The Attorney General’s Department did not raise objections to the defence counsel’s request and Silva was released on bail just a few hours after her arrest.

The Colombo High Court has now fixed the money laundering case for trial on February 16 and prosecution witnesses of the case were noticed to appear in Court on the next trial date.

Courtesy:Sunday Observer