By

Shehan Chamika Silva

Filing the first ‘B’ report in Court on its investigation into the CB bond scam, the CID on Friday cited former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, Perpetual Treasuries Ltd., (PTL) owner Arjun Aloysius, PTL Chief Executive Officer Kasun Palisena and PTL as suspects in the main magisterial inquiry.

Appearing for the CID, Senior Additional Solicitor General Yasantha Kodagoda PC told Court that the facts presented in the report were based on the prima facie appearance of the material investigated so far by the CID.

SASG Kodagoda said once the prosecution found suspects liable, in connection with the allegations, beyond reasonable doubt, the CID was legally obliged to arrest and produce the suspects in Court in due course.

CID in its report stated that Arjuna Mahendran was liable in connection with an estimated Rs.688 million financial loss caused to the Government at bond auction on February 27, 2015.

It levelled criminal charges against Arjuna Mahendran on two counts, ‘Criminal Breach of Trust’ and ‘Criminal Misappropriation’ by way of deliberate violation of the due process at the Central Bank and causing a huge financial loss to the Government.

Continue reading ‘CID Files “B” Report In Courts Over Treasury Bond Scam Citing Central Bank Ex- Governor Arjuna Mahendran, Perpetual Treasuries Ltd Owne rArjun Aloysius and PTL Chief Executive Officer Kasun Palisena as Suspects’ »

By
Camelia Nathaniel

The CID had taken into custody the former Crimes OIC of the Mount Lavinia Police on a 48 hour detention order over the killing of Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge which took place nine years ago.

CID sources told the Daily News that the then Crimes OIC of the Mt. Lavinia Police, Sub Inspector Tissa Sugathapala was taken into custody on Wednesday by the CID and had obtained a court order to detain him for 48 hours for questioning.

According to CID sources, many details that had hitherto not been revealed, had come to light during the interrogation of Sugathapala.

Continue reading ‘Mt.Lavinia Police Ex- Crimes OIC Arrested for Questioning Over Concealing Evidence In Lasantha Wickrematunga Murder; Arrest of Former IGP,DIG and SP Also Imminent.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Sri Lanka’s local government elections, scheduled to be held on February 10, have elicited the interest of a national election, and with good reason.

This is the first time the country will go to the polls in about three years since the President Maithripala Sirisena–Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe combine rose to power promising “good governance”, giving voters a chance to say what they think of the performance of the government they elected to office.

Further, the two coalition partners in government — Mr. Sirisena-led Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Mr. Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) — are contesting the island-wide local polls separately, with their campaigns laying bare the deep fissures and insecurities within the coalition government.

Continue reading ‘A Scenario Where Mahinda Rajapaksa Stages a Comeback, Would be of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government’s Own Making.’ »

By

Veeragathy Thanabalasingham

Last week, leader of the opposition and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R. Sampanthan, had two diplomatic meetings in Colombo with leaders of two Asian countries, who were on state visits to Sri Lanka, and a third with the Colombo based political section head of the European Union. What’s noteworthy about the high profile meetings was that he used it as a platform to impress upon the foreign leaders and official the urgency of expediting the constitution making process, saying his earnest desire was to have the process reach a decisive stage this year.

Leader of the opposition and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R. Sampanthan being welcomed at an election rally in Ampara

Sampanthan, who met the two visiting leaders – Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and President of Indonesia Joko Widodo – separately, told them his party was committed to finding a political solution within the framework of united, undivided and indivisible Sri Lanka. “Our willingness after a long armed struggle must be appreciated,” he said, underscoring the need to make maximum use of the opportunity to find a lasting solution to the national question.

The President and the Prime Minister must convey the importance of adopting a new constitution to the people and convince them a new constitution is essential for all people in Sri Lanka, he impressed upon the two leaders. However, he also imparted that the new constitution should address the long standing legitimate political aspirations of the Tamil people who would not be satisfied with anything less than genuine power sharing arrangements where people would be able to exercise powers with regard to matters that affected them in daily life.

He also maintained the new constitution must be enacted this year and emphasized that the issue could not remain unresolved. He also went on to explain the economic deprivations experienced by the people of North and the East in the post-war period and appealed to the two leaders to help uplift their living standards.
Continue reading ‘TNA Leader Sampanthan on a Fools Errand Trying To Finalize a New Constitution After the LG Polls While Fissures Between UNP and SLFP Widen Daily’ »

By

Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

Henry Kissinger and Oliver Stone, who had very little in common, are both credited with originating the saying “ just because you are paranoid it doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you” and its variation which goes “even if you are paranoid you can have real enemies”. The same goes for garrulous gasbags. Just because someone is a garrulous gasbag it doesn’t mean they can’t tell the truth or aren’t telling the truth. Minister Rajitha Senaratne is possibly the biggest gasbag in the Yahapalana cabinet, followed at some distance by Sarath Fonseka, Champika Ranawake and Mangala Samaraweera though not in any particular order. And yet, when Rajitha Senaratne says, as The Island reported as its page one lead story of February 1st (yesterday) that that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa will be arrested and jailed after February 10th, I do not dismiss it as pure, if characteristic, garrulity. The report says that he made the statement at a public rally in Matara. I believe Rajitha is telling the truth.

Continue reading ‘He May be a “Garrulous Gasbag” But I Believe Rajitha Senaratne is Telling The Truth That Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Will be Arrested and Jailed After Feb 10th”’ »

by Maheesha Mudugamuwa

The SLFP yesterday said under the current circumstances a new Prime Minister should be appointed, replacing incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe after the conclusion of local government polls on Feb. 10.

Addressing the weekly SLFP media briefing at party headquarters in Colombo, SLFP Spokesman State Minister Dilan Perera said such a move would be possible if the UNP faced an electoral setback. If UNP obtained a majority it wouldn’t be possible to achieve that objective, he added. “Therefore people should vote SLFP led UPFA as only President could change and appoint a new PM.”

Minister Perera said so in the wake of statements made by Ministers Rajitha Senaratne, Lakshman Kiriella and Arjuna Ranatunga to the effect that the SLFP and the UNP would continue to be in the unity government after the polls.

Continue reading ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa Wont Be Stripped of his Civic Rights But Ranil Wickremesinghe May be Replaced as Prime Minister Says SLFP Spokesman Dilan Perera’ »

By Dr. Chandrika Subramaniyan

Actors Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan at the inauguration of the memorial for late actor Sivaji Ganesan in Chennai. | Photo Credit: M. Prabhu – Courtesy: The Hindu

The guessing game is finally over. Rajinikanth, the State’s super star, has officially announced his entry into politics and named it as ‘spiritual politics’. He has declared that he will form his own party, which has raised the eyebrows of many people. However, his entry is unlikely until the next Assembly polls, which will be held in 2021. One of the first to react to Rajinikanth’s dramatic announcement was his rival actor, Kamal Haasan, who is also aiming to shine in politics. Kamal Haasan has announced that he will name his political party on 21 February at Ramanathapuram, his native town and begin a tour of the State the same day from there. The professional rivals are now going to be political rivals.

Starry State

No doubt, Tamil Nadu politics and filmdom are inseparable since the sixties. It started with C.N. Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi and continued with M. G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa’s political entry after their successful careers in cinema.
Continue reading ‘Rajinikanth vs Kamal Haasan: “Star Wars” Erupt In The Political Space Of Tamil Nadu State.’ »

By

Ajantha Kumara Agalakada

The one-day Parliamentary debate on the Bond Commission’s report and the PRECIFAC report scheduled on February 6, is simply a ‘gimmick’ instead of a fruitful one, President Maithripala Sirisena said yesterday.
In an interview with media personnel at his official residence, the President said this was a debate which should have taken place days ago and continued for days without a disruption.

“The debate was arranged even for a day prior to the local government election on February 10 because of the challenge I threw,” he said.

He also said the United National Party (UNP) should take the responsibility of failure to take action against the Rajapaksas over the charges levelled against them.

Continue reading ‘UNP Ministers Under Whose Purview the Police,CID and A G Dept Function Are responsible For Not Taking Legal Action Against the Rajapaksas States President Sirisena’ »

By

Ajith Siriwardana

United National Party (UNP) MP Ravi Karunanayake said yesterday whatever the President or the Prime Minister said during this election period should not be taken seriously.

He said that was a matter to be considered after the election.

Continue reading ‘What the President and Prime Minister say During Election Time Should Not Be Taken Seriously says Ex-Minister Ravi Karunanayake’ »

By

Yohan Perera

Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake, the film-star-turned politician, said today it was too late for UNP assistant leader Ravi Karunanayake to step down because the damage had already been done to the party.

He said what the Bond Commission said in its report about Mr. Karunanayake had tarnished the image of the UNP and this would result in the party losing the floating votes.

However, the deputy minister said he would extol the party leadership for initiating action to remove Mr. Karunanayake from the post of assistant leader.

“I welcome the move by the UNP leadership to request Mr. Karunanayake to resign even though it is late in the day. It may bring some credit to the party even at this late stage,” he said.

Continue reading ‘“UNP Will Lose the Floating Votes at Local Polls Because Ravi Karunanayake Has Tarnished the Party’s Image Badly Says Filmstar -Politician Ranjan Ramanayake’ »

By

Shamindra Ferdinando

Health Minister and Cabinet spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne alleges that Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate for the next presidential election, former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has fled the country fearing arrest in the wake of ongoing judicial investigations into acquisition of MiGs from Ukraine under controversial circumstances.

Dr. Senaratne said so at a public rally in Mahara yesterday in support of the UNP candidates contesting the Feb. 10 local government polls.

The minister claimed that Rajapaksa would return on Feb. 12 after the conclusion of Feb 10 local government polls. Dr. Senaratne said: “Arrangements have been made to arrest Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Once charges are proved. Rajapaksa will be sent to prison in the near future.”

Continue reading ‘Arrangements Have Been Made To Arrest Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa When He Returns On Feb 12th Says Health Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne.’ »

Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

It was Marx who made the characteristically acerbic remark that “the incredible flatness of present-day bourgeois society is best measured by the height of its greatest intellects”. He was referring to Jeremy Bentham. The fact that the key ideologue and propagandist of the Yahapalana government is Mangala Samaraweera speaks to the pathetic character of that government. More pointedly, how Samaraweera could have been the Foreign Minister and now the Finance Minister of an administration which contains within its ranks a former topnotch administrator and a genuine intellectual with a PhD from Paris, Dr. Sarath Amunugama, is perhaps the best evidence of why this government is in such trouble politically, economically and electorally.

If the answer (actually excuse) is that Mangala Samaraweera is the ideologue of the UNP rather than the Yahapalana regime as a whole, then Sajith Premadasa or Wijayadasa Rajapaksa would have been far more successful choices.

Hopefully this grotesquely anomalous situation will come to an end with a Presidentially-driven Cabinet reshuffle after the sociopolitical tectonic plates shift following the seismic shock of February 10th.

Continue reading ‘Essential Difference Between President Maithripala Sirisena, Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa’ »

By

Chameera Elladeniya

Deputy Power and Energy Minister Ajith P Perera yesterday stressed that Perpetual Treasuries Director Arjun Aloysius who was involved in the Central Bank Bond issue, was a close confidante of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Perera told the press yesterday that Arjun Aloysius was not a member of United National Party and this person was allegedly involved in financial misappropriations during the previous regime too. A relative of former Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal was a Director of the Perpetual Treasuries during the previous regime, Perera said.

Continue reading ‘Perpetual Treasuries Ltd Director Arjun Aloysius Was a Close Confidante of Former President Mahinda rajapaksa Alleges Deputy Power Minister Ajith P Perera.’ »

United National Party General Secretary Kabir Hashim said that until the Attorney General or Bribery Commission reach a decision on taking legal action against MP Ravi Karunanayake, he should step down as UNP’s Assistant Leader.

“There are no findings against any member of the United National Party including Mr. Ravi Karunanayake in regard to the issuance of Treasury Bonds,” Minister Hashim said.

“But, however, the Commission of Inquiry has decided that the Attorney General and the Bribery Commission should determine whether action should be taken against (Karunanayake) under the Bribery Act or other appropriate legislation in respect of their findings that he had derived a substantial benefit from the lease payments made by an associate company of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd,” he said.

Continue reading ‘“Steps Would Be Taken To Ensure That Ravi Karunanayake Should Not Exercise Any Duties as an Assistant Leader of the United National Party ” States UNP General – Secretary Kabir Hashim.’ »

By

Mahinda Aluthgedara

President Maithripala Sirisena said that he will in future continue on a correct political vision no matter what obstacles he would have to face, and carry out his duty as President for the betterment of its people.

He said that when he initiates action against corruption and the corrupt for the betterment of the people, these parties band into one camp and attack him.

The President noted that he would not hesitate to take action against such corrupt figures without any consideration as to which party they belonged to, as he had faith in the people.

The President made this comment at a special media briefing for the Dinamina, held at his official residence yesterday.

Continue reading ‘The UNP Should Be Held Responsible For Delay In Taking Legal Measures Against the Rajapaksas for Corruption During the Previous Govt Period Says President Maithripala Sirisena.’ »

By

Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

“Where a class abdicates its moral right to leadership, it is already doomed and must surely die.” –
– Mervyn de Silva, Ceylon Observer Magazine Edition, May 1967

The UNP Establishment has just raised the stakes. It is proclaiming from every platform that if it wins the upcoming local government election it will form a UNP government perhaps with TNA and SLMC participation, launch its own Presidential candidate next year and that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will definitely be that candidate. The PM and front-line ideologues Mangala Samaraweera and Eran Wickremaratne are declaring the policies that will be adopted after Feb 10th, and all those policies involve a qualitative leap in neoliberal globalization or more simply, foreignization.

The strident public threat of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, Champika Ranawake and Rajitha Senaratne that Mahinda Rajapaksa and/or Gotabaya’s civic rights are likely to be removed in accordance with the (alleged) recommendation of PRECIFAC will not only be counter-productively polarizing, it simply cannot hold. Mahinda is vastly more popular and stronger than Madam Bandaranaike was when her civic rights were removed (1980), while today’s UNP government is vastly less popular than its predecessor of 1977. The economy in 1980 was growing at 8%. With low growth, and a Presidential election inescapable next year, hawkishness will blow-back at the Provincial Council elections of 2018, and at all subsequent elections. An invulnerable Mahinda proxy candidate (Chamal, Dinesh?) can sweep the Presidential election next year on the promise of restoring MR’s civic rights in 24 hours –rather like the slogan of ‘Sinhala Only in 24 hours’, which did the trick in 1956. As the Parliamentary election follows, not precedes, the Presidential election, Mahinda will have his civic rights back in time to run for Prime Ministerial office in 2020. The anti-UNP backlash after the eclipse of Neoliberal Democracy in 2019-2020 won’t be pretty– remember 1970 and its aftermath. So don’t even think about it.

The UNP has lost the moral right to lead. President Sirisena, the head of state and government, and leader of the official SLFP, the coalition partner of the UNP, has given several devastating reasons why. Coming on the heels of the bond scam revelations which was the first massive loss of legitimacy by the UNP leadership in government, the President’s whistleblowing leads inexorably to the conclusion that it would be unethical, immoral and unforgivably stupid to cast a single vote for the UNP.

Continue reading ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa is Making a Comeback Just as Churchill, de Gaulle, Indira Gandhi and Vladimir Putin Did.’ »

By

Kelum Bandara

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe reportedly told his Cabinet Ministers that he would implement the recommendations of the Tilak Marapana committee on the bond scam.

It is learnt that the Committee has recommended that MP Ravi Karunanayake should step down from his post as the Assistant Leader of the party and refrain from national political activities on behalf of the party.

Continue reading ‘Ravi Karunanayake Refuses To Step Down From UNP Assistant Leader Post And Refrain From Political Activity Depite Party Wanting Him To Do So.’ »

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is reported to have indicated that it will be proper if UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake steps down from his post as the assistant leader of the party.

This was revealed by the Prime Minister, when he presided over a meeting with the leaders of the parties aligned with the UNP.

Continue reading ‘UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe Wants Ravi Karunanayake To Step Down as Party’s Assistant Leader Following Recommendation By Tilak Marapana’s Treasury Bond Scam Committee’ »

President Maithripala Sirisena has backtracked on his rhetoric to ditch his senior coalition partner, the United National Party (UNP), and ruled out any rapprochement with the Rajapaksa-faction of his own party.

Addressing a political rally in his home constituency of Polonnaruwa, Sirisena said he knew that Rajapaksa loyalists within the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will not join him to form a government.

Sirisena shocked the UNP last week when he said he was prepared to form an SLFP administration by ditching Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who propelled Sirisena to power at the January 2015 presidential election.

“Although I said I will form a government if all 96 SLFP MP’s stand by my side, I know they (the Rajapaksa-faction) cannot come near me because they do not accept my policies,” Sirisena said.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Backtracks On Earlier Announcement Of Ditching UNP and Forming New Govt With all 96 MP’s Elected On UPFA Ticket’ »

By

Prof.Rajiva Wijesinha

( Full Text of Dr P R Anthonis Memorial Oration Delivered at Sasakawa Hall by Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha on January 22nd, 2018)

“Teach us to care and not to care,Teach us to sit still” (T.S.Eliot)

T. S. Eliot’s exhortation in ‘Ash Wednesday’ seems particularly appropriate when we consider the life of Dr. Anthonis, whom we celebrate today (Jan. 22). At the time of his death, less than eight years ago, he was 98, he had the stature of an icon. He had retired nearly 40 years earlier but was still thought of as one of the country’s most distinguished doctors.

He was well known for social service and as a dedicated family man, but he was in no sense a conformist. He did what he wanted to do, and saw no reason to limit his own sense of freedom, except when it came into conflict with the freedoms of others. In that sense he was a true liberal, though it is important in this day and age, when neo-liberalism is rampant, to register the difference between that selfish and destructive creed and liberalism.

The latter believes in freedom, but also affirms the need for social support, to facilitate all people having better opportunities to exercise their freedoms. The former, in denying the duties of the state with regard to economic and social rights, allows for a free-for-all in which the weakest are driven to the wall. For Dr Anthonis, born in the same year as our great liberal leader, Dudley Senanayake, the philosophy now many elements in government follow— fortunately not all—would have been anathema.

Is that why I was given the honour of delivering this oration in his memory? The gentleman who asked me obviously wanted a political dimension to my reflections, for he gave me a title on which to speak, and noted that Dr. Anthonis ‘often lamented the lack of a strong leadership in our political hierarchy’. I feel I should take up this challenge, but I will try to do so in terms of some principles, linked to the quotation with which I began. I should note though that I will not refrain from discussing personalities too, where appropriate, because this country has suffered more than most from the pursuit of personal agendas rather than national ones.

Continue reading ‘“I Fear The March of Folly will Continue and Our politicians Will Continue to Lead us Down the Road to Disaster”.’ »

Kelum Bandara

Former MP Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, who served in the COPE during the previous Parliament, in an interview with the Daily mirror spoke about the bond scam in the Central Bank and of other happenings in the political front.

Following are excerpts of the interview done with Prof. Wijesinha.

Q
As a member of the COPE during the previous Parliament, how do you compare and contrast investigations into the bond scam now and then?

A
We were given an unusual task as members of the COPE in 2015, but despite limitations I think we did a good job. This was despite COPE being unable to question Ministers – typically Ranil declared that he was willing to give evidence, but we had not invited him, though presumably he knew full well he could not be summoned.

I must pay tribute to the sterling support given by the Auditor General’s Department and the honest and sometimes even emotional evidence of Central Bank staff, especially Deepa Seneviratne who almost cried when she recalled how she had been bullied by Mahendran (but had the courage to note his direct involvement in the note her Department prepared, a fact completely ignored by the rascally Pitipana Commission).

Continue reading ‘Sujeeva Senasinghe and Rosy Senanayake Were Contracted By Ranil To Disrupt The Previous Parliament COPE Committee Proceedings On Treasury Bond Scam Alleges Prof.Rajiva Wijesinha’ »

By The “ECONOMY NEXT ” “Political Correspondent

Our political correspondent examines how Sri Lanka’s ex-defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has avoided arrest despite being implicated in the murder of Editor Lasantha Wickrematunga and several other crimes.

Economynext’s political correspondent says both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe may want Gotabhaya to remain a free man, but the two leaders have different reasons for not making the high profile arrest.

Continue reading ‘Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe For Different Political Reasons Are “United” In Preventing Arrest of Ex- Defence Secretary For Allegedly Committing Serious Crimes.’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

These days, it seems that President Maithripala Sirisena lights matches with relish, igniting political fireworks that go off virtually every day of the week in a dazzling display of verbal pyrotechnics. Mostly aimed at the United National Party (UNP) his squirming coalition partner in Sri Lanka’s governing ‘unity’ alliance, these onslaughts send the media scurrying in delight and cause intense discomfiture to dwindling and demoralized ‘yahapalanaya’ believers.

But the question is as to how much of this is pure showmanship aimed at the upcoming local government elections?

Challenging party leaders

On the face of it, the President’s anger is underpinned by solid factors. His challenge to party leaders on Thursday, to debate the two Presidential Commission reports detailing major financial scams implicating the country’s two political parties before the Local Government elections on 10th February this year had all the hallmarks of classic theatre to it.

One Commission of Inquiry Report related to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) treasury bond issuance in 2015 and 2016 implicated the Prime Minister’s handpicked appointee for the Governor of the Central Bank and the Governor’ son-in-law, the head of Perpetual Treasuries. Alleged fraud and corruption of a similar nature from 2008 (before the Commission’s mandated period of inquiry) causing massive losses to the Employees Provident Fund was also recommended to be investigated. The irreparable damage to the country’s premier financial watchdog by these disclosures will take a very long time to repair, if at all, regardless of any number of ‘internal actions’ or forensic audits that may be initiated.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Keeps Igniting Political Fireworks That Go Off Virtually Every Day Of The Week In a Dazzling Display Of Verbal Pyrotechnics’ »

Renowned Film director and screenplay writer Dharmasena Pathiraja popularly known as “Pathi”has passed away at a private hospital in Kandy on Sunday Jan 28th. The 74 year old film maker made waves in Sri Lankan cinema through films like “Bambaru Avith”, “Eya dan Loku Lamayek”, “Soldadu Unnaha” and “Ponmani” etc

Dharmasena Pathiraja

Educated at Dharmaraja College, Kandy, Pathiraja graduated from the University of Peradeniya with an honours degree in Sinhala and Western Classical Culture in 1967. Subsequently he began work as a lecturer in Drama and Performance Arts. and later obtained a PhD in Bengali cinema from Monash University in Australia

.His Thesis was The Dialectic of Region and Nation in the Films of Bengali Independents: Ghatak, Ray and Sen(2001) .

Continue reading ‘Renowned Sri Lankan Film Maker Dharmasena Pathiraja of “Bambaru Avith” Fame Passes Away in Kandy At The Age Of 74’ »

BY Methmalie Dissanayake

Incidence of politicians interfering in the schools admission process is not so uncommon in Sri Lanka. No matter how shameful it may seem, if you have a letter from a politician and bundle of currency notes you can gain many things in this country. Political interference came to a climax when a provincial politician forced a lady teacher to kneel during school hours in 2013, after illegally entering the school premises.

That incident occurred during the Rajapaksa regime. It later became a topic harped on during political campaigns when the general election was called in 2015. Pioneers of the ‘good governance’ government assured the country that such incidents would never occur when they come to power. Two years after establishing the ‘good governance’ Government history has repeated itself.

Continue reading ‘Whole Country Awaits Justice For Badulla Girls School Principal R.Bhavani Who Was Bullied Into To Kneeling Before The Uva Province Chief Minister Chamara Sampath Dassanayake’ »

By Namini Wijedasa

The operations of bank accounts of all 28 companies within the Perpetual Group– associated with Arjun Aloysius, a key suspect in the controversial Central Bank bond scams—have been frozen with immediate effect by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), authoritative sources told the Sunday Times.

The directive was issued on Wednesday to banks in which the accounts reside and was pursuant to available “intelligence” that Perpetual, beneficiary of questionable bond transactions that are under investigation, was taking steps to siphon funds.

Continue reading ‘Bank Accounts of 28 Companies Within Perpetual Treasuries Ltd Group Associated With Arjun Aloysius Frozen With Immediate Effect By Financial Intelligence Unit of Central Bank’ »

By

Gagani Weerakoon

The Commission which has held former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa responsible for causing colossal losses to the Government through the abuse of power, has given a detailed account of how former Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa allegedly misused Gama Neguma project money.

The PRECIFAC, in its final report, observed that even though a Cabinet Minister is entitled to three vehicles, former Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s fleet had eight State vehicles worth around Rs 612 million and another six vehicles of which the value has not been estimated. These included bulletproof vehicles too.

In addition, Basil Rajapaksa, deviating from accepted norms, has had 20 Sailors and 72 Army officers in his security detail as at 1 January, 2015. According to the report, Basil Rajapaksa has had a security detail of 64 Sailors and 84 Army officers from 10 January 2010 to 10 January 2015 by paying State allowances and Very Important Persons security allowances at a cost of Rs 264,370,800 to State coffers.

Continue reading ‘Deviating From Accepted Norms, Basil Rajapaksa Has Had a Security Detail of 84 Military and 68 Naval Personnel From Januaary 10th 2010 to Jan 10th 2010 Says PRECIFAC Commission Report’ »

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday said he is willing to form a new government, if all 96 members elected to Parliament from the UPFA at the last 2015 general election, stand with him.

“Some who have formed a new coalition are saying they will join if an SLFP-led Government is formed. I am telling them, if all those elected come and stand with me, I am prepared to form a Government led by the SLFP. Leave that garbage dump and sewerage pipe founded by G.L. Peiris and come,” he said.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Ready to Form a New SLFP -led Govt if all 96 MP”s Elected from the UPFA in 2015 General Election If They Come and Stand With Him.’ »

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that Parliament will be summoned on February 8 to debate the two respective reports of the presidential commissions on the issuance of treasury bonds and the serious acts of fraud, corruption and abuse of power, state resources and privileges.

“As Ministers and MPs are engaged in the local polls propaganda campaign, which ends on February 7, I decided it was appropriate to summon Parliament and take up the debate on the following day itself”, the premier said, during his address at an election rally at Morawaka in Deniyaya yesterday.

Continue reading ‘Probe Report Recommends That Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Civic Rights Be Removed For Life Reveals Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena Friday blamed the undue delay in prosecuting high profile criminal suspects of the former regime on inefficient state attorneys and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Speaking to local media heads at the President’s House in Colombo, Sirisena said he wanted indictments prepared by the attorney general’s department by a panel of independent legal experts, but Wickremesinghe had neglected to do so.

The dossier on former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was completed just before Prime Minister Wickremesinghe visited India and the case was held up till his return, Sirisena said without giving actual dates.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Accuses Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and Attorney – General Jayasuriya of Delaying Prosecution of Ex – Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Although Investigations Are Over in Certain Cases.’ »

By

Muditha Dayananda

While claiming that a coalition of VIP ‘robbers’ both in the government and the opposition had managed to delay the debate on the bond commission report and the PRECIFAC report, President Maithripala Sirisena today challenged them to hold the debate on the bond commission and PRECIFAC report before February 10, prior to the Local Government elections.

Addressing an election propaganda rally in Panadura, President Sirisena said a coalition of VIP ‘robbers’ involved in the bond scam attached to the government and the opposition had gathered at a house in Borella and decided to delay the debate on both reports.

President Sirisena said they had met the day before when Parliament decided to hold the debate after the election.

Continue reading ‘A Govt -Opposition Coalition of “VIP Robbers” Involved in the Treasury Bond Scam Met at a Borella Residence and Devised a Debate Postponement Plot Alleges President Sirisena.’ »

State properties and institutions have been sold without informing the cabinet of ministers in the past three years, during the current administration, President Maithripala Sirisena has told heads of media insitutions.

Large sums that should have come to the Treasury had gone to private companies in a systematic matter, a statement released by his office said.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Tells Media Heads that State Institutions and Properties Have Been Sold Without the Knowledge of Cabinet for the Past Three Years’ »

(Text of Statement issued by the Minister of Finance and Media, Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, MP. on January 25th 2018 under the heading ” March to freedom or return to fear?)

The National Unity Government ushered in through a historic and revolutionary election in January 2015 has recently marked three years in office. As the Government attains this milestone, our achievements are many, but the road ahead of us remains as long and challenging as ever, and Sri Lanka stands again at the cusp of a crucial election in three weeks time that will determine the course of our nation in the years ahead.

Once again, it is an election that will decide if democratic institutions and traditions, painstakingly rebuilt since January 2015 will be torn down and laid to waste again. It is an election that will determine if Sri Lankans will live free or under the yoke of fear, impunity and grotesque abuse of power by a single family and its henchmen.

For this local government election on February 10th is much more than a regional contest to capture political power in urban and municipal precincts. It is an old regime’s first real attempt to recapture power and restore an old, corrupt and dictatorial order.

Continue reading ‘” Rajapaksa Regime and its Fellow Barbarians at the Gates Once More” – Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera Warns Sri Lanka Before Local Govt Polls’ »

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday threw down the gauntlet in Parliament challenging it to debate the bond report before the pending local government elections and reiterating his commitment to punish any wrongdoers found guilty of bond irregularities.

Speaking at an election rally in Panadura, President Sirisena in strident tones called for Parliament to have at least a one-day debate on the bond report before 10 February.

“Association of the elite corrupt came together and said they do not want to debate the bond commission report in Parliament before elections. I challenge all of them to at least have one day’s debate on the bond commission report before the Local Government elections.”

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Challenges Parliament to Debate the Bond Commission Report Before Local Govt Elections’ »

The Attorney General’s Department is in the process of studying the possibility of instituting legal action against former Ministers Basil Rajapaksa, Wimal Weerawansa, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, former Chief Minister S.M. Ranjith and several other persons.

They are alleged to have been involved in misappropriation of public funds and serious acts of fraud.

Continue reading ‘Attorney -General May Take Legal Action Against Former Ministers Basil Rajapaksa, Wimal Weerawansa, Mahinda Yapa Abeywarden and Ex NCP Chief Minister SM Ranjith for Alleged Misappropriation of Public Funds and Acts of Fraud.’ »

Former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the current government has failed to identify the real challenges facing the country and instead had made the defaming of Mahinda Rajapaksa as its only challenge and objective.

Addressing a meeting in Gampaha town organised by the Siyane Vidvath Sansadaya Scholars’ organization through Skype from US, he said the previous government had a visionary leadership to identify the real challenges which were highlighted in the Mahinda Chinthana Programme. He pointed out that the Mahinda Rajapaksa government had an able team to achieve its goals and that they took steady decisions.

“The basic problem facing the government is its failure to take right decisions for want of a visionary leadership. The government has been led astray by western ideologies and the lopsided policies of International organizations including the World Bank and the IMF. We must follow the footsteps of developed countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan and China never depended on the Western block. Japan, despite its close relations with the west, upheld its culture and protected its sovereignty.”

Continue reading ‘Defaming of Mahinda Rajapaksa is the only Challenge and Objective of the Current Govt States Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’ »

UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake in a statement today thanked President Maithripala Sirisena for appointing the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the bond issue after the formation of the good governance government and through its final report for absolving the UNP, the Prime Minister and especially him from all allegations levelled.

He released the statement to the media after he was denied the opportunity to do so in Parliament. The MP referred to the President’s statement on the bond report where he said, “The report mentions the responsibility of former minister Ravi Karunanayake regarding the rent payments for a penthouse apartment by Walt and Row Company owned and controlled by the Aloysius family. The report states that a legal case should be filed against him under the Bribery Act as well as under the Penal Code for giving false statements to the Commission.”

Mr. Karunanayake contradicted this part of the President statement and said the report, made available to him, only said relevant authorities should look into them if there was any wrongdoing and if such wrongdoing were discovered then appropriate action should be taken in this regard.

“This is indeed a bizarre situation. It is as if during a game of cricket the batsman lets a wide delivery be, only to be declared as dismissed by the Umpire,” he said and added that the media campaign launched against me by connecting me to the controversial bond issue is in fact a planned conspiracy.

Full statement;

Honorable Speaker,

First and foremost I, Colombo District Member of Parliament, Ravi Karunanayake would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to present my statement regarding the breach of my parliamentary privileges before the house.

Continue reading ‘Text of Statement Released to Media By Ex-Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake After Speaker Karu Jayasuriya Denies Opportunity to Make Special Statement in Parliament’ »

by
Vidushan Premathiratne

On 8 January 2015, the people of this country exercised their true democratic grit to dispel the rule of President Rajapaksa and his family. The right of the people was exercised in a clear wave of hope to end corruption, inequality and establish justice, which most thought was diminished under the Rajapaksa rule.

The result was unexpected and happened against the series of overwhelming public endorsements received by the Rajapaksa Government in successive elections prior to the people’s presidential verdict. The scenario brings to mind a saying of Niels Bohr, “The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.”

High expectations were set on the coalition Government formed with the advent of Maithripala Sirisena as President and the then minority United National Party. Three years have now passed, but the country still hangs over a wave of corruption, injustice and inequality. Despite many inquiries and court house dramas, the so-called corrupt deals of the previous regime are yet to be justified and proven under a court of law.

Continue reading ‘Is Time Running Out For President Maithripala Sirisena, Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and Ex-minister Mahinda Rajapaksa?’ »

By K. Ratnayake

Sri Lankan media outlets ran headlines last week reporting that President Maithripala Sirisena walked out of the weekly cabinet meeting last Tuesday. According to these reports, Sirisena threatened to discontinue the coalition government because some members of his main partner, the United National Party (UNP), had publicly criticised him.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and several ministers apparently persuaded Sirisena to rejoin the cabinet meeting. It appears a patch-up was made by both sides, well aware of the political consequences of the breakup of the coalition, which could lead to the government’s collapse. Wickremesinghe, who heads the UNP, warned his members of parliament not to make any criticisms of the president.

However, the president’s outburst was not just a subjective reaction. It expressed the extreme political crisis of the coalition between the UNP and Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and of the ruling class as whole. The government has been gripped by growing class tensions, deep economic crisis and massive financial scandals.

Continue reading ‘Facing Political Instability and Intensifying Class Tensions President Sirisena Is Preparing for Dictatorial Forms Of Rule.’ »

By

Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardena

Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC) which had held former President Mahind Rajapaksa responsible for allegedly causing a financial loss to ITN had recommended filing of legal action against him.

Continue reading ‘Presidential Commission of Inquiry PRECIFAC Recommends Legal Action Against Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ex – Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’ »

Communist Party General Secretary and former COPE Chairman D. E.W.Gunasekera yesterday asked former Minister Ravi Karunanayake to be ready to wear the prison uniform for giving false evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, which probed the alleged bond scams.

Gunasekera said so, answering to a query raised by a journalist about a statement made by Ravi Karunanayake at a news conference at the Sri Lanka Foundation that the bond scam report was flawed.

Gunasekera said, “When did Ravi Karunanayake speak the truth?”

Continue reading ‘Ravi Karunanayake Will Have to Go To Jail and Wear Prison Uniform for Giving false Evidence says Former COPE Chairman DEW Gunasekera.’ »

Text of a statement by Women Action Network (WAN) Released: 22.01.17 under the heading “Women Action Network Condemns Attacks on Woman Candidates

A woman candidate who was involved in election campaign activities in Wellawaya area of Monaragala District has been admitted to the hospital in a serious condition after she was brutally attacked.In Arayampathy Selvanagar of Eastern Province, a woman candidate’s house and the contents inside were damaged. A woman candidate in Puthukkudiyiruppu area of Mullaitivu District has been physically assaulted, kept locked in a house, and threatened to withdrawthe complaint she made to the Police. Women candidates in Puttalam and other districts have been verbally humiliated by religious leaders and their families and have been subjected to revolting comments. Vulgar comments on women candidates and disgusting opinions on their race and religion are increasingly being shared in social networks and circulated leaflets.

The above mentioned are some of the most recent news reports of violent acts against woman candidates who are contesting in the upcoming local government elections. Apart from these, many incidents of physical and psychological assault on woman candidates that have not been reported to the police or the Election Commission are being reported through women’s organisations and activists. Women are subjected tomore criminal incidents than men during elections, most of which are referred to as violence against women in elections. Such violent incidents can be defined as follows: The threat of harm or harm against women during the election period that are intended to cause confusion or impact on the independent and equal role of women in the electoral process.These include harassment, intimidation, physical harm, coercion, threats and financial pressures. Moreover, they can be made in private places or public places.

Election violence becomes a violent act against women when the time of the incident is related to the electoral circulation (e.g.: planning for elections, preparing for election, election campaign, etc.), and when it is aimed at a woman candidate, voter, election commission member, etc because she is a woman. Thus, all the above incidents fall into both gender-based violence and political violence categories. Such instances are doubly damaging because they harm the individual and undermine a peaceful democracy in Sri Lanka. Women continue to be subjected to subtle, silent, and hidden forms of violence, and as such these violent acts violate their rights and negatively affect the credibility of the election.

In 2016, a 25 percent mandatory quota for women in Sri Lankan local government was passed into law. This creates the possibility of a minimum number of 1,991 women from 341 local councils becominglocally elected members. The mixed electoral system introduced through the Local Authorities Elections Act mandates that 10% of ward nominations and 50% of the proportional list in the nomination paper submitted by a political party or an independent group should be allocated to women. Otherwise the nominationwill be rejected. The number of members elected to 341 local councils, including 24 municipal councils, 41 urban councils and 276 Pradeshiya Sabhas, are 8356 members. Although 52 per cent of the total population in Sri Lanka is women, so far, their representation is 5.3 per cent in parliament, 4 per cent in provincial councils, and 1.9 per cent in local councils.

Continue reading ‘Moulavis Niyas Siddiqi Siraj and Murshid Abbasi Verbally Attack Muslim Women Candidates and Their Family Members in Election Campaign Speeches in Puttalam.’ »

By

Sanjana Hattotuwa

Google in Sri Lanka now defaults to Sinhala. Whenever you access a Google Form, the interface by default is in Sinhala. Whenever you use Google Maps, road, place and now even names of famous buildings, are rendered in Sinhala. Search for Chunnakam, close to Jaffna, and Google Maps translates the place name, in Sinhala, to ‘Hunugama’ – wrong on so many levels. There is no Tamil place marker either. Jaffna gets a Sinhala label as ‘Yapanaya’, but no Tamil place name, whereas Nallur, just a stone’s throw away, does feature a Tamil place name.

Enter a destination – even in Colombo – on to Google Maps. See the driving instructions to get there. From where I live to get to a location in Colombo, for example, the instructions are often a bizarre mix of English and Sinhala – one road I am asked to go on is in English, and the instruction to turn to another is rendered completely in Sinhala. Users on social media who aren’t fluent in reading Sinhala script have expressed their frustration as to why this is the case, with no option to change language.

There appears to be no discernible reason or pattern behind what is a systemic discrimination across Google apps, services and platforms to give primacy to Sinhala, and with no option for the end user to switch to English or Tamil. And it’s not that Google is unable to accurately render Tamil and non-English scripts – just across the Palk Strait, in Tamil Nadu, all place names are in English and Tamil. Just North of this, in Bengaluru, the place names are in English and Kannada. Further up, in Hyderabad, it’s in English and Telegu and above that, in English and Hindi.

Someone at Google in India has taken the time and effort to render information in the language spoken the most in a region, as well as English. In Sri Lanka on the other hand, the language on Google Maps now defaults to only Sinhala and English across the island, with comparably just a few locations in the North and East available in Tamil.

Continue reading ‘Google and Microsoft are Engaged in Systemic and Sustained Discrimination Against Tamils and the Tamil Language in Sri Lanka.’ »

By Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha

President Sirisena’s query, from the Supreme Court, as to whether he is entitled to a six-year term, was both sad and silly. It was sad because it suggested that he was anxious to go on for longer than the reduced period laid down in the 19th Amendment, for which he had claimed great credit.

Since his raison d’être, as it were, was reducing the excessive power of the Presidency, he has rather shot himself in the foot by seeming to want to restore some of what which he claimed that he has freely given up. And the move was very silly because the Amendment was crystal clear about the reduction being applicable to the current incumbent.

But though his query was ridiculous, there was some reason for making it given that his sycophants were claiming, publicly too, that he was entitled to go on till January 2021. And just as I have been more critical of the hangers on, who ruined the last couple of years of President Rajapaksa’s term, than of Rajapaksa himself, I feel that Sirisena too is more sinned against than sinning.

Continue reading ‘Attorney General has Again Proved Himself Totally Unfit for the Exalted position into which he was Catapulted’ »

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

Elections in this country are acrimonious. And it does not take an astrologer to predict that the unity government would never be the same if the current trend of mutual recrimination continues. As if recent verbal barbs directed against each other by the lower-rungs of the two main constituent parties of the government are not good enough, President Maithripala Sirisena himself has joined the fray.

He told an election rally early this week that the economy would no longer be under the UNP and be handled by a national economic council headed by the president himself after the local government elections. That council though was actually set up in July this year by the President who in a cabinet note proposed that it be functioned as ‘an advisory body on economic policy in the country in order to further strengthen policy coherence in the present consensus government, harness the existing talent of this country for national development and to meet the need for such a national body under the head of the Government in the Presidential Secretariat.’ “The National Economic Council will be a professionally-managed, high-level, national advisory institution reporting directly to the President of Sri Lanka. This body will consist of various divisions in charge of key economic areas related to development plans and priorities of the Government. The NEC will make recommendations to the Cabinet of Ministers on economic policy,” he said in the note.

Its first meeting was held on September 12th at the Presidential Secretariat presided over by the President himself. The president will have to invent the time travel to do it again.

Continue reading ‘UNP MP S.M. Marikkar Demeaned the President in an Ill-advised and Below -the -belt Attack at a Political Rally in Colombo’ »

President Maithripala Sirisena has directed IGP Pujith Jayasundera to conduct an immediate investigation into complaints of alleged harassment caused by Uva Chief Minister Chamara Sampath Dassanayake to a female school principal in Badulla recently.

The President has also asked the Uva Governor to take over the functions of the Uva Province Education Ministry temporarily, to ensure a just and fair investigation into these allegations.

Chamara Sampath Dassanayake

The President has directed the IGP to take any suitable legal action recommended in the investigation report.

Continue reading ‘Police Supposedly Probing Incident of Tamil School Principal Being Forced By Uva Chief Minister Dassanayake Take The Victimised Woman to Hospital to Find Out If She is of a Sound Mind And Then Try to Make Her Accompany Them to Chief Ministers Home’ »

By

Tisaranee Gunasekara

“…questioning honestly and reflecting upon the truth of what has been lived through, what has been done.”
– Nadine Gordimer (Living in Hope and History: Notes from our Century)

The 19th Amendment was the greatest achievement of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration. President Maithripala Sirisena played an active role in making it happen. He helped craft it and spearheaded it through a fractious parliament in a 12-hour marathon session. Without his committed and tireless efforts, the Amendment would not have garnered the SLFP’s support and would have failed to pass for that reason. It was the finest hour of the man, and of the new government he headed.

Had Mr. Sirisena reread the 19th Amendment, he would have recalled that the five-year presidential term applies to him as well. Had he casted his mind back to those stirring times, he would have remembered that was the way he wanted it, in 2015. He even said that his personal preference was for a four-year presidential term.

Those were the heydays of the new government, when hope was bright and good governance appeared semi-achievable. President Sirisena’s legacy seemed assured as a rare political leader who worked hard to reduce his own powers. When, three years on, the same man sought a court ruling extending his presidential term by one year, he caused grievous and needless harm to his image and his legacy.

But that incident also served a useful purpose. It revealed how far Sri Lanka has travelled since Mahinda Rajapaksa railroaded both the judiciary and the parliament into abolishing presidential term-limits and enhancing presidential powers via the 18th Amendment. In 2010 the judiciary was nothing but an appendage of an all powerful executive. Even the judges of the country’s highest court feared the wrath of the Rajapaksas. The fear was well-grounded, as the then Chief Justice discovered the first and the only time she dared to give a judgement displeasing to the Rajapaksas. Shirani Bandaranayake was hounded out of her position via an illegal and uncouth impeachment in 2013 for the crime of not giving a blanket approval to Basil Rajapaksa’s Divineguma Bill.

2018 is not 2010 or 2013; 2018 is a more democratic time when even the topmost men of the land have to abide by the law, mostly. Today the judiciary is not scared to rule against the manifest wish of a sitting president and can do so without fearing a tsunami of presidential wrath. Whatever President Sirisena’s private feelings, in public he has no option but to accept that ruling with as much good grace as possible. This is an indubitable improvement, an improvement worth preserving.

Continue reading ‘Maithripala Sirisena is a Weak and Brittle President, but Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Would be an Infinitely Worse one, a Dictatorial Racist, a Deadly Cross Between Benito Mussolini and Donald Trump’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

An interesting pro-accountability exercise took place in Sri Lanka this week which went largely unnoticed due to political distractions.

These doltish distractions ranged from a ‘withdrawal of a withdrawal of’ a long forgotten excise notification forbidding women to buy liquor to ominous grandstanding by leaders of the coalition government even as details of the Central Bank bond scam came to light with the release of the Commission of Inquiry report.

The heavy ironies of the law

In what is perhaps the most riveting use of its authority since its establishment decades ago, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC) filed charges in the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court against former Chief Justice and former Attorney General Mohan Peiris, Court of Appeal Judge A.H.M.D. Nawaz and former LECO Chairman M.M.C. Ferdinando for offences falling under Section 70 of the Bribery Act (as amended).

The merits of the case will not be gone into here. But quite apart from the heavy irony of a former Chief Justice and a sitting Appeal Court judge being charged in the Magistrate’s Court for corruption, the substance of the charge is interesting. These were in connection with an investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) pertaining to ‘certain financial irregularities’ which had occurred in the Lanka Electricity Co. Pvt Ltd (LECO) during the Rajapaksa Presidency. Reportedly, two committees appointed to look into the misappropriation of funds at LECO amounting to Rs.260 million had recommended the institution of legal action against perpetrators under the Penal Code for misappropriation and under the Bribery Act for corruption charges.

Continue reading ‘Truly Sri Lanka is the Most Poignant Example of that Immortal Warning, ‘whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.’’ »

By

Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

Who or what is the main political problem facing Sri Lanka today?

The answer you give will reveal where you are on the ideological spectrum, and will in turn have determined your answer. Here are the answers that form the political spectrum of our society:
1. The UNP is the main problem.
2. The current leadership of the UNP –Prime Minister Wickremesinghe–is the main problem.
3. The SLFP is the main problem.
4. The leadership of the SLFP- President Sirisena- is the main problem.
5. The UNP-SLFP alliance is the main problem.
6. The TNA as Opposition is the main problem.
7. The JO-SLPP led by Mahinda Rajapaksa is the main problem.
8. All of the above are the main problem.

The anti-UNP populist bloc, currently consisting of the JO-SLPP and the vote base of the SLFP, which regards itself as progressive and left-of-center, tend to feel that the rightwing UNP with its pro-western, anti-national policies, is the main problem. Their solution is that the UNP as a whole should be defeated and thrown out of office.

A subset within this bloc, and even some within the UNP, feel that it is not the UNP that is the main problem, but the current and longstanding leadership of the UNP, Mr. Wickremesinghe and his cronies, that constitute the main problem. While the JO leaders feel that a non-Ranil government of the SLFP and JO could provide a viable interim solution, the UNP dissidents feel that a reshuffle by the President and a substitution of Sajith or Thalatha for Ranil as the PM and/or leader of the UNP, will be adequate to set the country on the right path.

Continue reading ‘The SLFP now Seems Doomed to be the Junior Partner of Either the UNP or the JO-SLPP, Unless it is Able to Reunify the SLFP’ »

(Text of a media release issued by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on January 21st 2018 headlined “The role of the yahapalana opposition”)

There is a yahapalana government as well as a yahapalana opposition in this country. After the August 2015 parliamentary election, the UNP Speaker refused to recognize the Joint Opposition which had over 50 MPs as a part of the opposition, and gave the opposition leadership to the TNA which had 16 MPs. The JVP which had six MPs was given the position of chief opposition whip. Hence, we now have a situation in this country where the Joint Opposition which votes against the budget every year and opposes the government both inside and outside parliament, is not considered by the UNP Speaker to be a part of the opposition, while the TNA which always votes with the government at the budget and cooperates with them both inside and outside parliament is considered to be the main opposition party.

The TNA and the JVP were included in the all-powerful National Executive Council which was formed over and above the Cabinet to run the country immediately after the 2015 presidential election. When an Anti-Corruption Committee was formed under the leadership of the Prime Minister for the purpose of persecuting and jailing members of the previous government, the JVP and TNA were once again given prominent roles in this set up. For example, the Urgent Response Unit of this Anti-Corruption Committee was placed under the personal supervision of JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. In the first days of the yahapalana government, JVP cadres took over the functions of the police and raided various government and private premises searching for evidence of wrongdoing by the previous government.

Continue reading ‘“We Have In This Country An Incompetent “Yahapalana” Government And An Equally Incompetent “Yahapalana” Opposition Comprising the JVP and TNA Says Ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa’ »

By

C.A.Chandraprema

The Supreme Court determination that President Maithripala Sirisena could hold office for only five years according to the 19th Amendment, was one of the most significant political developments to take place after the yahapalana government was formed in 2015. It appears that all this while, the President has been operating on the assumption that his term ends on 9 January 2021 even though the 19th Amendment shortened the presidential term to five years. The expectation was that just as the executive presidency was retained through the 19th Amendment which was brought for the ostensible purpose of abolishing it, the length of the president’s term also could be retained despite it having been shortened by the 19A. The SC determination prevented the 19th Amendment from being turned into a complete mockery. The question of the duration of the President’s term according to the 19th Amendment was first discussed seriously in The Island on 19 February 2017 in a lengthy article by Shamindra Ferdinando.

In response to a claim by Sirisena loyalists in the SLFP like Ministers Faiszer Musthapha and Dilan Perera that President Maithripala Sirisena was entitled to a term of six years regardless of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, The Island interviewed Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne, national list MP of the UNP and one of the principal architects of the 19th Amendment, Manohara de Silva, PC and senior lawyer Chrishmal Warnasuriya and all three of them dismissed the SLFP’s claim and drew attention to the transitional clause in Section 49 (1) (b) of the 19th Amendment which clearly states that “the persons holding office respectively, as the President and Prime Minister on the day preceding April 22, 2015 shall continue to hold such office after such date subject to the provisions of the Constitution as amended by this Act.” Thus legal luminaries from both sides of the political divide were very clear that the 19th Amendment had not only shortened the term of the presidency but also made it specifically applicable to President Sirisena.

In a statement issued on the day that nominations closed for the local government elections – 14 December 2017 – former President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned his supporters to look lively because the next presidential election had to be mandatorily held before 9 December 2019 according to the provisions of the constitution as amended by the 19th Amendment. When it became known that President Sirisena had written to the Supreme Court asking for a determination on his term, former minister Basil Rajapaksa had immediately contacted Prof. G.L.Peiris and appraised him of this development. Within a couple of hours, GLP had lined up a legal team to represent the various constituent parties of the Joint Opposition at the Supreme Court’s open hearing on the matter.

Continue reading ‘Maithripala Sirisena vs Ranil Wickremesinghe: Who Has the Upper Hand In the Current Confrontational Crisis Of the UNP-SLFP Coalition Govt?’ »

By

Suresh Perera

With the government under flak for the inordinate delay in prosecuting persons accused of bribery and corruption and complex financial crimes, the establishment of a proposed special High Court to expedite cases relating to charges under the specified ambit is now on the cards with the draft legislation finalized, authoritative sources said.

In terms of the proposed legislation, the High Court will be empowered to hear cases, apart from charges relating to bribery and corruption, those also involving complex financial crimes, which include criminal breach of trust, misappropriation, money laundering, terrorist financing, organized crime and offences against public property and similar offences.

The proposed High Court to be set up under Article 105 (1) (c) of the Constitution, will have three benches of judges with each bench comprising three to hear trials on a daily basis. The judges will be nominated by the Chief Justice, the sources said.

Continue reading ‘Special High Court With Three Benches Comprising Three Judges each to Be Set Up Under Article 105 Of Constitution To Expedite Hearings of Cases Involving Bribery,Corruption and Complex Financial Crimes.’ »

By Chandani Kirinde

The Commission of Inquiry into the Central Bank Treasury Bond issue has come down hard on the conduct of the Central Bank’s former Governor Arjuna Mahendran, accusing him of misleading the Prime Minister on the bond sale that took place in February 2015, as well as interfering with the decision-making processes at the CB’s Public Debt Dept (PDD).

“Mr Mahendran knowingly acted improperly and wrongfully, and interfered in the decision-making processes at the PDD and thereafter, at the Tender Board, and directed that, bids to the value of Rs. 10.058 billion be accepted at the TB Auction held on Feb. 27, 2015. With regard to the statement made in Parliament by the Prime Minister, on Mar. 17, 2017, wherein he states, inter alia, that, Mr. Mahendran had not interfered in the TB Auction, we have held that, the evidence establishes that, Mr. Mahendran and Deputy Governor Samarasiri, deliberately and mala fide, misled the PM and suppressed material facts, and misrepresented the factual position, when they reported the events relating to the TB Auction to the PM, and also when they submitted a Briefing Note to him, with regard to the events of that Auction,” the CoI said in its findings.

The Report of the CoI containing 1,153 pages was made public this week by the President‘s Office. Copies of the Report were also handed over to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. A date to debate on the findings of the CoI will be decided when Party leaders meet on Monday (22).

Continue reading ‘Ex-Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran Accused of Misleading Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and of Knowigly Acting Improperly and Wrongfully” In Treasury Bonds Sales Commission of Inquiry Report’ »

President Maithripala Sirisena Saturday announced taking over economic management responsibilities which had been with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for the past three years.

In a surprise move that is certain to further sour relations between him and his coalition, Sirisena said he will manage and guide the economy through an special council he had set up three months ago.

“Although the UNP was allowed to manage the economy in the past three years, from this month, the President will take it over,” Sirisena’s office said in a brief statement.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Drops Bombshell By Announcing a “Take-over” of Economic Management Responsibility That Was Entrusted to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe for the past Three Years.’ »

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Siriisena said he is taking over the economy from this year, though for three years the United National Party of Prime Minister Rani; Wickremesinghe was allowed to manage in the latest escalation of tensions between the two.

Three months ago he had had appointed a National Economic Council for the purpose, President Sirisena told an election rally in Kegalle.

President Sirisena said he is taking over the responsibility of strengthening the economy and called upon domestic investors rally around to build the economy of the ‘motherland’, his office said in a statement.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena To Take Over Responsibility of Managing the Economy From the UNP and Wants Domestic Investors to rally Round Him and Strengthen the Economy.’ »

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has intervened in a growing spat of angry outbursts among coalition partners – the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) – urging both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to rein in both sides on the eve of the local council elections next month.

This climaxed at this week’s Cabinet meeting when President Sirisena made a 40-minute-long address to the ministers and then walked out of the meeting, only to be coaxed to return and preside over the rest of the meeting’s agenda.Both sides have now reached a truce not to criticise each other after their stormy relations reached ‘explosive’ levels at last Tuesday’s weekly ministerial meeting.

This ‘political ceasefire’ had been holding since Tuesday with no broadsides by the partners against each other — until yesterday’s public meeting at Kegalle where President Sirisena slammed the UNP for the mismanagment of the economy during the past three years

Speaker Jayasuriya had noted that unity among the coalition partners of the National Unity Government was essential.

Continue reading ‘Speaker Karu Jayasuriya Brings About “Political Ceasefire” Between UNP and SLFP By Urging President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe To Rein In Both Sides’ »

By Namini Wijedasa

On Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne’s request, the Cabinet has instructed the Housing Ministry to entertain an unsolicited proposal for the re-development of Torrington Flats on Thimbirigasyaya Road by a company in which Mr Senaratne’s younger brother is a director.

In November, the Housing Ministry put forward its own proposal to the Cabinet to re-develop the present site of the Torrington Flats “as a high-yield urban residential site, whilst ensuring the ownership rights of the present condominium owners”. Housing Minister Sajith Premadasa’s memorandum sought permission to designate the Condominium Management Authority (CMA) as the implementing agency for the project in terms of the CMA Law of 1973.

The memo also requested Cabinet sanction to direct the CMA to prepare the redevelopment plans in consultation with the relevant agencies subject to the final planning approval of the Urban Development Authority and the Colombo Municipal Council.

However, at a Cabinet meeting held earlier this month, Health Minister Senaratne requested that an unsolicited proposal for the project be considered. This is reflected in the minutes of the meeting. The company that put forward the bid is Sky Mount Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. Its directors are Minister Senaratne’s younger brother Maheel, Chrishantha de Silva and Shantha Herath.

Continue reading ‘Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne Gets Cabinet to Instruct Housing Ministry to Accept Unsolicited Proposal For Re-developing Torrington Flats by Sky Mount Holdings (Pvt) Ltd of Which his Younger Brother Maheel Senaratne is a Director’ »

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a panel to study the bond commission report, but the man put in charge of the initiative has triggered another unsavoury case of conflict of interest.

The man who was forced to resign his law and order portfolio after he defended the controversial Avant Garde company in parliament, Tilak Marapana, was put in charge of a United National Party panel to study the bond report.

Making a special statement on Thursday, the Prime Minister said the Marapana panel will recommend any action to be taken against party members implicated in the 1,154-page report written after an 11-month inquiry.

Continue reading ‘Tilak Marapana Whose Brother Gamini Marapana Represented Perpetual Treasuries at Bond Commission Probe Appointed By Premier Wickremesinghe as Head of UNP Panel To Study Bond Commission Report and Recommend Action’ »

By

Veeragathy Thanabalasingham

President Maithripala Sirisena’s emotional outburst and the subsequent storming out of the Cabinet meeting at Presidential Secretariat by earlier in the week, infuriated by the public criticism levelled against him by United National Party (UNP) Members of Parliament, is glaringly demonstrative of the increasingly heightened political conflict between the main partners of the National Unity Government. This was perhaps the first time an Executive President of Sri Lanka, presiding over the government’s Cabinet, walked out in protest of the behaviour of the MPs outside.

Subsequent reports revealed that President Sirisena had singled out several UNP MPs, named them and censured them for criticizing him unfairly, before declaring that a country could not be ruled in such a manner. He had said he was being attacked because some UNP MPs thought the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Bond Issuance of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had been convened by him in order to target their party.

The President had remarked that it was better for members of the Cabinet to decide whether they should continue governing in that way or not before storming out. Reports said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and several senior ministers from both the main parties of government and visited him later and persuaded him to come back and chair the Cabinet meeting.

It is significant that this incident took place in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court determination that President Sirisena’s official term was five years and would end on January 9, 2020. This determination was in response to the President seeking the Supreme Court opinion on whether he could serve up to six years. This, according to a statement from the Presidential Secretariat, was because President wanted to clear the ambiguity regarding to his term of office as differing opinions were expressed on the issue.

Continue reading ‘Can Maithripala Sirisena Avoid Becoming a Lame Duck President?’ »

By T. Farook Thajudeeen

The CID told the Mount Lavinia Magistrate that their investigations into the killing of journalist Lasantha Wickramatunge had uncovered an alleged attempt by the Mount Lavinia Police and the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) to destroy vital evidence of the killing,

Continue reading ‘TID and Mt.Lavinia Police Tried to Protect Killers of Lasantha Wickrematunge By Attempting To Destroy Evidence – CID Tells Court’ »

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his address to the nation, said the government had frozen the financial assets worth Rs.12 billion of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd, and therefore the Rs.9.2 billion undue profit made by it in the bond transaction could be recovered from it.

He said the government would take steps to implement recommendations made by the Presidential Commission that investigated the controversial bond transaction of the Central Bank.

The Prime Minister said the Commission, in its report, mentioned that Perpetual Treasuries Ltd made an undue profit of Rs.9.2 billon.

However, he said the Central Bank, remaining under his purview, had frozen financial assets worth Rs. 12 billion belonging to PTL. Therefore, he said Rs.9.2 billion that was lost to the state could be recovered.

Continue reading ‘Govt Freezes 12 Billion Rupees Worth Financial Assets of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd and Will Recover Rs 9.2 Billion Undue Profits Made Through Treasury Bond Scam Announces Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’ »

The presidential commission of inquiry which probed Treasury bond scams has determined that the then CBSL Governor Arjuna Mahendran provided ‘inside information’ to Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) owned by his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius and acted in collusion with that company.

The commission has recommended the Attorney General and other authorities consider whether PTL has used, gained and benefitted from ‘inside information’ at the Feb 27, 2015 bond auction and, if so, whether he should be prosecuted and twice the value of aforesaid sum of Rs 688,762,100 recovered from the PTL by way of fine in the event of a conviction.

The commission has determined that Mahendran’s intervention in the Treasury bond auction on Feb 27 2015, caused an avoidable loss of Rs 688,762, 100 to the state. Accordingly, the commission has recommended that action be taken against Mahendran to recover the loss.

The commission has recommended that the AG and other appropriate authorities consider whether if some of the then Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s evidence before the Commission was incorrect and, if so, criminal action should be instituted against him.

The three-member commission says in its report that evidence has established that Mahendran was not instructed or directed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to act unilaterally and immediately or stop direct placements on Feb 27, 2015.

Continue reading ‘Former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran Provided “Inside Information” To Perpetual Treasuries Ltd Owned By His Son In Law Arjun Aloysius and Acted In Collusion with that Company – Bond Commission Report’ »

By Gagani Weerakoon

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday directed the Attorney General, Jayantha Jayasuriya, the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy and DG Bribery Commission Sarath Jayamanne and other officials to immediately act on the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the alleged Bonds scam.

The President’s meeting with the top law enforcement officials came as 26 copies of the report were sent to the Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya to be tabled before the House and copies distributed to individual Members of Parliament.

The Speaker also received copies of the report of the other Presidential Commission that examined seventeen cases of alleged major acts of corruption and fraud carried out during the regime of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. This report in Sinhala stretches almost to 10,000 pages.

The much-awaited Bonds Commission report was also uploaded on the website of the Presidential Secretariat and the site of the President’s Media Division.

The Executive Summary of the report faults a number of people for the alleged Bonds scam. It lays the blame squarely on the shoulders of the former Governor of the Central Bank Arjuna Mahendran. It recommends that the losses suffered by the Government be recovered from Mahendran and his son-in-law and owner of Perpetual Treasuries Arjun Aloysius.

The report says, “We have determined that, the Government of Sri Lanka suffered an avoidable loss of Rs 688,762,100 as a direct result of Mr. Mahendran’s intervention in the Treasury Bond Auction held on 27th February 2015 and the instructions he gave to both the PDD and the Tender Board that Bids to the value of Rs. 10,058 billion must be accepted at the Auction and we have determined that, Mr. Mahendran is liable and responsible for this loss.”

The report says that the “appointment of Mahendran not a ‘Question of Law’ instead ‘Value judgment’ which had to be made by those who considered the wisdom of appointing Mr. Mahendran, who was not a Citizen of Sri Lanka, as the Governor of the CBSL.”

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Instructs Attorney -General, Central Bank Governor and Bribery Commissioner To Take Immediate Action On Recommendations Made By Presidential Inquiry Commission.’ »

by Zacki Jabbar

Denying that President Maithripala Sirisena had threatened to quit the National Unity Government at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, Ministers Rajitha Senaratne and Dayasiri Jayasekera said yesterday that the President had only expressed displeasure at vilifying remarks against him by some UNP parliamentarians.

Fielding questions during the post cabinet Press Briefing at the Information Department, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne and Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera said in unison that at no stage did the President say that it would not be possible to continue in the National Unity Government, but was critical of some UNP parliamentarians who were slandering him.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena May Have Gone To Answer a Call of Nature After Leaving the Cabinet Meeting Says Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera’ »

By

Hemantha Warnakulasuriya

President Maithripala Sirisena seems to be happy that unlike other Presidential Commissions which took several years to complete their probes and ultimately produced reports which were not worth the paper they were written on, the Bond Commission completed its task within a very short period of 10 months and produced a report, copies of which have been submitted to Parliament.

The President has forwarded one copy to the Central Bank, another to the Bribery Commission, and one to the most important of institution, the Attorney General’s Department. The Central Bank has already decided to implement, not a recommendation of the report but an observation the Bond Commission made about the period which is prior to the mandate given to them by the President. Ranil Wickremasinghe & Co were jubilant about these remarks and were referring to the massive frauds committed by Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government during Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s tenure as the Central Bank Governor. This also enabled them to point accusing fingers at the former regime and the result was converting Parliament to the Mustang’s tent of sorts.

The Central Bank announced they are seeking expert advice from professionals in the world who specialize in forensic audit with a digital footprint. But, what they would do to prevent recurrence of such a massive scam is yet to be known by the public.

On the other hand, the Bribery Commission has notified they have appointed five senior officials of the Bribery Department to study the recommendations of the Commission and to indict the officials and anyone else against whom a corruption charge could be maintained.

I believe Sarath Jayamanne, the Director General, will not let down the masses of this country by postponing action he ought to take and at least find the people whose names were mentioned and are indicted in the High Court.

It is also interesting to note whether the Prosecutors would hold the members of the United National Party, who were directly involved in the Bond Scam and whose names were mentioned at the Commission, responsible for striving to scuttle the publication of the Commission’s Report.

Continue reading ‘Fact To Be Proved Is Whether Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe Was Involved In The Bond Scam?’ »

AT THE time, it was seen as an astonishing victory. In retrospect, it was also something of a Pyrrhic one. Few expected Maithripala Sirisena to defeat the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election of 2015. After all, Mr Rajapaksa, although increasingly authoritarian, had presided in 2009 over the defeat of the separatist Tamil Tigers, ending Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war.

Mr Sirisena was merely a rebellious member of the president’s own Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). To win and then to govern, Mr Sirisena relied on the support of the SLFP’s main rival, the United National Party (UNP). As Sri Lankans prepare to vote in local elections on February 10th, that alliance has come to haunt him.

In theory, the alliance between the UNP and Mr Sirisena’s faction of the SLFP ended in December. But this is a polite fiction necessitated by the campaign. In practice, neither group has sufficient numbers in parliament to govern without the other. Mr Rajapaksa, who is backing a new outfit called the Sri Lanka People’s Front, has called on voters to treat the poll as a referendum on the government.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena May Soon Be Viewed As a Lame Duck -The Economist’ »

President Maithripala Sirisena said in Elpitiya that operation number two has begun on the bond commission report as he instructed the Attorney General and other stakeholders to proceed with legal action based on the report.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Begins “Operation Number Two ” On Bond Commission Report By Instructing Attorney -General To Proceed With Legal Action Based On Report.’ »

By

Chaturanga Samarawickrama

President Maithripala Sirisena will definitely contest at the next presidential election in the event the executive presidency is not abolished and the constitution is not changed, State Minister of Finance, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said today.

He told the weekly Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) news briefing that President Sirisena would definitely be their presidential candidate and when asked whether it was ethical for him to contest again, the state minister said yes and pointed out that the President was the most suitable candidate to contest for the presidency for a second term.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Will Contest Next Presidential Poll as SLFP Candidate if Present Constitution Remains Unchanged and Executive Presidency Is Not Abolished.’ »

By

Yohan Perera

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had instructed UNP Ministers and MPs not to make controversial statements dragging President Maithripala Sirisena anymore.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had given the instruction at the UNP Working Committee meeting at the party headquarters Sirikotha this morning.

Continue reading ‘Ranil Tells UNP Ministers and MP’s to Stop Statements Against President Sirisena but Take on SLFP Ministers Directly and Settle Whatever Issues They Have.’ »

By

Thilini de Silva and Ranjan Katugampola

Artiste Samanalee Fonseka and ten other women yesterday filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition in the Supreme Court against the government’s decision to withdraw the gazette issued to lift the ban prohibiting women to purchase liquor or to work in liquor stores.

The petitioners sought a court order declaring Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera or Ministry Secretary R.H.S. Samarathunga had no legal authority to re-impose the ban on the instructions of the President.

Continue reading ‘Artiste Samanalee Fonseka and Ten Other Women File Fundamental rights Petition in Supreme Court Against Re-imposition by Govt of Ban On Women Purchasing Liquor or Work in Liquor Stores.’ »

The independent think Tank “Verite Research” has stated that the recent cabinet decision of not permitting women in Sri Lanka to purchase liquor is unconstitutional as it basically violates Article 12 of the constitution. The Colombo based think tank in a statement has pointed out that the Constitution guarantees that all persons are equal under the law and are entitled to equal protection under the law. Furthermore it states no citizen shall be discriminated on the grounds of sex. As such the Think Tank says aggrieved parties are entitled to petition the Supreme Court that their rights are being infringed or infringement is imminent.Verité Research is an interdisciplinary think tank that provides strategic analysis and advice to governments, international organisations and the private sector in Sri Lanka and Asia.

The text of the statement issued by Verite Research is as follows –

Women are permitted to purchase liquor.

On 10 January 2018, the Minister of Finance and Mass Media issued Excise Notification No. 02/2018 under the Excise Ordinance, No. 8 of 1912 (as amended). The new Notification amends Excise Notification No. 666 of 31 December 1979, and removes the ban on the sale of liquor to women ‘within the premises of a tavern’. A tavern is usually defined as ‘a place of entertainment…[or] a house for the retailing of liquors to be drunk on the spot’. Women are therefore entitled to purchase liquor under Sri Lankan law as at 10 January 2018.Moreover, Excise Notification No.666 does not appear to prohibit women from purchasing alcohol in premises that do not constitute a tavern (e.g. supermarkets).

Continue reading ‘Cabinet Decision to Ban Women from Purchasing Liquor is Unconstitutional States Think Tank “Verite Research”’ »

By Chathuri Dissanayake

An emotional President yesterday walked out of the Cabinet meeting after voicing disappointment over criticism levelled against him by some United National Party lawmakers.

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday told the Cabinet that he was not an “ungrateful or inhuman” person who has forgotten the help he received during the presidential election. The President was referring to some of the criticism levelled at him on various political stages in the run-up to the Local Government elections.

Singling out several UNP MPs by name including S.M. Marrikkar, Minister Harin Fernando, Nalin Bandara, Sidney Jayarathna, State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe and Chaminda Wijesiri, President Sirisena told the Cabinet ministers present that he never intended to attack the UNP and was disappointed that he had been severely criticised on election stages, a senior Minister told the Daily FT.

“Why are you attacking me? Are you instructing them to attack me?” President Sirisena had reportedly asked the Prime Minister.

Continue reading ‘“Why are you Attacking Me?Are You Instructing Them To Attack Me? – President Sirisena Asks Prime Minister Wickremesinghe Directly at Cabinet Meeting’ »

By

Sandun A Jayasekera and Ajantha Kumara Agalakada

A deeply dejected and disappointed President Maithripala Sirisena stormed out of the Cabinet meeting this morning after making an emotional speech over the personal attacks levelled at him by the certain members of the UNP, a senior Cabinet Minister said.

President naming those UNP Parliamentarians, who are making statements against him, had also said that a country cannot be ruled in this manner.

He has informed the Ministers present that the Presidential Commission was established by him not to attack the UNP, but to punish the thieves and requested the Ministers to state whether they agree to punishing the thieves or not.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Makes 35 Minute Emotional Speech About UNP Members Attacking Him at Cabinet Meeting , Tape Records It and Storms Out’ »

Colombo district UNP MP S.M. Marikar today slammed President Maithripala Sirisena and even described him as a ‘pickpocket President’.

Addressing a meeting in Colombo, he said the President had let down former president Mahinda Rajapaksa after partaking in a hopper meal with him. The MP charged that the same conspiratorial activity was being mooted to fix the UNP.

“The President accused us of being thieves. We call him the pickpocket President. We are asking him not to back-stab the UNP like what he did to Mahinda Rajapaksa,” he said.

Continue reading ‘UNP Colombo District Parliamentarian SM Marikar Calls Sirisena a “Pickpocket President” Who is Trying to Backstab the UNP in the same Way he let down Mahinda rajapaksa After Sharing a Hopper Meal.’ »

By Dharisha Bastians

President Maithripala Sirisena has continued to be at the receiving end of strong criticism, even after the Supreme Court put an end to speculation about the duration of his term on Sunday (14).

The Presidential Media Division confirmed that the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court which held a public hearing on the question posed by President Sirisena about whether his term would end in five or six years, had communicated its decision to the President that he could hold office for a period of five years according to the Constitution.

The decision resulted in widespread relief after fears that the President was seeking the opinion of the country’s apex court to stretch his term of office – changed to five years through the 19th Amendment – to six years. The Attorney General’s interpretation that President Sirisena assumed office before the passage of the 19th Amendment and was therefore entitled to serve a six-year term; and his argument that reducing his term to five years would be an infringement of the sovereignty of the people and the franchise, appeared to have been rejected by the Supreme Court which appeared to hold that the current President was also subject to the provisions of the 19A.

Continue reading ‘Attorney -General’s Interpretation of 19th Constitutional Amendment Before Supreme Court is “Rather Odd” and Confuses Me Says CPA Executive -Director Dr.Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu.’ »

President Maithripala Sirisena was surrounded by advisers who would lead him to his own destruction but the UNP would never let those sinister forces to achieve their goal, UNP Assistant Leader MP Ravi Karunanayake said yesterday.

Addressing the media after declaring open a UNP office in Mattakkuliya, the former minister said that it was sad to observe that the President was being manipulated by some forces.

“We will not leave the President at this hour of need. We will protect him. It is the duty of the UNP to protect the President. There are forces dreaming of a break-up of the UNP-SLFP unity government. That will not happen as there is a clear understanding between our leader Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Sirisena.”

Continue reading ‘Ex-Minister Ravi Karunanayake Says UNP Will Protect President Sirisena From The Advisers Who Are Misleading him’ »

By Norman Palihawadane

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said that a recent government decision to extend the business hours of bars and allow women to buy liquor and a subsequent presidential directive reversing it were aimed at duping the masses.

“The gazettes lifting the ban came with the approval of the Cabinet of ministers headed by President Maithripala Sirisena. Then President Sirisena cancels the same gazette so as to lionise himself.

Continue reading ‘Cabinet Headed By President Gazettes Decisions But Sirisena Cancels same Gazette To Fool the Masses Says Mahinda Rajapaksa’ »

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirsena’s bid to get another year in office through a Supreme Court interpretation of the relevant clauses of the 19 th. Amendment (19A) of the Constitution, has failed.

The court has told him that there is a five year constitutional cap on his term.

In a letter to Chief Justice Priyasath Dep dated January 8, Sirisena had sought the court’s opinion on whether there is a constitutional bar on his continuing in office for six hears instead of five. The President had asked for a response to be submitted to him on or before January 14.

Constitutional Provision

Those against the grant of an extra year, like the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), told the court on January 11, that Art 30 (2) of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, passed on May 15, 2015, had clearly stated that: “The President of the Republic shall be elected by the People and shall hold office for a term of five years.”

Continue reading ‘Supreme Court “Five Years Only” Ruling Will Impact Adversely On President Sirisena’s Long Term Plans to Undermine Ranil and Mahinda while Strengthening His SLFP.’ »

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has shot down any prospect of President Maithripala Sirisena staying on in office for a year longer officials said Monday.

A five-judge bench in a unanimous decision ruled that the President’s term was limited to five years by the 19th amendment to the constitution that he himself initiated after winning the 2015 elections.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Priyasath Dep told President Sirisena that he had only five years in office as a result of the 19th amendment although he was elected initially for a six year term.

Continue reading ‘Supreme Court Five Judge Bench Ruling Shatters Maithripala Sirisena’s Hopes Of Being President for one More year up to 2021.’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

Could right-thinking people of Sri Lanka be blamed for asking themselves as to whether no one will rid us of these troublesome politicians following this week’s depraved fisticuffs on the floor of the House? Is this where the ‘Sovereignty of the People’ resides, as mandated by Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution?

As national legislators assaulted each other, (some unpardonably boasting about this later) and shouted obscenities with others fainting in the well of the House, two questions become paramount.

Why indeed are citizens trooping to the polls to elect members to local government bodies in a few weeks when the apex legislative assembly conducts itself in such an ugly manner? Of what use are massive public funds extracted from taxpayers being expended to maintain these assemblies, central, provincial and local when minimum decency cannot be observed in their deliberations?

Continue reading ‘Could Right-thinking People of Sri Lanka be Blamed for Asking Themselves as to Whether no one will rid us of these Troublesome Politicians?’ »

( The “Sunday Times” Column On Presidency

Sometimes, politics is all about being in the right place at the right time. Since Sri Lanka embraced a presidential system of government forty years ago, three of our six Presidents have been elevated to the highest office in the land by being in the right place at the right time.

Dingiri Banda Wijetunga was rewarded for his loyal service to the United National Party by being appointed as the Governor of the North Western Province where he was to spend his retirement. He was then summoned by Ranasinghe Premadasa, perhaps with an eye on the future, to contest the 1988 general election. He returned to Parliament, was appointed Prime Minister and was suddenly sworn in as President when Premadasa fell victim to a suicide bomber on May Day in 1993.

After her husband Vijaya was assassinated. Chandrika Kumaratunga fled the country and was living in Britain. Her brother, Anura Banadaranaike, was bearing the brunt of the United National Party (UNP)’s domineering tactics under Premadasa. However, by the time the next elections were called Bandaranaike had crossed over to the UNP, Kumaratunga had returned and with her charming smile, an important double-barrelled surname, was catapulted from having never held public office to being President within a short span of eighteen months.

A few months prior to November 2014, in most people’s opinion, Maithripala Sirisena was destined to be a faithful servant of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), in much the same way Wijetunga was loyal to the UNP. He too could have aspired to spend his retirement as a Governor, or if he so wished, even as an ambassador overseas. However, at the insistence of Maduluwave Sobhitha Thera and Kumaratunga, he took the plunge and decided to contest Mahinda Rajapaksa. The rest is recent history.

Sri Lanka’s three other Presidents had earned their titles the hard way. J.R. Jayewardene, Ranasinghe Premadasa and Mahinda Rajapaksa all toiled long and hard, endured long years in the Opposition and overcame plots and backstabbing within their own political parties to reach the top. Did this equip them better to deal with the tests and travails of a Presidency and as a result did they perform better?

JR, for all the vilification he endured, engineered economic and constitutional revolutions which survive to this day. Premadasa is still remembered as the leader who did some tangible work in the few years he presided while at the same time despatching Indian troops from the country and crushing the second Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) insurrection. Rajapaksa, no matter what he does in the future, will be remembered gratefully for annihilating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Their performances beg the question as to whether those who stumbled upon the Presidency by happenstance didn’t perform that well when they had the opportunity to chart the destiny of the nation. Wijetunga was more or less a caretaker President whose greatest achievement was ensuring a transition of power after over a decade and a half of UNP rule and in Kumaratunga’s 11-year Presidency it is difficult to recall a significant achievement during her tenure other than, maybe, winning back control of the North from the LTTE and some positives on the foreign policy front. Now, after completing three years at the helm last Monday, Maithripala Sirisena is in danger of being categorised under ‘mediocre’ rather than ‘great’ or “good”.

Continue reading ‘Time For President Sirisena To Make Transition From Politician To Statesman’ »

By Sarath de Alwis

“Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”

– George Orwell, 1984

Who made Maithripala Sirisena, President of our republic? Was it Ranil who claims that he made a great sacrifice by deciding not to contest as the UNP’s candidate? Is it the executive committee of the UNP that decided to endorse Maithripala Sirisena as the common candidate that the party should support? Or did the majority of people who voted for the common candidate make him our President?

Let us cut to the chase. Let’s avoid obfuscation. Let’s get to the point. This missive is in praise of Maithripala Sirisena’s handling of the Bond Commission Report.

And further, more specifically, it is in praise of his unhesitant referral to the Supreme Court for a precise ruling on his current tenure in office.

This writer is relieved to discover the new bold and decisive ‘Sirisena’, who has abandoned his ‘little Bo peep has lost her sheep’ demeanour. One hopes he will gradually shed his ‘Apey Hamuduruwane’ – ‘upasaka’ mask and also his ‘Ranaviruwas have done no wrong’ disorder as well, in his remaining years in office.

The immediate purpose of this dispatch is to congratulate him on his discovery of the precise mandate he received on 8 January 2015. The people did not vote for him to replace Mahinda Rajapaksa in office.

Continue reading ‘Maithripala Sirisena has finally decided to do what he was elected to be – President of the Republic.’ »

by C.A.Chandraprema

President Sirisena’s request for a determination from the Supreme Court as to whether he could remain in power for six years even after the 19th Amendment reduced the term of the President to five years has caused consternation in the pro-yahapalana camp and quiet glee among their opponents. One of the pioneers of the yahapalana project, university lecturer Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri, has reproduced on his facebook page the Colombo Telegraph report of Sirisena asking the SC whether there is any impediment to his remaining in power for six years with a cryptic message in Sinhala suggesting that they (the yahapalanites) were now completely naked before the people. Among those who made representations in the Supreme Court against Sirisena was the Centre for Policy Alternatives and the elections monitoring outfit CAFFE which were firmly within the yahapalana camp.

The President’s query addressed to the Supreme Court left no doubt as to what he had in mind. The query went as follows: “Whether, in terms of Provisions of the Constitution, I, as the person elected and succeeding to the office of President and having assumed such office in terms of Article 32(1) of the Constitution on 09 January 2015, have any impediment to continue in the office of President for a period of 6 years from 09 January 2015, the date on which the result of my election to the office of President was declared”. In the wake of the caterwaul of protest that this evoked, the President’s Media Office issued a statement claiming that the President was only trying to clear the confusion surrounding this matter by asking for a SC determination on the subject, but the wording of the query implies otherwise.

This is a very clear attempt on the part of the President to extend his term to six years once again after it was reduced to five years by the 19th Amendment. The 19th Amendment was brought for the purpose of abolishing the executive Presidency as Sirisena had promised at the 2015 Presidential election. When Jayampathy Wickremeratne and others took to the newly elected President Sirisena the original draft of the 19th Amendment, the President had barked at them “Mawa pambayek karannada hadanne?” (Are you trying to turn me into a scarecrow?) and he had chased them away. Thereafter, Sirisena and the JHU whittled down the 19th Amendment until there was nothing left except the establishment of the constitutional council to recommend appointments to key state posts and this reduction of the term of the President from six to five years. It was the JHU that surreptitiously included in Sirisena’s manifesto a clause saying that he would agree to constitutional changes only to the extent that a referendum would not be necessary.

Continue reading ‘Maithripala’s Frantic Bid To Seek Further Extension Of Term Was Triggered Off By Mahinda’s Statement About Presidential Elections in 2019.’ »

By Prakash M Swamy

U.S. Senate Candidate, inventor of e-mail and tech guru Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai has exposed Harvard University’s attempt to pilfer trillions of dollars worth of indigenous artifacts through the sale of a “Harvard Tamil Chair” professorship.

Harvard sought to collect $6 Million from the Tamil Diaspora worldwide, who had no idea of Harvard’s business model of selling professorships to fund its $35 Billion hedge fund investments. Tamil is the oldest surviving language with the richest body of poetry, art, and literature known to humankind, along with hundreds of thousands of sacred artifacts codified in palm leaf manuscripts embodying the scientific, technological and medical knowledge spanning at least 5,000 years of the Tamilians, the indigenous people of the Indian subcontinent, who today primarily reside in Tamil Nadu in India.

According to Dr. Ayyadurai, “The fundraising effort in the name of setting up a Tamil Chair is a ruse that exemplifies Harvard’s habitual exploitation of indigenous people. This is an egregious example akin to a burglar asking you to pay money to buy a rickety ladder to rob your own home. Harvard is asking Tamilians to pay $6 million for a professorship that will be used to rob their own historic artifacts worth trillions of dollars representing the ‘Holy Grail’ of the world’s most highly-prized indigenous knowledge.” Harvard will then proceed to use access to those artifacts to rewrite and hegemonies Tamil history, an unfortunate and recurrent process that Harvard has done for far too long to many indigenous cultures.

Harvard’s financial statements reveal that the university is fundamentally a tax-exempt Wall Street hedge fund with cash and investments of nearly $35 Billion. In 2016 alone, Harvard’s capital marketing campaign raised $7 Billion, with its hedge fund in 2017 yielding $2 billion in gross profits. The operating budget further reveals that professors and administrators effectively serve as business development staff to attract wealthy donors to fund Chairs and professorships that finance their lucrative hedge fund. In 2017, as the Boston Globe reported, Harvard’s seven top hedge fund managers earned a total of nearly $58 million in compensation.

Continue reading ‘Move To Raise Funds and Set Up Tamil Chair at Harvard University Is Ruse To Exploit Tamils and Hegemonize Tamil Culture and History Alleges Tech Guru Dr.Shiva Ayyadurai.’ »

By Dinasena Rathugamage

A chaotic situation prevailed in Jaffna after some SLFP candidates contesting the forthcoming local government elections played some songs of the now defunct LTTE.

Number of politicians in Jaffna had complained to the Election Related Violence Centrers about the conduct of some politicians who had used the liberation songs of the Tigers in their campaigns when the elections commissioner had strictly instructed not to use such songs during the run-up to the local government election.

Continue reading ‘Some of the Sirisena led SLFP Candidates Contesting Local Polls in Jaffna Display Prabhakaran Images and Play LTTE Songs In Election Campaign’ »

By
Ajit Kanagasundram

The world today is desperate to attract foreign talent. Thirty percent of Silicon Valley startups are by Indians, and the same percentage is true of Microsoft employees, NASA employees and US physicians. Canada and Australia have long had a point system to attract talent and the US and the UK are thinking of adopting a similar system in place of their current family re-union system. Even Germany has a special Visa quota for software professionals from India.

Singapore preceded all these countries by being open from the inception to foreign talent as it knew that they were required for it to meet its ambition to become a regional and then global hub for trade, manufacturing and finance.Lee Kwan Yew openly alluded to the fact that he depended on Jaffna Tamils as a resource to build up Singapore in the early years. This article will try and describe their significant and unique contributions spanning the five decades of Singapore’s existence as an independent nation.

The Jaffna Tamils hail from the arid North of Sri Lanka and the only advantages they had was their native intelligence and an excellent education system set up by American missionaries. The Jaffna Tamils valued education above all else and the education system the missionaries set up emphasized the English Language and mathematics.The British valued this education and The Jaffna Tamil propensity for hard work and recruited them for the minor government positions such as clerks and station master both in colonial Ceylon and in the Federated States of Malaysia and Singapore.

It was said that in the 1930s you could travel by train from Singapore to the Thailand border and every station master enroute would be a Jaffna Tamil! It was their descendants who were to play such a significant role in the history of Singapore as an independent nation. The contribution of the Ceylon Tamils were in four main areas – politics and government, law, medicine and sports and I will describe each separately.
Continue reading ‘How the “Ceylon” Tamils From Sri Lanka Contributed to Singapore Over The Years’ »

(Text of Editorial appearing in “the Island” of January 12th 2018 under the heading “Whither yahapalanaya?”)

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), in response to a question posed by President Maithripala Sirisena, is deliberating whether he can serve a six-year term. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution has reduced the presidential term to five years. We refrain from commenting on it out of deference to the apex court.

Co-Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne has told the media the President is right in having consulted the SC to clear some doubts about the duration of his term. One cannot but agree with the minister on this score. The President can seek opinions from the SC. But, the issue at hand is different from other constitutional ambiguities in that the public was given to understand that President Sirisena had voluntarily reduced his term by one year. He was expected to leave office after serving a five-year term. He earned admiration of the general public and some political commentators went so far as to call the President a modern-day Sirisangabo (a king who ‘donated’ his head to a stranger according to legend). President used to boast that he was the only head of state in the world to have his term shortened. The yahapalana camp has been flaunting his ‘sacrifice’ to boost its image. But, owing to his question to the Supreme Court at issue he has come to be seen as yet another politician who can’t bring himself to let go of power.

Continue reading ‘Maithripala Sirisena Once Hailed as a Modern Day Sri Sangabo Should Hang up His Boots After Completing Five Years as President -The Island’ »

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) told the Sri Lankan Supreme Court on Thursday that the 19 th. Amendment of the constitution makes it very clear that the term of the President, including the incumbent Maithripa Sirisena, is five years and not six.

“CPA’s position on the 19 th. Amendment to the Constitution is very clear. The Amendment makes express provision that the President’s term is limited to five years: Article 30(2) of the Constitution says that the President of the Republic shall be elected by the People, and shall hold office for a term of five years,” the think tank said in its intervening submission.

“Further, the Amendment’s transitional provisions explicitly state that this five-year term limit applies equally to the sitting President. Section 49(1)(b) of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution says, “for the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that … the persons holding office respectively, as the President and Prime Minister on the day preceding April 22, 2015 shall continue to hold such office after such date, subject to the provisions of the Constitution as amended by this Act.”

Continue reading ‘Constitution Bars Sirisena from Getting Extra Year in Office, Centre for Policy Alternatives Tells Supreme Court’ »

By S.S. Selvanayagam

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya yesterday (11) contended that President Maithripala Sirisena could continue his term of office as President for six years, even as a five-judge bench of the country’s highest court heard interventions on a knotty and politically charged question put before them by the incumbent President himself.

Making submissions in a packed courtroom, the Attorney General, appearing with Additional Solicitor General Murdu Fernando and Deputy Solicitor General Nerin Pulle, submitted that the incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena had sought the opinion of the Supreme Court on whether there was any impediment to him continuing his terms of office for six years as President as amended in Article 31 of the 19th Amendment.

He stated that the presidential election was held on 8 January 2015 and incumbent President Sirisena was elected and assumed duty on 9 January 2015.

The Attorney General argued that the President had been elected on 9 January for a term of office of six years.

Continue reading ‘Maithripala Sirisena Can Continue As President For Six Years Argues Attorney – General Jayantha Jayasuriya Before Supreme Court’ »

By Chitra Weerarathne

President’s Counsel Manohara de Silva said in the Supreme Court yesterday that Parliament had not said that the incumbent President Sirisena could hold office for six years when it passed the 19th amendment to the Constitution in May 2015; it had only said the term of the President should be five years and not six years. Under the operative law President Sirisena could not go beyond five years, he argued

The five-member bench comprised Chief Justice Priyasarth Dep, Justice Eva Wanasundera, Justice Buwaneka Aluwihare, Justice Sisira De Abrew and Justice K. T. Chitrasiri.

President Sirisena has sought a clarification from the Supreme Court whether the 19th Amendment has any effect on the six-year duration of his term.

At the outset, the Attorney General President’s Counsel Jayantha Jayasooriya said the people had exercised their franchise and elected the incumbent President on January 8, 2015.

Continue reading ‘Counsel Argue For and Against Six Year Term For President Maithripala Sirisena Before Five Judge Bench Of Supreme Court’ »

Colonel R Hariharan

The two-decade long wait of thousands of fans of Tamil cinema’s superstar Rajinikanth ended on New Year eve when he announced his entry into politics is certain. To the roaring approval of thousands of fans attending the six-day interaction with the Thalaiva (as they lovingly call him), he added, “I will form my own political party and contest from all 234 seats in the next assembly election.”

As the news spread, Tamil Nadu’s political parties went into a tizzy. They have strong reasons to worry – many of their youthful party cadre were also members of Rajini fan clubs across the state. Responding to their Thalaiva’s call, there is a fear that they may shed their party affiliations to join his party.

Officially, there were 50,000 registered Rajini fan clubs in the state in 1995-96, when registration was stopped. Incidentally, there is a fan club in far-off Tokyo! According to a media estimate, now there are 80,000 fan clubs in all. In his speech, Rajinikanth said “I have several thousand fan clubs, in villages and cities all across the state. The unregistered ones are twice as many.” Rajinikanth said that uniting them all would be the first task. Moreover, there are thousands of fans in all age groups outside the fan clubs also. It is these formidable numbers that worries the political parties.

Continue reading ‘Will Superstar Rajinikanth’s foray into politics make a dent in established parties such as the AIADMK and the DMK?’ »

By

Veeragathy Thanabalasingham

“My entry into politics is certain.This is the compulsion of the times. In the upcoming state assembly polls, I will start my own political party, and contest in all the 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu.” With those words, Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, idolized as Rajinikanth the larger than life superstar of the Tamil movie world, entered the political arena on New Year’s Eve, bringing to an end two decades of vacillation over the move.

Declaring that the time for political change has come, the superstar pronounced his politics would be spiritual and devoid of religion or caste orientations, but purposefully refrained from spelling out any ideological position or political program.

As to forming his own party, Rajinikanth has emerged pragmatic, saying there isn’t time to get organized to contest the local body polls, likely to be held in few months, and as for the 2019 parliamentary elections, he would decide when the time comes. However, the superstar who has been extremely critical of political events in Tamil Nadu in the past year, is said to have urged his fans not to talk politics or about him and not to criticize other political leaders and parties until his party is launched, to face a democratic challenge.

Ever the charismatic superstar, Rajinikanth used his formidable stage presence to get the message of his political ambitions to fans all over Tamil Nadu. Clearly, he has his eye on the state assembly elections in 2021, with the Chief Minister post as the ultimate goal.

Continue reading ‘Can Superstar Rajinikanth Be Another “Puratchi Thalaiver” MGR?’ »

By Skandha Gunasekara and Ashwin Hemmathagama

Parliamentary proceedings descended into fisticuffs and name-calling yesterday when a brawl erupted in the House after the Speaker failed to obtain and table the bond report in Parliament.

United National Party (UNP) and Joint Opposition parliamentarians clashed yesterday soon after the Joint Opposition invaded the Well of the House.

The chaos began when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was making his statement despite the Joint Opposition (JO) invading the Well, displaying placards and chanting slogans. The serjeant-at-arms Anil Parakrama Samarasekera and his deputy Kushan Jayaratne held the Mace in the bracket when the JO parliamentarians tried to grab it

As the Prime Minister continued, the UNP MPs too stepped into the Well of the House and began shouting at the JO in retaliation. Once the Premier wrapped up his speech Speaker Karu Jayasuriya suspended sittings for 10 minutes at around 11.00 a.m.

Continue reading ‘Parliamentarian Brawl: Marikkar Punches Lokuge Who Slaps Marikkar Who Hits Lokuge From Behind; Chaminda Wijesiri Tears Prasanna Ranaweera’s Shirt:Johnston Fernando Punches Chaminda Wijesiri and Hector Appuhamy;Prasanna Ranatunga Hits Wijesiri and Runs Away: Ranjith Soyza Assaulted:Kavinda Jayawardene Faints;Ranjan Ramanayake Records Fracas On Mobile Phone’ »

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirsena’s bid to get another year in office through a Supreme Court interpretation of the relevant clauses of the 19 th. Amendment (19A) of the Constitution, stems both from a lack of clarity in the clauses and Sirisena’s own pressing need to stay in power a little longer.

In a letter to Chief Justice Priyasath Dep dated January 8, Sirisena had sought the court’s opinion on whether there is a constitutional bar on his continuing in office for six hears instead of five.

What Sirisena asked in his letter was: “Whether, in terms of Provisions of the Constitution, I, as the person elected and succeeding to the office of President and having assumed such office in terms of Article 32(1) of the Constitution on 09th January 2015, have any impediment to continue in the office of President for a period of 6 years from 09th January 2015, the date on which the result of my election to the office of President was declared”.

President Sirisena had asked for a response to be submitted to him on or before January 14, 2018.

Continue reading ‘Why Maithripala Sirisena Wants To Extend His Presidential Term Of Office From Five To Six Years’ »

By

Saman Indrajith

Brawls marred yesterday’s special parliamentary sitting as the UNP and the Joint Opposition (JO) MPs resorted to fisticuffs after the Speaker failed to arrange for the tabling of the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that investigated the Treasury bond scams.

The JO MPs invaded the Well of the House protesting against the government’s failure to honour its promise to table the report.

When the House commenced sittings, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, said that the Presidential Secretariat had informed him that the bond commission report and 34 reports of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC) would be made available to Parliament after one week. The Secretary to the President had also informed the Speaker that copies of the bond commission report had been referred to the Attorney General, Central Bank and the Bribery Commission.

Continue reading ‘Fisticuffs Break Out In The House Following Speaker’s Failure To table Bond Scam Probe Commission Report In Parliament.’ »

By

Dr. Ameer Ali

Since the first parliamentary elections in 1947 Tamil-Muslim political relations in Sri Lanka has been dominated by mutual mistrust. Even though the Chelvanakam’sFederal Party and Ponnampalam’sCeylon Tamil Congress included the Muslims under the rubric Tamil-speaking people whenever they addressed public rallies, and similarly, even though Muslim political leaders talked tirelessly of the Tamil language and the proverbial ‘pittu and coconut” to underline the two communities’ inseparable coexistence, these were in reality utterances reiterated more for reasons of political correctness than out of any genuine concern for each other’s political, economic and cultural development and well being.

This historical fact cannot be glossed over any more and should be openly confronted, admitted and removed because Sri Lankan politics has reached such a critical juncture where particularly after 2009 majoritarian politics, consumed overwhelmingly by ethnic and religious chauvinism,has created an existential crisis for both minorities.

Past strategies of playing politics of opportunism on the part of Muslims and of separatism on the part of Tamils have passed their use by date, and new strategies have to be thought out for the two communities to live and prosper with equality and dignity in a globally connected but locally undivided Sri Lanka.

One would have thought that after the end of the 25-year bloody civil war Colombo leadership would have come to its senses to sort out the minority issue quickly and seriously and avoid international agencies to intervene in a purely domestic matter. One would have also expected the two minority communities to have realised that their future survival, dignity and development cannot be achieved through mutual suspicion and mistrust but through unity built on frank admission of past mistakes, openness in dialogue and justice in objectives.

No doubt that a united plural Sri Lanka with all its naturally endowed and humanly created resources is a match to any country in the world. Yet and tragically, what has happened over the last nine years was deliberate procrastination by successive governments leading to further deterioration of national unity, increasing economic hardship to many and encroaching foreign influence in the country.

Continue reading ‘Politics of Mistrust Prevails Between The Tamil And Muslim Communities Of Sri Lanka’ »

The inquiries into a controversial bond auctions by the parliament and presidential commission showed that rule of law was once again working in Sri Lanka but people still find it to be unusual Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament.

He said an inquiry initiative by him by three lawyers had recommended a further investigation and then the parliaments’ Committee on Public Enterprises had also examined the issue, showing that the assembly had control over the country’s finances.

Wickremesinghe said he had presented the report to the Attorney General and the Central Bank Governor had also frozen 12 billion rupees of assets of Perpetual Treasuries which is alleged to have made illegal profits.

Continue reading ‘UNP MP’s Form Cordon To Protect Prime Minister From Opposition Attacks While Chanting “Hora,Hora,Mahinda Hora”(Thief,Thief, Mahinda Thief)’ »

Many UNP MPs claimed that UPFA Parliamentarian Gamini Lokuge started the fistfight in Parliament, this morning.

Parliamentarian Hirunika Premachandra said it was Lokuge who started the fight by attacking S.M Marikkar in the isle of the House.

It was confirmed by Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva who said he saw how Lokuge started the fight.

Continue reading ‘Joint Opposition MP Gamini Lokuge Started Fight In Parliament By Attacking Govt MP Marikkar Charge Hirunika Premachandra and Harsha De Silva’ »

A tense situation erupted in the Sri Lankan Parliament on Wednesday as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe read a special statement to the House over a Treasury bond scam committed at the Central Bank.

Opposition legislators, loyal to former President Mahinda Rajapakse, launched a protest in the middle of the House as Wickremesinghe read his statement, calling for the Speaker of Parliament to divulge the details of the Treasury Bond scam which had been probed by a special presidential commission.

The situation soon turned violent when an object was hurled at the Prime Minister.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya suspended sittings for 10 minutes in order to restore normalcy.

Continue reading ‘Speaker Suspends Sittings As Violence Erupts In Parliament After Prime Minister Wickremesinghe Is Hit By an Object While Making Special Statement On treasury Bond Scam’ »

by Chitra Weerarathne

President Maithripala Sirisena, who publicly proclaimed several times, that he had voluntarily agreed to get his term of office reduced from six years to five through the 19th Amendment passed in April 2015, making it a world record by a sitting leader, has now asked the Supreme Court whether he can complete the original six year term.

A source close to the President yesterday confirmed that the Head of State had, in fact, asked the highest court for its opinion on the matter.

President Sirisena has asked the Supreme Court “Whether, in terms of Provisions of the Constitution, I, as the person elected and succeeding to the office of President and having assumed such office in terms of Article 32(1) of the Constitution on 9th January 2015, have any impediment to continue in the office of President for a period of six years from 9th January 2015, the date on which the result of my election to the office of President was declared”.

Consequently, Supreme Court Registrar Mrs M.M. Jayasekera has written to the President/Secretary of the Bar Association yesterday stating “I have been directed by His Lordship the Hon Chief Justice to inform you that His Excellency the President, in terms of Article 129(1) of the Constitution, has referred to this court (regarding the above) for its consideration and for an opinion to be submitted to His Excellency on or before 14th January 2018.

“I shall be pleased, if you could inform to the membership that the above mentioned reference will be listed on 11th January 2016 at 11:00 am in the Supreme Court.”

The Bar Association Secretary in turn yesterday sent notices to its membership to make their observations to the court tomorrow as requested by it as per ‘Supreme Court Reference 01/2018’.

The Island learns that the SC Registrar has made a similar request to the Attorney General.

Courtesy:The Island

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena has asked the Supreme Court if he can remain in office for six years despite having reduced his tenure to five through a constitutional amendment, officials said Tuesday.

The move to seek an interpretation to the 19th amendment to the constitution which among other things reduced the term of office to five years will put Sirisena on a collision course with his senior coalition partner.

The United National Party-led government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was hoping for a presidential poll by January 2020, six months ahead of the next general election.

Sirisena’s letter to the Supreme Court seeking an interpretation suggests he wants to remain in power for another year despite having repeatedly claimed he voluntarily shortened his tenure.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Desiring To Extend His Term of Office For One More Year May Result In Major Confrontation With Prime Minister and UNP’ »

Angelo Mathews has been appointed as the ODI and T20 captain of the Sri Lanka national team, the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announced short while ago.

SLC President Thilanga Sumathipala officially announced the decision at a press briefing being held in Colombo.

The Sri Lanka Cricket Selection committee has decided to appoint Mathews as the captain following a discussion held with newly appointed head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe.

Courtesy:Daily Mirror

By

(Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama and Indika Sri Aravinda

UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake yesterday denied the claims made by Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader Minister Mano Ganesan that underworld figures had been nominated for the upcoming local government (LG) elections to represent the Colombo North.

Responding to a question raised by a journalist when MP Karunanayake visiting the grave site of slain newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, on his 9th death anniversary at the Borella Cemetery in Colombo, said, if ‘members of underworld’ can stay in the government what would be the problem.

“I cordially invite all media personnel to visit Colombo North and to investigate over the claims made by Minister Mano Ganesan. We are walking freely but that minister is walking with special security,” he said.

Continue reading ‘‘Name The Underworld Figures Of Colombo North We Have Supposedly Nominated For Local Govt Elections” – Ex-Minister Ravi Karunanayake Urges Cabinet Minister Mano Ganesan’ »

By
Ranga Jayasuriya

Last week, President Maithripala Sirisena swung his ‘sword’ that he recently vouched to use. The UNP had a good deal of its vital parts cut off. It would be nursing those wounds throughout the local government election campaign, which it was earlier expected to win hands down.

The president in his much awaited statement on the report of the Presidential Commission appointed to investigate the alleged irregularities in the Central Bank bond deals delivered a damning censure against the former Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran, his son-in-law and Perpetual Treasuries Ltd., owner Arjun Aloysious and former finance minister Ravi Karunanayake.

He assured that legal action would be taken against those implicated by the Commission and to implement the Commission’s recommendations that involve an overhaul of the Central Bank’s bond department, introducing a new Monetary Law and replacing the Registered Share Market Act with a new law.

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena Swings His Sword To Cut Off a Good Deal Of The UNP’s Vital Parts’ »

(Text of MEDIA RELEASE Issued by Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the “Third anniversary of the incompetent government responsible for the worst debt crisis in Sri Lankan history”)

On 9 January 2018, the so-called yahapalana government completes three years in office. During this short period they have created numerous crises running through virtually every sector in Sri Lanka. The main subject of public discussion today is the bond scam and the attempts being made by the yahapalana leaders to sweep it under the carpet. We are awaiting the release of the full report of the Bond Commission. The bond scam is only one of the many disasters brought upon this country by the yahapalana government. As this government marks its third anniversary, I wish to draw the attention of the public to another danger they have brought upon this country.

During the short period of 36 months that this government has been in power, they have borrowed over USD 14.6 billion in foreign currency loans alone, the breakdown of which would be as follows – USD 7.2 billion through the issue of Sri Lanka Development Bonds from January 2015 onwards, USD 3.6 billion from sovereign bonds issued in 2015 and 2017, USD 2.2 billion through currency swap arrangements with India in 2015 and 2016, USD 1.7 billionthrough syndicated loans arranged through several international banks in 2016 and 2017 and USD 1.5 billion from the IMF Extended Fund Facility in 2016. No previous government has borrowed so much money through foreign currency loans in such a short period of time.

Even though 14.6 billion USD would suffice to build five Norochcholai power plants, five Hambantotaharbours with enough money being left over to build two more Southern Expressways, the yahapalana government has not built even a culvert with that money. I have made reference so far only to foreign currency loans. From January 2015 to date, the yahapalana government has borrowed well over Rs. 5.7 trillion in Rupee loans as well, through the issue of treasury bills and treasury bonds.The government commissionedthe Moragahakanda project and opened the Rajagriya flyover to coincide with its third anniversary so as to answer the critics who say that the yahapalana government has not built anything tangible despite massive foreign borrowings. However, the Moragahakanda project was planned, financial allocations were made and construction commended under my government way back in 2007 in accordance with the 2005 MahindaChintanaprogramme. Likewise the Rajagiriya flyover was planned and money was allocated for its construction by my government. Cabinet approval was granted to call for bids to select contractors for the construction of the flyovers in Rajagiriya, Polgahawela and Ganemullaat the cabinet meeting held on 4 December 2014.

Continue reading ‘Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa wants Voters To Register Their Protest Against “This Corrupt,Incompetent Govt” On Feb 10th’ »

(Following is the statement by Lal Wickrematunge, brother of slain The Sunday Leader Founder Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickrematunge, on the ninth anniversary of his murder. It was read out by Lal’s daughter Minal at the memorial gathering held on 8 January at Lasantha’s graveside)

Nine years have passed since Lasantha was done to death in the most dastardly fashion. Nine years have passed and justice has not been done. Murder, not restricted to Lasantha but of other journalists, was carried out with impunity at a time when apathy reigned amongst the people.

At present there is a sense of hopelessness at the manner the present administration is handling investigations. Should political authorities be guiding murder investigations, one may ask. Some may argue that it is the duty to do so since the very same murders have been used to garner votes at election time. Presently, the murders are used to remind people of how brutal a regime was when they occurred. But what about bringing the perpetrators to book?
Continue reading ‘Slain Editor Lasantha Wickrematunga’s Brother Lal Asks Govt at 9th Death Anniversary “What About Bringing The Perpetrators To Book”?’ »