{"id":38874,"date":"2015-02-23T16:59:43","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T21:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=38874"},"modified":"2015-02-23T17:02:27","modified_gmt":"2015-02-23T22:02:27","slug":"we-have-located-over-2-billion-dollars-stashed-abroad-secretly-by-members-of-previous-administration-mangala-samaraweera-tells-nyt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=38874","title":{"rendered":"“We Have Located Over 2 Billion Dollars Stashed Abroad Secretly by Members of Previous Administration”-Mangala Samaraweera Tells NYT"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Gardiner Harris<\/strong><\/p>\n

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka<\/strong> \u2014 Paintings at Temple Trees, this country\u2019s White House, are still leaning against walls waiting to be hung, and the gated grounds are no longer teeming with guards and stewards who served the home\u2019s previous occupant like supplicants at a royal court.<\/p>\n

\"sketch<\/a>

sketch by: by Hasantha Wijenayake<\/p><\/div>\n

But more than a month after taking over this iconic home after a shocking electoral triumph, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an interview in his office here Saturday that while he has managed to reset relations with the United States, India and China, he has only just started to grapple with the profound issues of releasing hundreds of political prisoners and handing back thousands of acres of land seized mostly from minority Tamils during this country\u2019s long civil war.<\/p>\n

His first two weeks in office were taken up by a visit from the pope and the urgent need to produce a budget, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s only been three weeks,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just started.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That is why he still has only the vaguest idea of how many political prisoners are still in Sri Lanka\u2019s jails and how many acres of land can easily be returned to those from whom they were seized, he said.<\/p>\n

A tentative list of prisoners has already been created, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want it to be verified twice over from my end before we say here\u2019s the final list,\u201d Mr. Wickremesinghe said. \u201cWe should have it by March. And if there is any secret camps, you can close it down and get these people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tens of thousands went missing during the civil war ending in 2009, including people who were killed in battles as well as those said to have been shot in custody. But there have long been rumors of secret camps holding thousands of detainees, a notion Mr. Wickremesinghe sought to dispel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few hundreds, I think, not thousands,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are people who are missing whose names are not found anywhere,\u201d which means they either \u201care not among the living or they left the country. That\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Tamil activists have become increasingly unhappy in recent weeks as a result of what they see as delays in releasing prisoners and returning seized lands. The Tamil-dominated Northern Provincial Council unanimously passed a resolution earlier this month seeking an international investigation into the alleged genocide of Tamils during the country\u2019s civil war. <\/p>\n

The use of the term \u201cgenocide\u201d angered many in the new government, and it came just before the United Nations Human Rights Council agreed to delay the release of a report into human rights violations during the war.<\/p>\n

In an interview in his Colombo home here Sunday, C. V. Wigneswaran, chief minister of the Tamil-dominated Northern Province, said that he fears the prime minister has refused to release prisoners because he does not want to anger the Sinhalese majority ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m talking of a history of not living up to promises in the past,\u201d Mr. Wigneswaran said. \u201cThe prime minister wants to play for time because the elections are coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even without a verified list of prisoners, Mr. Wigneswaran said that dozens who are widely known to be held for political reasons could be released immediately.<\/p>\n

In a separate interview, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that frustrations over the delays were understandable. \u201cNobody seems to know who they are, even those who ought to know,\u201d Mr. Samaraweera said of the prisoners. \u201cThe officials themselves may have been too intimidated to ask questions about things they ought to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa presided over an increasingly authoritarian administration that many here refer to as a regime, and its passing has led to a palpable sense of relief among much of Colombo\u2019s elite, including top business leaders. <\/p>\n

Among the happiest are diplomats and representatives for Western nations with whom the Rajapaksa administration had become combative.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wickremesinghe pledged to return relations with the West to a far happier state. \u201cWhen I was prime minister last, we had good relations with the United States, India and China. The Rajapaksa regime destroyed that. They fought with the West. They fell out with India. And they thought that China would be their savior,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chinese contractors built roads and expanded ports during the Rajapaksa administration that were funded by massive loans. In moves that enraged Indian defense officials, a Chinese submarine twice paid visits to Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital.<\/p>\n

The new government has promised to scrutinize these projects, and Eran Wickramaratne, the deputy minister of highways and investment promotion, said in an interview at his stately home here that his initial review suggests some were \u201chighly corrupt.\u201d Roads that should have cost less than $1 million per kilometer cost more than six times that much, he said.<\/p>\n

Much of that money was stolen by members of the previous administration and secreted abroad, Mr. Samaraweera said in an interview in his office in a fading colonial building here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have already located over $2 billion dollars\u201d stashed in foreign accounts, Mr. Samaraweera said. \u201cWe are speaking to the World Bank and financial intelligence agencies of several countries about it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The excesses of the previous administration included a multimillion-dollar expansion of Temple Trees involving the construction of a 7,000-seat auditorium, three separate high-tech cabinet meeting rooms and a small kidney-shaped swimming pool.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wickremesinghe happily offered tours of the rarely seen home to visiting journalists in hopes of further tarnishing Mr. Rajapaksa, whose supporters held a vast rally last week. Mr. Rajapaksa has been unclear in public statements about whether he will fight in upcoming parliamentary elections or attempt a political comeback of any sort.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wickremesinghe was less uncertain about Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019ll contest,\u201d Mr. Wickremesinghe said. \u201cI know him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courtesy:New York Times<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gardiner Harris COLOMBO, Sri Lanka \u2014 Paintings at Temple Trees, this country\u2019s White House, are still leaning against walls waiting to be hung, and the gated grounds are no longer teeming with guards and stewards who served the home\u2019s previous occupant like supplicants at a royal court. But more than a month after taking …<\/p>\n

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