{"id":46675,"date":"2016-05-13T16:57:22","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T20:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=46675"},"modified":"2016-05-13T16:57:22","modified_gmt":"2016-05-13T20:57:22","slug":"the-truth-about-udayanga-weeratunga-is-the-government-playing-russian-roulette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=46675","title":{"rendered":"The truth about Udayanga Weeratunga: Is the government playing Russian Roulette?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u2018controversy\u2019 surrounding Sri Lanka\u2019s former Ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga was revived again with the recent visit of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa to Thailand. A photo uploaded on the web by Weeratunga of himself standing beside his relative Rajapaksa during this visit, has gone viral. This episode led to renewed allegations from the yahapalana government – this time around the charge being that Weeratunga is \u2018wanted\u2019 in RUSSIA over arms smuggling, and for questioning over the death of Noel Ranaweera, a former employee of Sri Lanka\u2019s mission in Moscow. There were calls to \u2018probe\u2019 the Weeratunga-Rajapaksa meeting in order to ascertain Weeratunga\u2019s whereabouts and track him down. <\/p>\n

Days after the Weeratunga-Rajapaksa meeting in Thailand, UNP National List MP Nalin Bandara at a media briefing at Sirikotha said that the Russian government had told the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry that Weeratunga is \u2018wanted for questioning\u2019 in Russia over charges of weapons smuggling to rebels, and that the Russian government had even named the rebel groups. <\/p>\n

The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Colombo has confirmed that Weeratunga is not \u201cwanted\u201d for any offence in Russia. Responding to a phone query the embassy\u2019s Press Secretary Evgeniya Altukhova asked \u201cWanted \u2013 by whom? That is the important question. In Russia, Udayanga is not wanted for any questioning. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia has nothing to ask him. We have no suspicions of him.\u201d Referring to the remarks made by the MP, Altukhova said \u201cI can only question his sources,\u201d and that the information \u201cis not from us.\u201d <\/p>\n

She observed that the Ukrainian ambassador too has made a statement rejecting the accusations made against Weeratunga, but qualified the remark by saying this would have to be independently checked. \u201cIf Udayanga has any problem, the only problem is in Sri Lanka\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s new round of attacks directed against the former envoy is not only deceitful but also hilarious, reflecting ignorance of basic facts relating to the Ukraine\u2013Russia conflict, against which background the accusations are made. The allegation made by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and repeated frequently to the media by his deputies and interlocutors, is that Weeratunga supplied weapons to \u2018pro- Russian Ukrainian separatist rebels\u2019 operating in the region of the Ukraine-Russia border. Now if that is the case, why would the Russian government make accusations over weapons being supplied to them? Isn\u2019t it the Ukrainian side that should be worried?<\/p>\n

Asked for clarification on Noel Ranaweera\u2019s case Altukhova said that Ranaweera died in a motor accident involving several cars on the streets of Russia. \u201cThe driver of the vehicle that ran over him, a Russian man, has been convicted and the case is closed\u201d she said. \u201cUdayanga was not a suspect in the case. There were two police reports and video tapes\u201d relating to the incident she said. <\/p>\n

The allegations in circulation against Udayanga Weeratunga started in March last year when Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko\u2019s government had \u2018complained\u2019 to the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry accusing Weeratunga of being involved in weapons sales to \u2018pro-Russian separatist rebels.\u2019 The story was picked up and widely reported by local and foreign media. At a media briefing at the foreign ministry on 03.06.15 reporters were told that Ukraine\u2019s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, who is based in New Delhi, had informed Sri Lankan officials that Ukrainian authorities were \u2018investigating\u2019 the alleged transfer of weapons by Weeratunga to Ukrainian nationals. <\/p>\n

However the Ukrainian Embassy in Delhi said on Tuesday that \u201cthe Embassy does not have information concerning investigations against Mr. Weeratunga.\u201d The statement by Yaroslav Bielov, First Secretary (Consular) was in response to an email query seeking clarification as to whether Weeratunga was under investigation by Ukrainian authorities for any wrongdoing. <\/p>\n

When the accusations against Weeratunga were first made, local media reported the story without quoting any Ukrainian official on Samaraweera\u2019s assertions. But the foreign ministry\u2019s position was contradicted in a BBC Ukraine report published on 23.03.15 titled \u201cForeign Ministry: Ukraine did not complain about the former Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Russia,\u201d as reported exclusively in the English language press by Los Angeles based journalist Hassina Leelarathna. Referring to the \u2018complaint\u2019 said to have been made to the Sri Lankan government, the BBC report quoted Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis saying “This information has not been confirmed.” <\/p>\n

Since that time the government has given the media frequent re-caps on Weeratunga\u2019s alleged misconduct. Added to this, are charges that Weeratunga was somehow involved in the death of Noel Ranaweera whom Weeratunga had employed as a messenger (some say translator) in the Russian embassy. Though he died in on 11th June 2014, according to reports his family members complained to the police of suspected foul play only on 22.03.15 \u2013 the same day that news reports first appeared regarding minister Samaraweera\u2019s arms-sales-to-rebels allegations. While Ranaweera\u2019s body buried in Attanagalla was exhumed on a magistrate\u2019s order on 02.04.15 the outcome of the inquiry is unknown.<\/p>\n

Another allegation against Weeratunga made by Samaraweera and in sections of the media is that he was associated with an allegedly fraudulent Defence Ministry deal in 2006 to purchase MiG 27 fighter aircraft from Ukraine. Here again Weeratunga\u2019s links with the case would seem tenuous. According to reports the deal was signed on 26.07.06 whereas Weeratunga, who was concurrently accredited to Ukraine, presented his credentials to Ukraine\u2019s President Viktor Yushchenko only on 01.12.06. At the foreign ministry\u2019s media briefing of 03.06.15 it transpired that the FCID had not even sought information from the foreign ministry in connection with the case.<\/p>\n

The repetition of these several accusations over and over again could well have contributed to a public impression being created of Weeratunga as a big-time arms dealer and suspected murderer. The government portrays him as a fugitive avoiding arrest, asking why he does not return to the country and face the charges to clear his name if he is innocent, as he claims. This begs the question of the likelihood of any person returning to face justice in a situation where their reputation has already been ruined and the environment thoroughly poisoned against them through unfounded allegations. <\/p>\n

In an interview with Ceylon Today of 21.02.16 Weeratunga has said he is ready to answer the Sri Lankan foreign ministry\u2019s questions based at either the foreign ministry of Ukraine or the foreign ministry of Russia. He has repeatedly protested that the Sri Lankan foreign ministry was lying about him, and argued that if he was \u2018wanted\u2019 for any crime in Ukraine it would have been impossible for him to live there.<\/p>\n

It would appear from all of the foregoing that despite the furor that has been created over Weeratunga\u2019s alleged criminal activities abroad, he is not \u2018wanted\u2019 anywhere other than in Sri Lanka. And here the only \u2018crime\u2019 he stands guilty of would seem to be that he is a relative of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the government\u2019s main political challenger. Meanwhile strongmen from the previous regime on whom the \u2018corruption\/thuggery cap\u2019 fits much better, are making an appearance in the yahapalana camp. <\/p>\n

The vilification campaign against Udayanga Weeratunga would seem to confirm the suspicions of many, that the numerous investigations launched by the yahapalana government are more in the nature of a witch-hunt against its political opponents than part of a genuine attempt to address corruption. <\/p>\n

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By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya The \u2018controversy\u2019 surrounding Sri Lanka\u2019s former Ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga was revived again with the recent visit of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa to Thailand. A photo uploaded on the web by Weeratunga of himself standing beside his relative Rajapaksa during this visit, has gone viral. This episode led to renewed allegations …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘The truth about Udayanga Weeratunga: Is the government playing Russian Roulette?’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46676,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46675\/revisions\/46676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}