{"id":50803,"date":"2017-01-14T18:25:59","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T23:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=50803"},"modified":"2017-01-14T18:25:59","modified_gmt":"2017-01-14T23:25:59","slug":"wimal-weerawansa-released-gpvt-vehicles-for-personal-use-of-close-relativesfriendsparty-activists-and-ravana-balaya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=50803","title":{"rendered":"Wimal Weerawansa “Released” Gpvt Vehicles for Personal use of Close relatives,Friends,Party Activists and “Ravana Balaya”"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy<\/p>\n

Rasika Jayakody<\/strong><\/p>\n

National Freedom Front (NFF) leader and UPFA Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa was arrested last week by the Police Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID), for the abuse of state vehicles.<\/p>\n

Several politicians and state officials under the previous government were under investigation for the same charge over the past few months, leading to the Joint Opposition\u2019s accusation that supporters of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa were being harassed over \u2018trivial\u2019 charges.<\/p>\n

Weerawansa was of the opinion that the investigation against him was part of that same political witch-hunt \u2013 something he repeatedly told the media. The allegation that Weerawansa abused vehicles however, was by no means trivial: It was alleged, the former Minister of Housing and Construction misused as many as 40 vehicles while under the Rajapaksa administration.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Relatives<\/strong><\/p>\n

The FCID received complaints that Weerawansa\u2019s close relatives had received vehicles from the institutions under his purview, during the time he was Minister of Housing and Construction (2011 \u2013 2014).<\/p>\n

Records show that one of his nephews – Lalith Pushpakumara, son of his sister Sumanawathie Weerawansa, had received five vehicles (GK-5073, KD-4049, KB-7053, KW-6956, GK-5073, KP-4802) from his Ministry.
\nRidma Vimukthi Weerawansa, another nephew, had also received a vehicle from Weerawansa.<\/p>\n

Ananda Ashoka Kumara, the husband of the parliamentarian\u2019s wife\u2019s sister, had received three vehicles (KB-6038, HQ-4974, GR-5774, KI-4648, KA-7440) from Weerawansa\u2019s Ministry.<\/p>\n

Another vehicle (GY- 4635) had been given to Pallaperu Gamage Ananda Priyadarshana, the husband of Weerawansa sister, Nilani Weerawansa.<\/p>\n

Nilani Weerawansa too, received of her brother\u2019s generosity, with the Ministry releasing a vehicle (JN 8058) for her use.<\/p>\n

Aside from relatives, his friends and party activists too had received vehicles from the Ministry, on Weerawansa\u2019s instructions: Among them is a journalist attached to a vernacular newspaper, and several members of the National Freedom Front.<\/p>\n

An interesting revelation was the fact that Iththakande Sadhdhathissa Thera, the leader of the Ravana Balaya, was among those who received vehicles from Weerawansa\u2019s Ministry: The Ravana Balaya is an ultra-nationalist group supporting former President Rajapaksa\u2019s political campaign, and has many anti-minority acts to its account.<\/p>\n

Weerawansa had also appointed Saddhdathissa Thera as a director of the National Housing Authority \u2013 an institution coming under the Housing and Construction Ministry, and these revelations uncover a link between certain violent ultra-nationalist organizations, and the Rajapaksa administration.<\/p>\n

Police sources said, the loss incurred by the government due to abuse of vehicles during the time when Weerawansa\u2019s was at the helm of the Ministry, was over Rs. 90 million: It is in this context that Weerawansa was arrested by the FCID, last week.<\/p>\n

Weerawansa\u2019s statement to the FCID has also raised eyebrows: While saying he could not recall specific reasons why he obtained vehicles from the Engineering Corporation for his personal staff, he did offer the justification that the Ministry had initiated various large-scale projects under his guidance, and that many people, including his staff members, were committed to ensure its success.<\/p>\n

Absolving himself of any wrong, the NFF leader said: \u201cThe Minister only gives instructions. It is up to the officials to take action based on the Minister\u2019s instructions, without breaking the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weerawansa said, he was not aware that vehicles had been obtained by the Ministry for his personal staff, but said, it might have happened based on examples set in the past.<\/p>\n

On the allegation that vehicles from his Ministry had been given to his relatives, Weerawansa said he was not aware of such a thing: He did say however, that his nephews Vimukthi Weerawansa and Lalith Pushpakumara – who have allegedly made use of six state-owned vehicles – did \u2018voluntary work\u2019 for the Ministry.<\/p>\n

He also made the statement that members of his extended family, who are being investigated by the FCID, had been on his personal staff.<\/p>\n


\nAgitation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weerawansa\u2019 supporters received wind of his impending arrest and began a massive social media campaign urging Rajapaksa supporters to gather in front of the FCID to agitate against the arrest of the parliamentarian.<\/p>\n

His party also initiated an island wide poster campaign, describing Weerawansa\u2019s arrest as a political witch-hunt.<\/p>\n

Weerawansa\u2019s family was at the forefront of the \u2018mini-rally\u2019 held by his supporters near the FCID premises.<\/p>\n

Among them were Weerawansa\u2019s sister-in-law Thanuja Nishanthi and her daughter, who were captured on camera cursing the government and those who voted for President Sirisena.<\/p>\n

Nishanthi\u2019s daughter, speaking directly to the media, threatened to enter politics to make amends for Weerawansa\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

While outrage on the part of Weerawansa and his relatives \u2013 however misguided \u2013 can be empathized with, it calls to question systematic flaws that allow this sort of abuses and blatant self-absolvents.<\/p>\n

It is why solid frameworks and policies must come into effect, negating such issues in the future and ensuring that ministers do not spoil their families, friends and party activists with state money and state resources.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Sunday Observer<\/p>\n

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

By Rasika Jayakody National Freedom Front (NFF) leader and UPFA Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa was arrested last week by the Police Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID), for the abuse of state vehicles. Several politicians and state officials under the previous government were under investigation for the same charge over the past few months, leading to the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Wimal Weerawansa “Released” Gpvt Vehicles for Personal use of Close relatives,Friends,Party Activists and “Ravana Balaya”’ »<\/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\/50803"}],"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=50803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50804,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50803\/revisions\/50804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}