Brother who spent public money for the victory of his brother – Reason to arrest Basil

Thursday, 23 April 2015

Three people have been remanded so far for the misappropriation of public funds. The former minister of economic development Basil Rajapaksa, secretary to the former economic development ministry Nihal Jayathilake and the Divineguma Director General A.K. Ranawaka. These people were arrested as a result when the police financial fraud unit conducted its investigations.

The Divineguma Authority was created in January 2014 by the former regime by coupling many state institutions. Institutions and resources belonged to the Samurdi authority was taken up by the Divineguma Authority covering 1.5 million beneficiaries around the country.

During the last presidential election the Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa spent the Divineguma fund for the campaign of the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Ministry secretary and the Divineguma Director General too have given their fullest support for this. Further they have spent this money to print 5 million of calendars and to give housing loans targeting the election. He has spent these deposits belonging to the poor people of this country to their whims and fancies and spent two million for each person to go for voluntary retirement.

The amount deceived by the former economic development minister is not in thousands and few million but Rs. 6000 million. The money spent in such a way is not belonged to the lavish people like Mahinda or Basil but the poor people of this country who suffered severe hardship during the Rajapaksa tenure