Actual reasons for Mahinda’s support for Arjun exposed

Nov 07, 2016

Soon after the ‘Yahapaalana’ government took power on 08 January 2015, a bank manager in Dubai took screenshots of the balances of three bank accounts. The first belonged to MP Namal Rajapaksa. It mentioned the balance at 1.086 billion US dollars. The second was a joint account by Kudabalage Piyadasa and a close confidant of Rajapaksa family. Its balance was 1.80 billion US dollars. The third was that of ex-MP Sajin Vaas Gunawardena. It had 500 million US dollars. These amounts of money were unimaginable, but the Rajapaksa family had been able to amass that money in Dubai during its nine year rule.

Arjun managed Mahinda’s wealth

 

By January 11 of that year, these screenshots were handed over to new president Maithripala Sirisena through a leading government minister. Then, president Sirisena did a mistake. He showed it to the then Central Bank governor Arjun Mahendran, who got alarmed. That is because it was him who had been the chief investigation officer of the personal wealth management division of Emirates NBD Bank of Dubai. Simply said, it was Arjun Mahendran who had managed the ‘personal wealth’ amassed by the Rajapaksas by swindling public money.

 

At the time these Dubai accounts surfaced, Mahinda Rajapaksa publicly said that he would cut his own throat if it was proven that he had a Dubai account. In fact, his money was in the names of Namal Rajapaksa, Kudabalage Piyadasa and Sajin Vaaas Gunawardena.

 

FBI investigation

 

There are only two international investigative bodies that investigate illegal money transfers. One is in India and the other is in the US. The cabinet decided to handover to the FBI the task of investigating as to how the money of the Rajapaksas came to be in Dubai. Accordingly, FBI officers went to the Dubai bank with the hope of meeting its manager to obtain information. However, he had already fled and was in hiding.

 

Mahinda shows gratitude to Arjun

 

It is in light of these incidents that Mahinda Rajapaksa on October 25 cancelled a media briefing by Dinesh Gunawardena on Mahendran’s bond issue, and advised that the government be allowed to resolve the COPE issue relating to Mahendran. Until then, the joint opposition had been taking Mahendran and the bond issue to task, but at the decisive moment, Mahinda Rajapaksa intervened and silenced them. That is because Arjun has done him favours that no one else has done for him.

 

Deals then and today

 

Simply said, the entire politics is a sea of deals. The deal strikers of the past were driven away, only to make way for yet another group of deal makers, however, due to cross-connections, the previous deals are still in operation.

 

The Lanka News Web has been able to acquire the screenshots of the three bank accounts from Dubai. However, the law is presently taking its course and not wanting to disrupt that process, we refrain from publishing those screenshots. But, we are ready to place them before the public when the time comes.