Ravi Karunanayake Should Resign, Not Because Aluthgamage Says So

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –JULY 26, 2017

Shyamon Jayasinghe

“It is another matter that the very fact that investigators now, unlike during Rajapakse rule, invade the person of powerful political figures stands as a most refreshing outcome of yahapalanaya.”

The gentleman by the name of Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is one of the black sheep falling off from the broad ranks of the yahapalanaya movement. He must resign; if he doesn’t, he must be removed. This is not because former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamagesays so; that was a the pot calling the kettle black. It is easy to explain why.

Yahapalanaya -not the Property of any Political Group

Firstly, let us all realise that Yahapalanaya is not the property of any political group. It is a social movement originally led by the Late Revd Maduluwawe Sobita that took off during the later stages of the Rajapaksa ten-year-old regime. Socially conscious intellectuals and others banded together to change the direction of the country on to a sustainable path defined  by democratic freedoms, accountability, and the supremacy of law and order. This, they saw, as the fundamental base from which economic and social development can be predicated and the life of people made to flourish. The present government is only the chosen political instrument for that transformation. If the government fails to deliver, the movement will opt for another political instrument. Black sheep will fall by the wayside.

From the vantage point of my location in a country (Australia) defined by established systems of yahapalanaya, I have mentally aligned myself with this civil movement.  Our country profoundly needed a broad social movement emerging from the civil community since the more progressive of the political class seemed locked in an intrinsic inability to extricate itself from the menacing shackles and growing darkness of the Rajapaksa regime. The Mahanayakes and the GMOA, who shout now, were conspicuous by their inactivity then-at the hour of national crisis.

Ravi’s Myth Building

To begin with, I didn’t like Minister Ravi advertising himself with third party testimonials as  “the best Minister of Finance,” somewhere. What a wise move it was, made just in the nick of time, to have replaced this best Foreign Minister! Simultaneously, what an unwise move to have attached the Lotteries Board to his new portfolio of Foreign Affairs!  Sans any logic, it also smelt bad. Yet, Ravi got into the saddle. He now talks of “commercialising,” the orientation of the Foreign Service. As if that styling wasn’t there in the first place!  I am fed up with these kinds of slogans which our politicians have been feeding on. Be it “Gam Udawa,” Uthuru Wasanthaya,” or “Mathata Thithak”-these slogans have not meant anything real in the life of our people. They are meant to deceive by myth-building. I am glad President Sirisena has not come out with something like that.  Or has he?

Our religious leadership, educational institutions and media have never made it their serious responsibility to help build a critical community that would see through political myth-building. They want a worshipping community. Why on earth should we worship any entity-God,King, monk, or other person? The media is still full of astrology and superstition stalks our island.

The News Story

Let’s extract the story from a news report (Colombo Telegraph 26/7/17):

“Anika Wijesuriya, this morning told the Commission to inquire into the Bond Scandal that, her super luxury apartment at the Monarch Residencies was taken on lease by Arjun Aloysius who paid for it on behalf of the then finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

She also said that Arjun Aloysius had called her and told her to “destroy” the lease agreement pertaining to the transaction.

When deciding to give it on rent, Karunanayake’s wife Mela had called the brother of Anika who had then put her in touch with Anika.

The wife of the minister had then arrived at the apartment to inspect the apartment with two bodyguards. Thereafter she had taken a call and told the witness that, “a person known to both of us will be here.”

A short while after, Arjun Aloysius had arrived at the apartment. Thereafter, following discussions the witness said it was clear that Arjun was going to pay the rent for the house in which the Karunanayakes were moving into.

The entire lease amounting close to 9 million was paid for by a company named Walter and Rowe which Arjun and his father Geoff are both Directors. It is a fully owned subsidiary of the holding company of Perpetual treasuries.

Thereafter the Karunanayakes had moved into the apartment.

Accordingly, following the end of the lease period of 6 months, which commenced in February 2016, the Karunanayakes had decided to buy the apartment. Their family company of which Mela and the daughter are Directors had paid 165 million rupees and purchased the apartment the witness said.

The witness also said that Arjun Aloysius had called her last week and insisted that she destroyed the lease agreement. She said that she had decided against it.

She also said that the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Ravi Karunanayake had called her father Nikhil last week.

The witness said that she knew that the information on the transaction had been found out by the investigators when officers of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) visited her in March this year.

The witness Anika, provided her name as Muthukudarachchige Vinodini in order to protect her identity during testimony.”

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