A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, July 27, 2017
The bond drama
July 25, 2017, 8:32 pm
President Maithripala Sirisena has extended the term of the presidential
commission of inquiry probing bond scams. Investigations have taken a
dramatic turn and several key witnesses have not testified yet. The
commission, therefore, needs some more time to complete its work, but
care has to be taken to prevent the probe from dragging on indefinitely.
A campaign against corruption, in this country, is as arduous as a war
on terror. Perhaps, it is more difficult than a military campaign. But,
for the ongoing presidential probe the public would have been kept in
the dark as regards the nexus between the bond racketeers and
politicians; they would have had to settle for what the second COPE
(Committee on Public Enterprises) report says of the bond scams.
President Sirisena can rest assured that all right-thinking Sri Lankans
will rally behind him if he succeeds in ensuring that the bond
racketeers are brought to justice and the massive losses they have
caused to the state coffers and the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) are
fully recovered. Now that he has talked the talk—very eloquently at
that—he has to walk the walk.
The strength of the bond racketeers, protected by powerful, corrupt
politicians pretending to be paragons of virtue, shouldn’t be
underestimated. They wield tremendous political power and have huge
slush funds at their disposal. Therefore, the need for keeping a close
eye on their political manoeuvring cannot be overemphasised. They may be
licking their wounds and looking beleaguered, but the possibility of a
devastating Parthian shot cannot be ruled out; they won’t go down
without a fight. It may be recalled that a dispute over the appointment
of the Central Bank (CB) Governor last year almost brought down the
so-called unity government with the UNP going flat out to have the then
Governor Arjuna Mahendran, under a cloud, reappointed. President
Sirisena stood his ground and the UNP fell in line, but succeeded in
having another person of its choice appointed CB Governor.
It has been reported that a high-ranking CB officer, backing the bond
racketeers, has removed a whole slew of files from the CB in spite of
objections from the bank security personnel. He may be desperately
trying to cover his tracks by obliterating vital evidence. Who
authorised the removal of those files? A thorough investigation is
called for. There may be an all-out attempt to derail the bond
investigations because their findings are sure to destroy some
government top guns’ political future.
Strangely, trade unions, whose leaders claim to be ready even to lay
down their lives for the sake of the working class, have chosen to
ignore the colossal loss the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) has
suffered due to the bond scams. The lid has been blown off mega
pump-and-dump operations which caused the workers’ superannuation fund
to haemorrhage a huge amount of funds. But, the silence of the trade
unions is deafening. Have their leaders been bought off?
All those desirous of having the bond racketeers hauled up before courts
must not be complacent; it is a mistake for them to leave that uphill
task entirely to the intrepid Central Bank officials and the equally
courageous and brilliant Attorney General’s Department counsel who are
unmasking the bond racketeers and springing surprises for the corrupt
undesirables in the garb of politicians. The public must pledge
solidarity with the indomitable state officials on a noble mission.
The Joint Opposition (JO) leaders must be ashamed of themselves for
soft-pedaling bond scams and trying to cover their nudity with the SAITM
issue. They stand accused of political horse-trading with the UNP,
which controls the state outfits probing corruption charges against them
and their kith and kin. If they think they can regain lost ground by
bellowing rhetoric and holding rallies they are mistaken. Their
single-issue agenda aimed at ousting President Sirisena won’t be
appealing to the people faced with a plethora of burning issues which
have gone unaddressed.
Of what use is an oppositional force which ignores the biggest ever financial racket in the country?