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
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Ravi K and the Penthouse: The acid test for Yahapalana integrity
This government has routinely blamed the corruption of the former regime for the current economic hardships in the country. Now, how on earth did it manage to behave like nothing had happened after recent jaw-dropping allegations against its former Finance Minister cum incumbent Foreign Minister?
Last week, Anika Wijesuriya, a directress of a construction company told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the alleged bond scam that Arjun Aloysius, director of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd., had paid the rental of a penthouse lease of Ravi Karunanayake, while the latter was the Finance Minister in 2016. Ms. Wijesuriya, who was the original owner of the house at Monarch Residencies, said Minister Karunanayake and his family leased out the penthouse for eight months with the monthly lease rental Rs.1.45 million being paid by Mr. Aloysius. She said Rs.7.3 million was transferred by the Perpetual Capital Holdings Pvt. Ltd. to Walt and Row Pvt. Ltd., with which she had entered into a lease agreement. Another Rs. 1.4 million was paid to her in cash. Later in September 2016, the house had been bought for Rs. 165 million by a company, Global Transportation and Logistics Pvt. Ltd., in which Mr. Karunanayake’s wife and daughter were directresses.
Later in the week, a second witness, Chief Financial Officer of the
Global Transportation and Logistics Pvt. Ltd., B.R. Chinnaiya who gave
evidence before the commission could not explain the origin of money
that had been used to purchase the house. He revealed that the money was
obtained from the chairman’s safe, into which the company’s London
based chairman had dumped Rs. 145 million on two occasions, when he
arrived in Sri Lanka during 2016 and 2017. Nor did the company’s
statements of accounts make any reference to the origin of the said
funds.
This is not some bad joke. This is a damning exposé, which has been
revealed before an independent Presidential Commission, which is
definitely not a kangaroo court of the former regime. By trying to
downplay them, the government is undermining the independence and
legitimacy of the country’s judiciary. Funny enough, there were even
some vain attempts to blame the Rajapaksas for this debacle too - no
matter how improbable that would really sound. Minister Karunanayake
failed to appear before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on two
days during last week. The commission was told he was attending the
Cabinet meeting, and on the other occasion, that he was at the defence
council meeting. He has now raised Parliamentary privileges over his
being summoned by the commission on those two days, while Parliament was
in sessions. He cited Parliamentary privileges in the UK, the
Commonwealth and Sri Lanka to justify his claim. However, there is
another point. If Minister Karunanayake were in the House of Commons or
any other legislature in a civilized place, he was unlikely to cling
onto his portfolio after those sickening allegations. Those are the
countries where MPs are expelled from parties and ministers reign over
the slightest violation of code of ethics; for instance,
misappropriating parliamentary expenses allowances, which viewed in our
context, is no different from selling the duty free vehicle permit. That
may be a scale of maturity of those legislatures. Yet, equal privileges
to MPs do not necessarily translate into similar level of dignity and
integrity of high political offices.
Government undermining independence and legitimacy of judiciary
Damage already done to his persona and integrity of government
Witnesses reveal CB Governor visited Debt Dept. on day of controversial bond sale
However, the recent revelations have now raised a serious case of
conflict of interest which, needless to say, would compromise Foreign
Minister Karunanayake. The country would know his side of the story if
he gives evidence, as he has now promised, on August 2. But, quite a lot
of damage is already done to his persona, and more than that, to the
integrity of the government.
Minister Karunanayake is also a close confidante of Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe. He stood by Mr. Wickremesinghe during those not so
distant turbulent days in the UNP. The Prime Minister is thus
constrained by old loyalties. In fact, both messrs. Wickremesinghe and
Karunanayake defended former Central Bank Governor Arjun Mahendran, who
is also the father-in-law of Mr. Aloysius from allegations of foul play
in Central Bank bond sales. The UNP members of the Committee on Public
Enterprise (COPE) attempted to influence a COPE report that held Mr.
Mahendran responsible for the extensive financial losses incurred due to
dodgy bond sales. The UNP MPs threatened to table a dissenting report.
When it was found out that the Standing Orders do not allow for a
dissenting report, they inserted footnotes in the main report. The
thrust of the footnotes were to absolve Mr. Mahendran from allegations
of irregularities. Some of the footnotes read as thus: “The decision to
increase the sum to be raised from Rs. one billion to Rs. 10 billion was
taken based on a professional decision by a team, according to Chairman
of the tender committee P. Samarasiri.” “According to Superintendent of
the Public Debt Department, the former Central Bank Governor had not
said ‘Do it,’ but instead had given the idea ‘why don’t you go for ten?”
Even in the Auditor General report it is mentioned that the former
Central Bank Governor had told Ms. Seneviratne ‘Why don’t you go for ten
?” and there is no other evidence contrary to that” (Page 24).
“There is no evidence that former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran
or Deputy Governors Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe and Ananda Silva made
inquiries or intervened in the particular auction” ( Page 37).
Since then, a host of witnesses who gave evidence before the
Presidential Commission of Inquiry have revealed scandalous details
including the CB Governor visiting the Debt Department on the day of
controversial bond sale and instructing a many-fold increase of bond
sales on the particular day.
Later, a leaked Central Bank report revealed that the controversial bond
trader Perpetual Treasuries owned by Mr. Mahendran’s family had
reported an after-tax profit of as much as Rs.10.1 billion for the 14
months from April 2015 to May 2016, the period during which Mr.
Mahendran was the CB Governor. To put things into context, during the
same period, the cumulative profit after-tax of its peers was just
Rs.544 million. Now a key witness tells the Presidential Commission of
Inquiry that Mr. Aloysius paid the lease of the then Finance Minister’s
penthouse.
Some time back, President Maithripala Sirisena complained about a nexus of political heavyweights in his own government who had been defending the suspects of the former regime from being investigated for corruption. Does this one too sound like a nexus?
Some time back, President Maithripala Sirisena complained about a nexus of political heavyweights in his own government who had been defending the suspects of the former regime from being investigated for corruption. Does this one too sound like a nexus?