Avant Garde, Galle & country’s law! 

Jun 29, 2016

One of the maniac ‘fireworks displays’ made to ‘catch the thieves’ after the ‘Yahapaalana’ government came to power was the Avant Garde maritime company and its floating armoury. There were shiploads of big talk making rounds, but in the end, nothing materialized, as no wrongdoing was proven. Anyway, this matter comes to the fore again after the Galle magistrate gave a funny ruling and remanded the captain of the floating armoury. This is how the country’s law is manipulated and the country has fallen to low a state of anarchy.

Ruling

Some time ago, two government ministers raised a big din, saying a floating armoury being run by Avant Garde was having illegal firearms, whose numbers have been deleted, and that this was a threat to national security.

Later, that arms ship was arrested by the Navy and the Galle courts took up the relevant case on June 23.

Senior assistant secretary of the defence ministry D.M.S. Dissanayake establishes that permission had been given to bring the firearms – 549 T-56 rifles, 264 84S weapons, 173,060 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition, 30 7.62 mm tracer bullets and 800 5.56 mm bullets – to the country, to maintain the floating arrmoury by Avant Garde at Red Sea, and that the above-mentioned firearms belong to Sri Lanka government-owned Rakna Lanka Security Firm, and that it has bought the weapons with the defence ministry permission from the Army, Air Force and the Navy (related document is affixed 7). That clears the illegal firearms allegation. Also, the government analyst’s report says the numbers of the weapons have not been changed (report affixed 12).

As there was no cause to continue with the case, Galle chief magistrate Nilupuli Lankatilake on June 23 released the ship’s captain, Ukrainian Granaly Gavrilov and the two Rakna Lanka men serving in the ship. However, on the same afternoon, the CID arrested them on the attorney general’s advice and were produced before the magistrate on June 24. In a clear demonstration of the loopholes in the country’s law and the mines dug by treasure-hunters on the law, only the captain was ordered by the magistrate to be remanded on the charge of importation and possession of illegal firearms.

That order is very shocking to say the least.

The general manager of operations of the company has accepted the firearms in the ship belong to Rakna Lanka and that they had been bought with defence ministry approval (letter affixed 6). That has been confirmed by a senior assistant secretary of the ministry. Also, Rakna Lanka chairman Victor Samaraweera has admitted that all activities of Avant Garde were done with the knowledge and supervision of his company (statement affixed 8). It is the defence ministry which permits the transportation of these firearms, at Avant Garde’s request, from Red Sea to Galle port (letter affixed 3). Also, these firearms are in the charge of Rakna Lanka men. As everything stands thus, the ship’s captain is remanded on a charge of importation and possession of illegal firearms.

Where is the law?

No issue should arise about the legality of the firearms as they belong to the state-owned Rakna Lanka. If there is any issue, it is the chairman and the men of Rakna Lanka who should be arrested. The defence ministry’s senior assistant secretary, who gave the approval, should be arrested and questioned over the transportation of the weapons from Red Sea to Galle port. But, what happens in the end is the remanding of the ship’s captain. A court takes decisions based on the submissions made by the attorney general’s department. It should be inquired into as to whose tune the AG’s department officials dance, if they make submissions for such kangaroo court style rulings.

Also, it should be investigated as to how the firearms deemed legal on June 23 became illegal the following day. Furthermore, it is worth finding if the law in Galle is different to the law in the rest of the country. This challenge is posed to a businessman who wields powers, and he should appear on behalf of the ship captain legally. We don’t know how many men are behind bars without any help in similar cases without any legal basis. This shows how the law is maneuvered.

Unacceptable orders

There is another point. In a complaint to police, deputy commanding officer of Dakshina Naval base in Galle Nilantha Heenatigala says he received on 06.10.2015 the defence ministry issued letter asking him to provide facilities to Avant Garde ship to enter the Galle port, but that he cannot accept it (statement affixed 5). That is very amusing. The head of the defence ministry is the country’s president. If a deputy commanding officer of a Navy camp says he cannot accept an order coming from such a place, we will not be surprised if a commander of the armed forces says tomorrow that he cannot take orders from the president. This shows the state of anarchy facing the country. It is evident that the AG’s Department officials and the Navy officer have become some’s cat’s paws. There is another side to the story.

Who is the monkey?

According to international maritime laws, the government is bound to pay compensation to a maritime company if a ship is seized on certain charges, which cannot be proven. Avant Garde intends to seek a Rs. 2.5 billion compensation. It says the money will be used for the benefit of the soldiers who have lost their jobs due to this matter. It may be that the AG’s Department speedy intervention is due to that reason. The payment of compensation could be disrupted, or commission or extortion money could be sought. Whoever the cats are, the amount of the compensation makes it clear the monkey in hiding is not a nobody. Anyway, the delay in the legal proceedings will only result in the addition of demurrage to the Rs. 2.5 compensation.

It did not take a long time for the ‘Yahapaalana’ government that was formed with the January 08 transformation to become a total mess. It is now common to see shrimps with impurity filled in their heads claiming to be blameless, while pigs lying on the mud making wholesale challenges. Anyway, the political authority bent on money making and their puppets of officials will only speed up this government’s journey to the gallows.