Political Donations

Political parties need funds to oil their campaigns. Even before the end of one election, one campaign, funds are sought from members, well-wishers, donations and the like to fund the next.

by Victor Cherubim

( August 30, 2016, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Political donations and international contracts go hand in hand. Companies vie, seek and obtain authority to make political donations from their shareholders and get sanction at AGM’s.

Political donations can also be kickbacks which conglomerate the world over hand out to secure valuable contracts from governments. It is one among many ways of competing in a highly competitive international market for lucrative contracts.

Undercutting on contracts is big business. There are many known and unknown ways of political donations. Offloading of commissions is also a specialised business. There appears to be no definition of corruption.

In Sri Lanka and around the world directly asking a favour is bribery, but there are ways around it. The loophole is that Companies and the rich alike want to donate unlimited sums anonymously to political parties for their own reasons. Ask a CFO and you will know why it is done openly.

Political Campaigns

Political parties need funds to oil their campaigns. Even before the end of one election, one campaign, funds are sought from members, well-wishers, donations and the like to fund the next.

Political funding has been a source of controversy over years. The three main ways a political party is funded is through membership, through donations and through State funding, the latter only for administrative functions.

In all three there is a requirement for transparency. Rules apply and the Electoral Commission provides an overview and control of financial activities of political parties.

What is the Big Deal in the Fairfax Media Australia revelation about SMEC?

Perhaps, unknown to many in Sri Lanka, this news item has more to do with the pressure put on the Turnbull Government in Australia to reform Australia’s maligned foreign bribery allegations.

Two Australian companies are under investigation over alleged bribery scandals linked to the Presidents of Congo and Sri Lanka after two different firms sought to secure multi-million dollar contracts, in these countries. Revelations have now surfaced.

“Perth’s Sundance Resource is implicated in involving some family members of Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso.”

“Snowy Mountain Engineering of Melbourne is being separately investigated over claims its staff sought approval to pay kickbacks to foreign officials including a donation to the party of Sri Lanka President, Maitripala Sirisena, when he was Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Services Development, in President Mahinda Rajapaksa Government in 2009.”

Why now?

Some seven years after the award of a World Bank Dam Project in Sri Lanka, SMEC is being investigated.

Both these allegations reflect badly on the Governments of Congo and Sri Lanka.

It could very well fit in an international pattern of whistleblowing putting the “coalition” of Prime Minister Turnbull also on notice.

Is it too little too late especially after SMEC Holdings Ltd formerly Snowy Mountains Engineering Corp., a Consultancy Services provider, was offloaded by the Australian Government and taken off by staff? It has since 1 August 2016 been acquired by Singapore-based, Surbana Jurong (have we heard this name before).

What is the game being played? Who is hiding behind the bush? Is it in Australia or is it elsewhere, with Japan making inroads into Africa and South Asia recently?