True war heroes frown on corrupt cardboard heroes who insulted the medals !

(Lanka-e-News -03.Oct.2016, 10.30AM) Seven former high rung officers of the forces were hauled up before Colombo High court yesterday (30) on charges of causing loss to the government. It is most significant to note  ,this is the first time in Sri Lanka ‘s (SL) history an ex defense secretary and three chiefs of the forces were summoned before court based on charges of corruption. The accused included notorious  ex Colonel Gotabaya Rajapakse , ex major General K.B. Egodawela,and ex Navy admirals  Somathileke Dissanayake , Jayanath Colombage and  Jayantha Perera 

Strangely and shamelessly  , all the seven accused wore their medals when they arrived in court yesterday .The genuine  officers of the forces frowned upon them for gravely  insulting others of the forces who had been awarded  medals , mainly  because these accused flagrantly violated the traditions and regulations attaching to retired officers of the forces. The retired officers are expected to wear all their medals only when they attend certain  State ceremonies or  ceremonies of the forces , whereas these retired corrupt officers shamelessly were wearing them when they were put on the dock in court thereby insulting the sublimely recognized  medals of the forces. 

If the charges had anything to do with performance of   their  official duties, it was pardonable and understandable. But in this instance , all of them were facing grave charges of fraudulence  - corruption . Therefore appearing in court wearing the medals while knowing they are the accused tainted with  corruption charges , it is tantamount to disgracing the forces as well as  the court .

If the accused officers of the forces can appear in court with medals , then even an accused who is a  professional dancer must be able to  appear in court in the dancing dress , and graduates should be able to appear with their convocation cloak and cap. If wearing a hat is prohibited in court , surely wearing medals (forces)  and appearing in court should also be prohibited.  Hence , the legal luminaries must question how did these accused appear in court wearing the medals? 

May be , officers like Jayantha Perera who secured their medals via  dubious  methods do not know the true value of those . It is therefore no wonder he  sought to  insult the medals . Lanka e news had already exposed how Jayantha Perera continuously avoided the Navy craft operations in the North and East during the war  by feigning chest ailment . Yet successfully secured the medal of ‘RanaWickrema’  by stooping to do all the disgraceful biddings and sordid  activities. 

At the same time it is worth probing whether Jayantha Colombage who appeared with his medals for this corruption case of his , similarly attended court in connection with the earlier case pertaining to  his illicit affair with another man’s wife.  

The husband of his illicit lover filed action in Gampaha court against Colombage and the woman for breaking up his family .The case No. is D 4897 in the district court of Gampaha . It was revealed that Colombage was found in a compromising position with Ms. Chandima Bambarenda in a hotel in Colombo –the Grand Oriental Hotel . They were  caught red handed. 

Perhaps he disgraced his medal in this corruption case , and did not care for it  because he must have imagined he received that for his adultery success ,being a  Casanova cum ‘Kassanava’,  and for his achievements in that despicable sphere.

Retired Major General K.B. Egodawela is another medal winner not for doing any merit accruing acts for the forces. He was the commanding officer (Lieutenant Colonel) when the LTTE captured Elephant Pass in 2000. While the second in command Colonel Percy Fernando was battling  it out bravely in the field  , Egodawela did the vanishing trick from behind without informing anyone , and leaving the soldiers in the lurch.

Thereafter when this coward was working as a security officer at ‘House of Fashion,’ Gotabaya , who also  fled the country during the height of the war when he was most wanted by his motherland, became the defense secretary. Being of the same ilk and born shameless , Gota   took Egodawela  back . Later , the latter  was awarded   medals , and came to the forefront. It is worthy of note when victorious Sarath Fonseka was the army commander he did not allow this betrayer and coward to come even close by during the final phase of the war.

Gotabaya who also fastened  medals on himself is even worse . This was the army officer (then) , who having got wind of the fact that the ethnic war was taking a turn for the worse , and when he  was most wanted by the motherland , fled the country after telling his friends ‘ only  soldiers are now dying,  but in the future , Captains and Majors are going to be the victims  , hence I am making a bolt.’ After handing over a written letter of undertaking  to the then defense secretary Ranjan Wijeratne that he would not request any main post in the Forces any day , fled to America. After never even turning in the direction of  his motherland for 15 long years returned only after his brother Mahinda Rajapakse became the president to bask in his glory. After crowing ‘yankee doodle do’ for 15 years in a sleazy corner the US , he returned to join his brother , who was gaily singing ‘any diddle will do.’ In the end both  of them got together to plunge the country into an unprecedented and irretrievable economic abyss.

In the circumstances , these are ‘cardboard’ war heroes  who truly do not know the true value of those medals .  Otherwise would they have worn those precious medals and stood in the dock as accused not to mention  the  jiggery- pokery they committed ?   

Their ulterior motives in wearing the medals is just as obvious . One motive was to exert influence and pressure on the court by displaying their medals. The other motive was to appear with the medals and get  the cameras to capture them , so that they can create the impression among the people that revenge is being taken on the forces  ,and to incite  the public  by  using the label of the forces. The people  must be aware by now the label that is most befitting to these betrayers and corrupt opportunists is  ‘confirmed robbers’ and not ‘war heroes’

We don’t intend to elaborate on their corruption and the cases  herein , because it is now sub- judice, and is before court. However , sadly , so far no investigations have been initiated in regard to the assets accumulated by these Navy admiral rogues illicitly during the period they were in public service though the Commission investigating bribery and corruption only has filed legal action.  It is significant to note there are other charges of corruption against these three navy officers while they were in service  in addition to this case. 

One of those charges is : Misuse of State funds in countless millions via the ‘Compass project account’. This account had not been audited for many years . Charges ought to be mounted against the Navy chiefs after conducting an Audit immediately .

The assets of the families and  children of these ex Navy chiefs shall also be probed forthwith. The tax paying hapless masses  of this country and the true soldiers who fought genuinely to win medals duly  are entitled to know whether these fake war heroes  amassed these assets via illicit earnings – graft and corruption , or they had grandmothers who had precious gems taken out from their pits  to give them ?

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by     (2016-10-03 06:29:50)