News
Falsified reports, forged signatures galore in jambo registrations
An Auditor General’s Department audit query sent to the Department of Wildlife and Conservation (DWC) last week has revealed that forged signatures, non-existent addresses, pre-dated applications, questionable veterinarian’s reports and documents containing blatantly false information have been used to obtain valid permits for wild-caught baby elephants. (An audit query only calls information for clarifying a particular issue and is not equivalent to an audit report.)
Wildlife activists for some time now have been aware of a disturbingly increasing trend of registration documents for elephants being falsified to pass off illegal, wild-caught elephants as legitimate. In recent times, several DWC raids on private properties at Mirigama, Maharagama and Gannoruwa to rescue baby elephants without proper registration documents, and subsequent court cases, have brought public and official attention to the issue.
In April this year, four wildlife activists and a private citizen sent a letter of demand to the DWC and the Wildlif Minister raising concern about nine cases of anomalous and dubious elephant registrations they had documented in past years. The Auditor General’s Department recorded testimonies and investigated documents regarding four such cases, for permits numbered 331, 334, 258 and 359, all of which the Department observed to be registrations issued for wild-caught and illegally-kept baby elephants.
For permit 334, issued to Maha Dissanayaka Bandage Chandrarathne Yatawara, the Auditor General queried why the permit was re-issued despite being previously revoked for containing a false address and forged signatures, among other things. The case was highlighted earlier this year when Parliamentarians P. Harrison and Anura Kumara Dissanayaka charged in Cabinet that Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage was illegally holding a wild-caught baby elephant. Magistrate Gamage wrote to the Speaker of the House claiming the baby elephant he holds is legally registered to Chandrarathne Yatawara of 409, Meegoda, Owitigama.
The audit query confirmed that no one named Yatawara actually resided at such an address. Further, the signatures of the Homagama District Secretary and the Owitigama Grama Niladhari affixed to the application were found to be forgeries. Furthermore, former and current Grama Niladharis of the area testified that no female elephants ever resided at the given address and no elephant births ever occurred at that address.
The audit query also established that the photo attached to the application didn’t match the baby elephant presented for the permit. In 2008, this baby elephant was recorded to be three years old, four feet and three inches of height with a front foot circumference of 27 inches. In 2012, the same elephant was ‘five years’ old, with height and front foot size unchanged.
The DWC administrative assistant responsible for the application admitted to the audit query several procedural anomalies with the documents. The application was filed on March 27, 2012, but was pre-dated 12th November, 2008, which was a poya holiday. The administrative assistant testified that the date was changed at the ‘request of senior officials.’ A senior wildlife ranger (now suspended) has submitted a field report claiming to have examined a female elephant belonging to Yatawara, but the permit has been issued for a male elephant.
Despite the discrepancies and false information noted, then DWC acting Director General Udeni Wickremasinghe had issued a permit for the baby elephant. Then, Yatawara had informed the DWC that he had sold the elephant to one Hepalgoda Gamage Thilina Sajotha Vincent for three million rupees (The audit query noted that the current value of a baby elephant exceeds Rs. 10 million, therefore this sale below market value is not believable.)
A later investigation by the DWC has established some documents submitted for the application was indeed false. Then Ms. Wickremasinghe had revoked the permit, but had not taken action against the involved parties for violating the Common Property Act. The revoked permit was reissued based on sworn testimonies of Grama Niladhari and a veterinarian attesting to the elephant’s birth and the death of its mother. The same Grama Niladhari and veterinarian later admitted to the audit query that their sworn testimonies were provided “at the request” of Yatawara.
In January last year, DWC Director General H.D. Rathnayaka had written to then Ministry Secretary Ms. Wickremasinghe asking permission of then Wildlife Minister S.M. Chandrasena to reissue the revoked licence. On the same day, Minister Chandrasena had given his permission. The audit report observed that the Minister granting that request to be “contrary” to the regulations set forth in the Fauna and Flora Ordinance (FFPO).
The audit query observed similar discrepancies with other permits, shockingly overlooked by DWC officials, or as some wildlife activists charge, intentionally partaking in them. Permit 331, issued for Ajith Gamage of Hokandara, also had a predated application the administrative assistant said was dated as such at the request of ‘higher officials.’ The Grama Niladhari and the veterinarian who wrote reports for that application later told the audit query they did so at the request of Ajith Gamage.
In other cases, the DWC has registered two baby elephants, one male and one female, under one permit number 226. Earlier this year, former DWC Director General Dr. Chandrawansa Pathiraja wrote to the Wildlife Minister Vijith Vijayamuni de Zoysa that his signatures in permits numbered 226 and 328 were forgeries.
“This is like a satire movie produced in Sri Lanka,” Pubudu Weerarathna, chairperson of the Species Conservation Centre, said at a news conference. “People illegally catch elephants because they can obtain a permit from the DWC. That’s why this has been happening for the past five years or so.”
One wildlife official described the trend as a ‘huge mafia, with internal and external connections.’ Another insider alleged ‘top level corruption’ within the DWC that paves way for illegal registrations.
“This is a big money business,” Mr. Weerarathne said. “An owner can sell a baby elephant for about Rs. 10.4 million. They can be hired out to hotels for about Rs. 100,000 a month.”
Poachers steal baby elephants from the wild often by killing their mothers and other herd members.
“Sometime back, we came across two elephants at Thanamalwila,” Nadeeka Hapuarachchi, activist with the Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle said.
“The mother had been shot. We tried to treat her for two or three days, but she died. The next day, her calf went missing”.
The situation has become so serious even the elephant owners can no longer ignore it. Raja Senanayaka, president of the Generational Elephant Owners’ Association, called the people involved in poaching and obtaining illegal permits a ‘robber gang.’ He wrote to President Rajapaksa in May denying all connections to ‘the racket’ conducted by ‘organised groups’ that illegally catch elephants in the wild. In the letter he claimed currently there are about 65 such wild-caught elephants.
The wildlife activists who have been raising awareness on this issue said the only State agencies to respond to their complaints are the Auditor General’s Department, which conducted the query, the Attorney General’s Department, which has set up a new unit to investigate animal-related offences and the Human Rights Commission, which heard a complaint regarding the activists’ right to defend elephants as common property.
“The primary organisation responsible for investigating this, the Bribery Commission, responded in early July to a complaint filed by us last year,” Vimukthi Weerarathna, an independent activist, said at a news conference. “It sent us a response without a reference number. This indicates to us that the Commission has no real intention of actually investigating the issue.”
The Police too, has ‘seriously erred’ by not immediately taking action against document forgeries, especially when there are official statements attesting to the crime, environmental lawyer Jagath Gunawardena said.
DWC Director General H.D. Rathnayaka said his department has increased the number of raids in response to the increased number of illegal registrations, and is currently conducting an internal investigation regarding the procedural anomalies noted in the audit query.
Deputy Minister S.M. Chandrasena was not available for comment.
| AG’s Department sets up new animal unit
The Attorney General’s Department has set up a new unit to battle the increasing number of animal-related offences. The unit was formed earlier this year under a circular issued by Attorney General Palitha Fernando. “We call it the wildlife and animal unit,” Deputy Solicitor General Parinda Ranasinghe Jr., who is heading the unit, said. “There’s a lot of poaching of elephants, animal cruelty cases, exotic fish being illegally exported, illegal slaughterhouses, illegal cattle transportation. The offences are on the rise. We don’t actually get involved in the investigations, but we will be giving specialised attention with such cases being referred to the Attorney General’s Department.” “In due course we will conduct workshops and seminars to raise awareness of laws relating to wildlife and forest offences,” he added. |