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The strange case of a ‘disappeared’ audit report, a renovation contract and the LTTE
View(s):Allegations of a serious nature relating to a contract given in November 2009 for the renovation of the residence of Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva have been the subject of intense controversy in sections of the electronic media recently. The charge that heads of the company that was awarded the contract were affiliated to the LTTE has given rise to questions relating not only to financial malpractice but the security of the mission itself, and hence matters of national security.
The existence of an official document that stated that the contract was awarded to an LTTE-linked company was first revealed by JVP’s anti-corruption activist and North Central Province PC member Wasantha Samarasinghe on Sirasa TV’s ‘Newsline’ programme of 09.10.2014. Since then Samarasinghe has repeatedly appeared on TV to show and read out snippets from the document he says is an audit report carried out on the instructions of Treasury Secretary P. B. Jayasundara. He has repeatedly challenged the Government to produce the report and asked why its recommendations — which include disciplinary action against those who have breached government procedures — are not implemented. He asks: Who released monies for this tender? Who authorised it? Who signed the contract?
No accountability
A copy of the purported audit report dated 25.04.2012 and titled ‘Management Audit Report on affairs of Financial Management – Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN, Geneva’ obtained by the ‘Sunday Times’ says a team of four Treasury officials including a Deputy Secretary to the Treasury visited the Sri Lanka mission in Geneva and conducted an audit on Feb 13 and 14, 2012.
The section on ‘Procurement and Asset Management’ giving details of the contract for renovation of the ambassador’s official residence at No. 18, Avenue D1′Evantage 1224, Chene- Bougeries, says there was no system in place to ensure accountability in relation to procurement activities in line with government guidelines.
Cost of renovation is given as CHF 119,250/- (about Rs. 16.7 million) and the contractor listed is P.T. Thureiraja of the company ‘Shelva Sug GMBH of Zurich.’
According to the document, the contract to renovate the residence of Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva was given without prior determination of the scope of work and technical specifications or BOQ (Bill of Quantities). Quotations were submitted by three parties, all based on different formats, making it impossible to select the best tender.
It says “Despite the same, a Letter of Award has been issued to the Contractor P.T. Thureiraja on19/11/2009 and the first payment (advance) has been made to him on 22/12/2009 without obtaining a proper security. It is evident that this tender has been awarded to a LTTE activist Mr. P.T. Thureiraja. Mr. Thureiraja had in fact been taken into custody by the Swiss authorities in connection with his LTTE involvements.”
Who authorised the contract?
Samarasinghe alleges that External Affairs Secretary Kshenuka Senewiratne, who was UN ambassador in Geneva between 2009-2011, was associated with the controversial contract because it was awarded during the time she held office. This charge was denied by External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris in a statement issued only on 21.10.2014.
Samarasinghe’s revelations were corroborated by Tamara Kunanayakam, former UN ambassador in Geneva who was interviewed on ‘Newsline’ on 15.10.14. It was Kunanayakam who called for an audit, having discovered numerous irregularities relating to finance and security at the mission when she assumed duties as PR in 2011. The report said, “the security system of the Ambassador’s Residence is not functioning, while there is unmonitored movements around the Ambassador’s Residence.”
External Affairs ‘monitoring’ MP Sajin Vass Gunewardena has denied all knowledge of the report. Yet at no point has anyone in government denied the existence or authenticity of the document displayed and quoted by Samarasinghe on public television. In the first admission by government that this report in fact exists, UPFA minister Wimal Weerawansa said at a media briefing on 19.10.2014 that he had inquired about it from Peiris who told him that the contract was awarded before Senewiratne took over in Geneva.
What is shocking is that while there seem to be frantic efforts to absolve certain officials of wrongdoing, the Government has shown no concern over the appalling degree of financial malpractice revealed in the report nor called for investigation into the dubious transactions and security lapses mentioned therein.
Who will take the rap?
Peiris is content to say that an embassy official U.L.M. Jauhar had written to the Swiss federal intelligence service on 12.04.2012 — three years after the contract was given and just two days before he ended his tour of duty in Geneva — to check on Thureiraja’s bona fides. He cites a reply received by Jauhar from Pierre Yves Huguenin of the Swiss intelligence service on 27.04.2012 which said: “Following your request, I can inform you that there is no indication that the individual mentioned in your message would have been arrested by the Swiss Police, or that he would be linked to the organisation mentioned in your email.” Why doesn’t the minister table the full correspondence between Jauhar and Huguenin, and the audit report itself in parliament, as several opposition MPs have demanded, in the interests of transparency?
In a BBC Sinhala service interview aired on Sirasa on Wednesday P T Thureiraja speaking from Switzerland said that his company Shelvazug GMBH indeed carried out the renovation of the ambassador’s residence in 2009, and that he got the contract from his ‘friend’ Jauhar. Asked whether he had links with the LTTE or had ever been arrested by Swiss authorities Thureiraja denied it. He said, “I know who is arrested by Swiss government but I don’t tell now you.” He added that ‘all people’ and the Swiss police knew who was arrested.
The Swiss government’s policy of not listing the LTTE as a banned organisation would not prevent it from cracking down on offences such as money laundering, extortion and being part of a criminal organisation. The Swiss embassy in Colombo responding to an email query from the ‘Sunday Times’ seeking to verify Thureiraja’s remarks and find out if anyone associated with ‘Shelvazug GMBH’ was arrested by Swiss police, indicated that Swiss authorities were in contact with Sri Lankan authorities in relation to the case mentioned. It said in keeping with embassy rules it could not reveal names of officials involved or the ‘substance of such contacts.’