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Record abuse of Lanka’s diplomatic passports
A record number of nearly 2,000 diplomatic passports were issued by the previous administration to everyone from presidential advisers, clergy and doctors and to ministers, deputy ministers, coordinating secretaries and boundless numbers of children. In most other countries, diplomatic passports are issued under strict guidelines to limited categories of senior State employees.
The latest list of ‘active diplomat passports’ maintained by the Department of Immigration and Emigration even shows the name a London-based lawyer named Kumar Anton Rohitha Bulathwela who, in August 2012, was struck off the roll by Britain’s Solicitors Regulation Authority for misappropriation of a client’s funds. Mr. Bulathwela —who appears to have dual citizenship —was also ordered to pay sterling pounds 25,000 as costs.
In April 2013, the Immigration Department gave Mr. Bulathwela a diplomatic passport. Mr. Bulathwela is the spouse of Rani M.S. Bulathwela who presided over the Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s British branch. Public records show that, in February 2014, she, too, was handed down an 18-month suspension from the Roll of Solicitors for misconduct. Ironically, Ms. Bulathwela was already a Sri Lankan diplomatic passport-holder at the time of the ruling, having been issued with one in February 2013. She was subsequently posted as Minister to Sri Lanka’s mission in Rome and, according to its website, still serves there.
In 2008, controversy broke out over the granting of a diplomatic passport containing false information to Vinayagamoorthy Muralithiran, or Karuna Amman. He was arrested and sentenced for possessing a forged document but said in court that the Sri Lankan Government had provided it to him. In January 2009, he was once again issued a diplomatic passport.
Diplomatic passports carry with them certain benefits. Chief among these is that holders can usually avoid security checks of their baggage and use specified queues. “Sometimes, visas are given gratis and those who have diplomatic passports can use the VIP lounges in airports,” said an authoritative source who requested anonymity. “There is definitely an urgent need for more discretion in this area.”
The Sunday Times is in possession of the ‘active’ list and some names are published with this article. There are 1,843 recipients. It was not specified whether they were still travelling on these passports, had returned them or whether the documents had expired. When taking into account out-of-use passports, the total is much higher. Parliament was told last year that 2,872 diplomatic passports had been issued within a nine-year period.
Public Order Minister John Amaratunga said he would start further inquiries next week. “This is a clear abuse of privilege,” he held. “This is why there is no due regard or respect for the diplomatic passports we are carrying. As the minister, I was shocked at the number and I will query on what criteria they were handed out.”
A key problem may lie with the circular that describes the types of people entitled to diplomatic passports. The categories are sprawling and this leaves ample room for abuse. The website of the Immigration Department says the passports are issued to “VVIPs, Members of Parliament and Persons Posted to prescribed positions at Sri Lankan Overseas Missions”. But it then has a link to a circular that tells a different story.
The spouses and children of a vast array of officials—including ministers and deputy ministers, governors and chief ministers of provinces—are in the list of eligible persons. This has led to an explosion in the number of offspring using diplomatic passports. Some are listed as students, while others are labeled ‘unemployed’.
Additionally, all members of Parliament, provincial council chairpersons and ministers, a wide range of secretaries and advisors, military personnel, chief Buddhist monks, Catholic bishops and chief priests of other religions, chairmen of commissions, and mayors are entitled to diplomatic passports.
Other persons slowly crept into the mix. The Immigration Department was asked to issue diplomatic passports according to existing circulars,” Minister Amaratunga said. “But in between, letters would come.”
An official source said that another reason for so many diplomatic passport-holders is that people were haphazardly posted to foreign missions (at many levels) during the past few years. “They went out with entire families, all on diplomatic passports,” he pointed out. “We also observed a problem where various people sent letters using the Presidential Secretariat as a cover.”
It is not clear whether diplomatic passports are routinely surrendered at the end of assignments. The Immigration Department website says the documents are valid for ten years but an official said they were not usually issued for that full period. “Most times, we would give it for three years,” he said.
But this does not explain why the Immigration Department’s ‘active’ list has passports dating back to 2005. One reason might be, quite simply, that officials have lost track.
