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Home » ColumnsFormer SriLankan bosses run into thunder storm
The findings of the probe into SriLankan Airlines, the country’s national carrier, will be investigated by two agencies — the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) and the Commission Investigating Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).A Government source said yesterday that the FCID would question former Chairman Nishantha Wickramasinghe, the former Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena [...]
Sirisena and Govt. embroiled in disputes and deadlocks
Five months after the historic presidential poll, the presidency and the Government seem to be drifting without direction. With a truncated 19A in his pocket, President Maithripala Sirisena is trying hard to bag the 20A. It is not easy, though he has asked a ministerial team to give shape to an electoral reform package through constitutional [...]
Four musketeers set for showdown
My dear Wimal, Vasu, Dinesh and Udaya, I am writing to congratulate you on your recent work, staging rallies in cities around the country trying to convince people that we should all get together to try and bring back Mahinda maama so that he can save the nation once again, although it is only a [...]
The political economy of change: A trade off between political freedom and economic growth?
Political uncertainties and economic confusion characterised the first four months of this year. Uncertainty of what lies ahead after a parliamentary election will slow down economic growth in 2015 to 6.5 per cent or below compared to the 7.4 per cent achieved in 2014. Does this mean that 2015 is a lost year for the [...]
Lanka’s judiciary and ‘Yahapalanaya’ contradictions
If the issue was not so serious, the more mischievous-minded among us would surely chuckle at the decidedly awkward predicament that the Government has got itself into, on the cusp of a general election no less. Ambitious proclamations that the independence of the Sri Lankan judiciary has been fully secured, coming hot on the heels [...]
The geopolitics of diminishing Sri Lanka’s war victory
In a talk at the influential US think tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington on Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Biswal spoke of a new report that focused on the vital role of Central Asia in reconnecting Eurasia. “The uptick in attention on [...]
Has Heaven’s malice granted Jayalalithaa’s political prayers?
A sun of hope may have lit the faces of all those who face corruption charges and fear imminent arrest in Lanka, as Tamil Nadu’s former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jeyaram walked free from her prison cell on Monday after a High Court judge acquitted her of all convictions, clearing the way for her return to [...]
Teaching the Brits a thing or two
During our student days many, many moons ago, we were taught that British colonialism did some good things in what was then Ceylon while many of the unsavoury acts tended to be interred with the inglorious history of the Raj and British rule elsewhere in the empire. So that cliché about how Britannia ruled the [...]