Columns

• Bombshell charge made in Parliament, former President shuns right to reply; ‘white flag’ killings raised in the House
• Ravi promises revolutionary Budget on November 20 but Germany’s envoy says no movement of economy
• Probe on Avant Garde and secret Dubai accounts broadened; State agencies brought into probe

That roads in the Greater Colombo area are bursting at the seams due to the mounting traffic sank into some Government and Opposition leaders on Thursday.

They were at a meeting with Speaker Karu Jayasuriya at the Parliament complex. When it was nearing completion, it was time for them to attend the All Party Conference at the Presidential Secretariat. If they were to travel by road, over an hour’s drive in the bumper to bumper long line of traffic, the APC would have ended that evening.

So, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe did the next best thing. He called for a helicopter from the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF). A Russian built Mi-17 VIP transport ferried them to the Army Grounds, just near the Presidential Secretariat. Among those in the chopper were Premier Wickremesinghe, Ministers Champika Ranawaka, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Kabir Hashim and JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva.

Traffic nightmare: Solutions sought
Choking traffic along the Parliament road during peak hours in the mornings and evenings prompted the Police to introduce a ‘one way’ scheme early this month. Though it was hailed as “working very successfully” by DIG (Traffic) Amarasiri Senaratne, it had to be called off just two days later after it turned out to be a colossal failure. Hundreds of motorists complained they had to spend hours on the road. Buses were taking unfamiliar routes and commuters were made to walk. The move prompted Government advisors to propose the introduction of a monorail system, possibly built by Japan. However, there were others who felt such a system that runs on an elevated platform could only carry a smaller load, say 800 passengers at a time. Hence, they argued this would not solve the issue. A case in point, it was revealed, was traffic bringing in around 174,000 persons through the Malabe corridor into the City centre. Other suggestions included the shifting of the Presidential Secretariat to a location near Parliament.

President Maithirpala Sirisena making the opening address at an unprecedented meeting of the leaders of more then 20 political parties to discuss a consensus response to the Geneva issues

Ministers are to be asked to come up with their own proposals on this and similar issues so it could be dovetailed into an overall plan. For this purpose, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe will present in Parliament on November 5 a Medium-Term Economic Strategy. It will enumerate the Government’s development plans, sector by sector. All ministers will be required to provide their plans and proposals for study. Thereafter, it will come up before the Economic Management Committee for final approval. This Committee, chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena, sits once a month. Setting the stage for the new plan of action would be proposals Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake will introduce in the Government’s budget on November 20.

Among the major highlights of Premier Wickremesinghe’s Medium-Term Economic Strategy are the exclusion from tax of foreign-sourced income coming into Sri Lanka. This is to be modelled on the lines of the system that exists in Singapore and is subject to broad conditions. Already, Finance Minister Karunanayake has declared that Non Resident Foreign Currency (NRFC) account holders could now transfer funds to any part of the world with no questions asked. Similarly, he said, funds could also be remitted to their local accounts from abroad.

Whilst liberalising foreign exchange policies, the Government is also carrying out a full investigation on the allegedly illegal amassing of funds abroad. That includes foreign bank accounts held by different personalities of the previous Government, particularly the son of a former VVIP. The Sunday Times has in the past two weeks made exclusive disclosures over attempts by Government representatives secretly to freeze the account where a balance of more than US$ 500 million remains at the Emirates National Bank of Dubai. A man tasked by the Government on such matters, as pointed out last week, is Attorney J.C. Weliamuna. As earlier revealed, many attempts by the Sunday Times to reach him failed. He did not respond to both e-mail and SMS requests. Now, the former head of Transparency International (local chapter), is complaining in an interview in a Sinhala weekly that media reports on the matter are totally wrong. The weekly claimed that media reports last Sunday that the Dubai courts refused to freeze the accounts the Sri Lankan Government were after were false. But then, did not Weliamuna inform Government leaders that the Attorney General of Dubai objected to the freezing of the funds on the grounds that no action has been taken against the young Sri Lankan politician in question nor has he been convicted in Sri Lanka? Here is an open challenge for Mr. Weliamuna to come out with the truth instead of replying this newspaper through third parties.

Rajitha’s take on Dubai accounts
It was just last week that we reported that none other than President Maithripala Sirisena asked Weliamuna to give a news briefing on the progress of the major efforts he spearheaded. He backed out on the grounds that it would ‘hamper further inquiries’. This week, in the wake of reports in these columns, he was telling Government VIPs privately that his efforts would be successful within weeks whilst proclaiming publicly that the accounts revealed in these columns were wholly untrue. The Sunday Times has learnt that the matter has now gone beyond, with different state agencies being invited by the powers-that-be to take part in the process and to be consulted — a matter that should have been done much earlier. It is salutary that there has been re-thinking. It is clear such a development came only after disclosures in these columns.

Once more, keeping the Sri Lankan public and the world outside informed of developments was done by official Government spokesperson Minister Rajitha Senaratne. What he says after the weekly ministerial meetings are mostly the official Government position. He did confirm what the Sunday Times reported. On Thursday, he faced further questions at the news briefing that followed the previous day’s ministerial meeting. Here is a brief Q & A:

Q: The attempt to recover the ‘black money’ detected in Dubai has failed?
A: That is not correct. That is some newspaper report. The financial side of it is different.
Q: You mentioned earlier that eight accounts have been detected?
A: Yes, that is correct. The investigations are continuing. What they have said is that the account cannot be frozen now. We do not want to freeze it, but want to first find out the information. That is the most important thing to the country.
Q: But, isn’t the progress insufficient?
A: That is a secondary thing. What they have said is that the accounts cannot be frozen until the investigations are completed. That is correct according to their regulations.
Q: Are you satisfied with the investigations?
A: Yes. We are monitoring it from outside. Our lawyers are monitoring it.

What Minister Senaratne has said is abundantly clear. He says that “What they have said is that the accounts cannot be frozen now.” This was what was precisely reported in these columns last week.
An inspired leak by Weliamuna to an obliging tabloid close to him contradicts Minister Senaratne saying that the request to freeze the Dubai accounts of the VVIP’s son was not turned down? Surely, the official spokesperson is articulating the very position that appears to be running counter to what the former transparency chief in Sri Lanka is saying.

It is in this backdrop that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe made some disturbing revelations in Parliament. It came when the House debated the OISL report on Thursday and Friday. He said former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated in August 2005. Four months later, he said, monies were paid to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to prevent the North-East from voting at the presidential elections that year. Voters in the north were told by the LTTE not to cast their votes. That had paved the way for the victory of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his own defeat, Wickremesinghe said. Is there a link between the assassination of Kadirgamar and the payment of those monies, the Premier asked and added that all discussions had been conducted at ‘Temple Trees’ which former President Rajapaksa used as his office. Premier Wickremesinghe said former President Rajapaksa should respond to the disclosures he was making. However, Rajapaksa who was given 15 minutes to speak on Friday evening, the same day the Prime Minister made this accusation, did not turn up in Parliament. Dullas Allahapperuma (UPFA – Matara District) said he would speak instead. First to relevant extracts of premier Wickremesinghe’s speech:

“The proposals in Geneva provide us an opportunity to move forward. We should collectively work to develop the country. This is an exercise to heal the broken hearts and to re-establish democracy. The people have hopes of working unitedly instead of being divided by politics. The people have hope in a policy that takes the country forward instead of backwards.

“Not once but twice the people have rejected the traditional politics at the Presidential and Parliamentary elections. People need a new political culture. I urge you not to look at personal benefits, but to think of the country. That is the reason, after the January 8 election the UPFA and the UNP are working together. There are positive trends in it.

“Today we are acting in accordance with the Constitution. Who invited Motoo Noguchi to Sri Lanka? I have the full file. It was (former) Minister G.L. Peiris who invited him on the instructions of (former) President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He had been told to visit the country on January 10. They branded President Sirisena, Chandrika Kumratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe as traitors, but on the other hand have been getting ready to initiate investigations (into allegations of war crimes) after the elections. Who told him (Noguchi) to come? Is he a lawyer like Desmond de Silva? No. He was in charge of the victims’ fund of the International Criminal court. He was Special Prosecutor in the Prosecutor’s Office in Japan. Prof Peiris made this request on April 14, 2014.

“What is the question to be resolved? In August 2005, the then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated. Four months later, the Tigers were given money. The voters in the north were told to boycott the presidential elections and victory was achieved. Is there are a link between the assassination and this. We cannot say “No”. We know that the LTTE was responsible for the assassination. We are aware that these discussions took place at ‘Temple Trees’. Was the money given to them? Is it because they are scared that the truth will be revealed before the Commission. That is our question.

“After that no action was taken against the LTTE. Why was Mavil Aru anicut captured? There was a conflict in the Government. JHU (Jathika Hela Urumaya) MPs, some other MPs and the Army were against it. Ven (Athureliye) Rathana Thera went there and protested that no action was taken against the LTTE and the war started unexpectedly.

“Thereafter what happened? The LTTE took some 300,000 people (civilians) hostage in the Wanni. Later they moved to Mullaitivu when Kilinochchi was captured. If the LTTE did not take the people hostage the issue would not have aggravated. That was one reason, but the other was the Indian elections. They assumed that the Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) will win the elections and will form a government with the support of Jeyaram Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu. The Government instructed the Army to end the war before the Indian elections.

“The Army acted accordingly. The White Flag issue came up thereafter. When the LTTE members were coming with white flags, the Commanding officer there should have decided whether that was a genuine surrender or a ploy to carry out an assault. But in this instance, the decision came from Colombo and was passed down to the Army. It was not a decision taken in the battlefield. Why did that happen? Whom did they want to rescue? They wanted to safeguard Pulidevan who made that deal (taking money in exchange for the LTTE telling the people to boycott the 2005 presidential elections) in November 2005. We will speak the truth. Who gave money to save Pulidevan? Who put the deal through during the Presidential election (2005)? There are people here who are aware of it. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members are aware of it. Here, they speak of safeguarding innocent people. But what is the truth. Why was the need for Pulidevan to be rescued? I do not like people being killed. But Pulidevan should be responsible for the destruction of Tamils.

“If Pulidevan was not there they (the former Govt) could not have come into power. It should have been a decision of the Army to accept or not to accept a person coming with a white flag. What followed was the visit to Sri Lanka by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. A joint statement was issued by the Government and the Secretary General, saying that they will look into allegations on violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. That was approved in the General Assembly later. Thereafter, again they (the then Govt) went before the three-member UN panel of experts (Darusman Committee) and said that the Military or Civil law will be applied if our military has violated any laws. Now they shed tears about the military.

(The joint statement that Wickremesinghe referred to was released in Colombo on May 23, 2009. Among other matters it said, “Sri Lanka reiterated its strongest commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, in keeping with international human rights standards and Sri Lanka’s international obligations. The Secretary General underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. The Government will take measures to address those grievances.)

“We are aware how (now Field Marshal) Sarath Fonseka was thrown into jail. After the Presidential election, when the Elections Commissioner ordered that security be provided to him, the commandos guarding him were drawn out and made to kneel in front of Cinnamon Lake hotel. (This was after it was known that Fonseka had lost the presidential election to Rajapaksa). What was the crime committed by them. They are the persons who fought the war for us. Do not speak about the soldiers. Get their pardon first. Today, who are against the proposed mechanism? It is the Diaspora groups supporting the LTTE, extremist Tamil organisations in Tamil Nadu, extremist Tamil groups in Sri Lanka and the so called patriotic Colombo group.

“This is the group which put themselves together after the assassination of Mr Kadirgamar. These are the persons opposed to the proposal. They have a common objective. They want to divide the country and protect their privileges. We gained a mandate from the people in January and in August after disclosing the truth. We gained an endorsement from the public for a new political culture. No one will be able to obstruct the journey we have started. Under the leadership of President Maithripala Sirisena we will proceed forward. We ourselves will develop the mechanism. Please give your valuable ideas towards this. The council made up of religious leaders is new. We should obtain their views as well on resolving this issue.”

Commission reports presented to the House
Just a day ahead of the debate, Wickremesinghe tabled in Parliament two Commission reports, one from former High Court Judge Maxwell Paranagama and the other from retired Supreme Court Judge Nissanka Udalagama. The Paranagama report, extracts of which appear elsewhere in the Sunday Times today, has bolstered the Government’s case for a domestic inquiry mechanism with international participation. Premier Wickremesinghe’s statement in Parliament is a forerunner to one of the key aspects that will come under investigation by the domestic inquiry with international support — the links between the assassination of the then Foreign Minister Kadirgamar and the large cash donations to the LTTE to prevent those in the north from exercising their vote at the 2005 presidential election. Members of the Rajapaksa family and those who facilitated the handing over of funds would become answerable. That would include businessman Tiran Alles who has declared publicly at a news conference that he had been an interlocutor and was present when monies were handed over. Particularly for Rajapaksa, this would naturally increase concerns. Some of the ongoing investigations centre on him or members of his family. This is at a time when he finds himself isolated within his own party, so much so he is shying away from the limelight and even declined to speak in Parliament on Friday when a direct allegation was made against him by the Prime Minister.

Avant Garde probes
Another issue that is pre-occupying the Government is the ongoing probes by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on discrepancies in the number of weapons on board MV (Motor Vessel) Avante Garde. It had set out from a Red Sea port on September 15 and had reached the Galle Port on October 13. The case was handed over to the CID by Police Chief N.K. Illangakoon.

Different views have now emerged on whether charges could be framed in court over the discrepancies. One view is that the vessel had been boarded and discrepancies discovered in international waters. However, others argued that the vessel flew the Sri Lanka flag and therefore Sri Lankan agencies could legitimately board it even outside territorial waters. Customs statistics show that the vessel belonging to Avant Garde Ltd., whose captain was Ukranian national Gennady Gavrylov, had declared it held 549 T56 automatic weapons (550 were found), 264 semi-automatic weapons, 173,693 rounds of ammunition (quantity found 175,694) and other different varieties of ammunition. However, according to CID sources, there was a discrepancy with over 400 weapons belonging to Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Limited and a further 600 weapons belonging to foreign sources. Furthermore, these sources say there were 59 weapons which had no registration. “We are now trying to determine the fate of them,” the source said. The CID source added that according to CID findings, the Defence Ministry has given clearance to carry only 100 weapons and not more than 60,000 rounds of ammunition. There are clearly differences in the accounts by the Customs and the Police.

President Sirisena told the previous week’s ministerial meeting that the probe against Avante Garde over the latest find was continuing. He said he had also directed an investigation to determine how a middle level official in the Ministry of Defence had issued a letter to clear weapons on board the MV Avant Garde and it was now under way.

There is no gainsaying that the coming weeks are significant to the Government in many ways. A budget, which Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake says is ‘revolutionary,’ would be presented on November 20. The critical question is what it holds for the common man and the working class. The drop in the US dollar vis-à-vis the rupee has led to a rapid rise in prices of essential consumer goods and even medical items. The public frustration is rising over the failure to fulfil promises to deal with the corrupt including those who looted the country’s wealth. To add to that, unprofessional approaches to freeze the wealth of a young politician in a Dubai bank have frustrated Government intentions.

The German Ambassador in Colombo made a stunning speech this week at an event organised by the Business Council of the Chamber of Commerce. He said the new Government had still not introduced a proper economic policy framework to attract foreign direct investment. This is a clear indication that the country lacks the capability of implementing an economic development framework. The Ambassador with a background in economics, said although Sri Lanka has a huge Cabinet with 48 (now 49) ministers, there is hardly anything to see that the movement of the economy was at the anticipated level. All in all, the voter looks to greater relief like the business and commercial sectors. How much will be done for them is the challenge for the Government.