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Housing and Construction Minister Sajith Premadasa, deputy leader of the United National Party (UNP), raised many an eyebrow at last Tuesday’s weekly ministerial meeting. He threatened to resign if a major grievance he faced was not rectified.

His grievance – Parliament had allocated six billion rupees to his Ministry of Housing and Construction. However, the ministry had only received three billion rupees whilst two billion had been given to the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Prison Reforms (D.M. Swaminathan) and the remaining one billion to the Ministry of National Dialogue (Mano Ganeshan).

According to a minister present at the meeting, Mr. Premadasa urged President Maithripala Sirisena, who chaired the meeting, to intervene. He wanted him to issue a directive that the monetary allocations be suspended until the matter was resolved. Mr. Sirisena did not approve of such a move.

President Sirisena, the minister said, made clear that they should await the return of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to discuss the matter. He noted that it was only a few days away. Moreover, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake was also away. Both were attending the World Economic Forum in Davos in the Swiss Alps.
Another minister added that Mr. Premadasa was “quite agitated.” He complained that the taking away of the funds already approved by Parliament hampered development work of his ministry.

A UNP minister asked why Mr. Premadasa raised issue when Premier Wickremesinghe was away. However, a source close to the Housing Minister said that the minister had previously made representations to Mr. Wickremesinghe as well as President Sirisena. It seems, up to now, to no avail.

Bond issue debate on Tuesday
The Parliament debate on the Central Bank bond scam will begin at 9.30 a.m. and end at 7 p.m. on Tuesday (January 24).
The time has been decided at a meeting of party leaders represented in Parliament.

SLFP chief ministers to meet Rajapaksa today

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Chief Ministers will meet former President Mahinda Rajapaksa at breakfast today, sparking speculation whether the event has any political undertones.

Mr. Rajapaksa is known to serve hoppers during his breakfast meetings, a trait once made famous by former Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawela. Recently, the former President treated Colombo-based foreign correspondents to a hopper breakfast followed by a news conference.
Sections of the SLFP believe the Chief Ministers would have obtained approval from President Sirisena for them to meet President Rajapaksa.

CID questions Fonseka over Lasantha  killing
Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka’s ceremonial uniform came in handy on a visit to India last week.
The soldier turned politician was in New Delhi for the annual Raisna lecture. The event is backed by the Indian Foreign Ministry.

FM Fonseka donned his Field Marshal uniform to call on India’s only surviving Marshal of the Air Force (the equivalent of Field Marshal), 90 year old Arjan Singh.
Winner of the Padma Vibhushan, Arjan Singh served as the first four-star Chief of the Indian Air Force. He was promoted to Marshal of the Air Force in 2002.

On his return to Colombo, FM Fonseka was questioned by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) detectives over the death of The Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickremetunga. He was Commander of the Sri Lanka Army when Wickrematunge was ambushed on the road by a gang, assaulted and murdered.
When he retired, he was invited by the Free Media Movement (FMM) for a ceremony to mark the anniversary of Mr. Wickremetunga’s death. There, at the request of the FMM, Field Marshal Fonseka garlanded a photograph of Mr Wickremetunga.

Top FCID team going to LA
A top level Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) team is to travel to Los Angeles to probe the alleged use of Government funds for an office of the Consulate of Sri Lanka.

Such an office, it has come to light, was not an official institution coming under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.The probe comes in the wake of a written complaint to the FCID by the Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera. The FCID team is expected to be led by Senior DIG Ravi Waidyalankara.

Sex bribes
Seeking sexual favours is to be declared an act of bribery, the Government has decided. For this purpose, the Government will move amendments to the Bribery Act.