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Home » ColumnsMoney laundering: Lanka falls short in EU vote; casinos, gems, real estate identified
Sri Lanka’s casinos, real estate and the gem and jewellery business have been identified as ‘high risk” areas requiring proper supervision of financial institutions by the European Commission. This follows a vote that fell short of the threshold of 376 votes to over-turn the country being listed as a jurisdiction with strategic deficiencies in its [...]
Scholar monk’s erudite voice of ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ stilled
TRAGIC DEATH OF VEN WIMALARATaNa THERA: LANKA’S GUARDIAN DEITY OF PEOPLE’S RIGHTS Temple tusker Myan Kumara flays the venerable hand that fed it; and shrouds the nation in a veil of mourning All life dances on a razor blade. And for Venerable Bellanwilla Wimalaratana Thera, death came from the most unexpected quarter last Friday: from [...]
Another faux pas and bow to hypocrisy
Who ordered the suspension of Brigadier Priyanka Fernando from his post at the Sri Lanka High Commission in London last week? The order came from the foreign ministry which under the yahapalanaya government has often acted in strange ways. Did the foreign ministry act on its own volition or did a political hand move expeditiously [...]
Diplomatic muddle
My dear Brigadier, I thought I must write to you this week, although most people hadn’t heard of you just a week ago. Now however, you have become instantly famous. Everyone is talking about you and what you did in London on independence day – much more than what you did at the height of [...]
Further reflections on independence: Rapid population growth constrains economic performance
The two previous columns dealt with the under performance of the economy (January 31st) and the social and economic achievements during the 70 years of independence (February 4th). Today’s column focuses on two of the extenuating factors that impinged on the country’s economic performance: rapid population growth and adverse terms of trade. Ethnic violence was [...]
The Bar, the attorney general and premature warnings
If the fury and the force of the past months is what Sri Lankan citizens had to face in an ordinarily pedestrian local government election, the imagination fails quite splendidly as to what the future portends with provincial and national elections scheduled to be held in the relatively near future. The voter is the worst [...]
Local council polls: Where do we go from here?
Questions whether Sirisena’s election tirade against corruption will result in action or remain mere words Unexpected turnout at yesterday’s local govt. polls President severely rebukes Foreign Secretary for suspending military attaché in Britain with Ranil’s approval without consulting him The nation today awaits the victor and the vanquished at the local polls which took place [...]
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