Columns

• Last Monday’s statement from PM’s office avoided his reference to the Political Editor allegedly supporting the ‘Pohottuwa’
• Ranil silent on our disclosure China Harbour issued cheques to all major-political parties
• New war erupts between UNP and those around Mahinda Rajapaksa as parties prepare for upcoming elections

With President Maithripala Sirisena abroad, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe functioned as the de facto head of government running the affairs of state. He was both active and aggressive though the privilege of chairing weekly cabinet meetings was not his.

Sirisena had decided there would be no weekly meetings when he travels abroad. This is after the in-fighting between the leaders of the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) climaxed. Nevertheless the fragile coalition continues and Sirisena has since returned after visits to Italy and Georgia.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe handing over an appointment letter to a teacher at a ceremony to mark the Government’s new education programme where all students will have 13 years of education. It was at this ceremony the premier again lashed out at the Sunday Times political columnist. Pic by Jayamal Chandrasiri

Yesterday, Wickremesinghe flew by helicopter to Kilinochchi and proceeded to Jaffna. This week, a significant event he saw through was the inauguration of a five-year National Export Strategy (NES). When it takes full effect, it will no doubt be a boon to the national coffers, for there will be a steady influx of foreign exchange. Since becoming Premier, he launched many similar projects. Among them — the 100 Day development programme, the Balagathu Lankawa, launched in December 2016. This project was for district and provincial development. Then came Vision 2020 which he declared would “propel Sri Lanka’s emergence into an era of prosperity for all citizens.”

Among the ambitious plans promised under this project was “an unprecedented thrust” with the creation of “economic corridors” and “secondary corridors” to form “economic arteries.” They were the South Western Monsoon Corridor, the North Eastern Monsoon Corridor, the Highlands Corridor, and the establishment of a “Ceylon City.” Adding hopes for a prosperous Sri Lanka were also the formal statements by Wickremesinghe in Parliament. In the past three years, it came just days ahead of the Finance Minister’s budget and spoke of ambitious future economic and fiscal reforms.

Whether all these pledges and many more not mentioned here have been achieved remains debatable. However, Premier Wickremesinghe cannot be faulted. He told an audience in Singapore just days ago that Sri Lanka will become a “fully developed country in 2050” — in 32 years. If most in the present generation would not be able to savour the fruits of that developed island nation, the younger generation sure would. Even the founding father of Singapore, the late Lee Kwan Yew did not take that long to turn his country into a prosperous city-state with a rule of law that was equal to all citizens. Barring a few instances, the word ‘corruption’ was confined only to the dictionary. Singapore’s world reputation as an economic miracle and stability was proof when US President Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un created history by meeting on its soil. It was also a testament to the law enforcement agencies of that nation. There were no major incidents except for the amusement of coping with the look-alikes of Trump and Kim.

Amidst his onerous responsibilities, Premier Wickremesinghe also found time to berate the Sunday Times for some contents in last week’s political commentary. First to the formal media statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) soon after he spoke at a meeting of the government parliamentary group at Temple Trees last Monday. The speech in Sinhala has been translated into English.

“Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today (July 16) told the United National Party (UNP) Parliamentary Group that investigations have not been halted into a complaint alleging that a large number of cheques had been cashed before the 2015 presidential election and the money given to officials who were then serving at the President’s office.

“He insisted that reports that these investigations have stopped are completely false. Speaking further at the UNP Parliamentary Group meeting held at Temple Trees today, the PM further said: The Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU) started an investigation on May 9, 2016 after an individual by the name of Dissanayke Mudiyanselage Sarath Dissanayake lodged a complaint alleging that a large number of cheques were cashed before the 2015 presidential election and the money delivered to the President’s office.

“These investigations revealed that 82 cheques amounting to Rs 1,398 million had been cashed between December 1, 2014 and January 8, 2015, with the money being handed over to officials at the president’s office. This includes cheques belonging to China Harbour Engineering Company. The SIU has sent the relevant files to the Attorney General’s Department. The investigations are being conducted under the direct supervision of Deputy Solicitor General Yasantha Kodagoda. These investigations have not been halted at any stage.

“In 2015, the Central Bank had forwarded cheques from Standard Chartered Bank to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) requesting that an investigation be initiated in this regard. Accordingly, the CID is still conducting its probe. There is already some evidence that has come to light. Some evidence is yet to be unearthed. None of the probes has been stopped.

“In this backdrop, several people asked me about an article in yesterday’s (15) edition of the Sunday Times. In a section of the report, it is claimed that these investigations had been stopped. I have been informed that the report also contained references to a folder number. Today, I met with the Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG), the heads of both relevant departments and the AG. They all told me that these investigations were ongoing. They said they knew nothing of reports which appeared in the newspaper.

“They further denied that investigations were stopped on the instructions of a Central Bank official, as claimed in the news report. They also said that there was no folder by the number quoted in the newspaper. They gave me the folder numbers that had been presented. According to them, the Sunday Times report is completely false. Nothing of the sort has happened because the SIU is under the Police. The Central Bank can’t stop a probe coming under the police. What the Central Bank had done was to submit its cheques to the CID. Therefore, nothing has happened in the way it was stated in the report.”

The press release, however, left out some of the references made by Premier Wickremesinghe in his speech. He said Iqbal Athas mahata pohottuwata vede karenney or Iqbal Athas works for the ‘Pohottuwa’ or the budding flower, which is the symbol of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). It swept the local polls on February 10 after routing both the UNP and the SLFP. Its membership is made up largely of former SLFP stalwarts and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the de facto leader.

There was also another statement from the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday. It was a speech Premier Wickremesinghe made at a ceremony to distribute letters of appointments to graduate teachers. There, his close ally, Education Minister and the United National Party (UNP) General Secretary Akila Viaj Kariyawasam complained that the media were not giving publicity to the “good things” the government was doing.

This is what Wickremesinghe, who followed, had to say: “We have received support from the media for this programme (providing 13 years of education in schools), but I regret that Iqbal Athas of the Sunday Times writes against this programme of providing 13 years of education. I don’t know the reasons for that.”

These remarks, to say the least, are nothing less than pure fiction. On NO occasion have I dealt with matters relating to education in these columns except to report on events that have occurred. I can assure the Prime Minister that if what he wants is my support, if at all it is of any significance, to ensure a programme of education for 13 years, I am all for it. Yet, the remarks transparently manifest something else. The references to me come in two statements from the PMO one after another this week. The reasons appear to be too obvious.

The speech he made to the government parliamentary group and released later in the form of a media statement deserves comment both in the public and national interest. He is stoically silent on some matters contained in last week’s political commentary and deafeningly eloquent on some selected aspects. In order to place issues in perspective, the two paragraphs published last week are relevant. They are:

“The Sunday Times is able to reveal today that the funding for major political parties did come from the China Harbour Engineering Company, a firm owned by the Chinese government. As reported earlier in these columns exclusively, this formed the subject of an investigation by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) in early 2015 after evidence was first discovered by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). A former top official of the CBSL, it has now been confirmed, had sought the investigations to be halted though the reasons are not clear.

“The Sunday Times is also able to reveal today that the file which contained material about the China Harbour Engineering Company funding is 312–2015 CB. This CBSL file has been closed in June 2016. Whether the file is still available with the Central Bank with its contents intact or it was taken over by the SIU is not clear. Four cash cheques totalling Rs 100 million were issued by China Harbour Engineering Company as part of payments for political parties. Three cheques are dated January 7, 2015, a day before the presidential election whilst the fourth is dated January 6, 2015.”

Wickremesinghe confirms that he told his government MPs that the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Police is indeed investigating what he calls “a large number of cheques cashed before the 2015 presidential election.” He says the SIU investigations began on May 9 after D.M.S. Dissanayake lodged a complaint. That is indisputably one of the main elements of our report as could be seen from the above paragraphs in italics. How then can he claim that the Sunday Times report is” completely false.” What about the facsimile of four different cheques issued by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) on its Chartered Bank account amounting to Rs 100 million reproduced in these pages last week? Are they also “completely false”?

Wickremesinghe does not say which parts of the story, according to him are right and which parts are wrong. He argues that SIU investigations revealed that 82 cheques had been encashed between December 1, 2014 and January 2015 with “the money being handed over to officials at the former President’s office.” Contrary to our report, the Premier’s contention is that the SIU probe in question was also directed to ascertain funds received by Rajapaksa for his presidential election campaign. If that is the true position, it raises more questions than it answers. He is completely silent on our exclusive disclosure that the SIU probe centred on CHEC funds for all major political parties during the elections in 2015. Is he suggesting that the SIU probe was also to determine only whether Rajapaksa received funds? If so, why then ask the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to carry out a new probe? Surely, two investigative arms of the state cannot be probing one matter?

What is the progress made by the SIU investigation since it began 38 months ago? What did the reports, which the Premier says were sent to the Attorney General, contain? Or is it the Premier’s contention that the 82 cheques amounting to Rs 1,398 million, or Rs. 1.3 billion, which the SIU reportedly uncovered, went for Rajapaksa’s presidential election campaign? If that was so, why was the United National Party (UNP) government remaining silent for 38 long months? Why did it have to wait until The New York Times report in its Business Page made the disclosure about CHEC funding Rajapaksa to seek a new probe?

The Premier says the Police have denied that investigations were stopped on the instructions of a Central Bank official. He also said that the folder number given in the report was wrong and claimed that according to the Police “the Sunday Times report was wrong.” As for the role of the former Central Bank official, and that he cannot statutorily or administratively give instructions to the Police, he is quite right there.

That having been said, a Commission of Inquiry that probed the bond scandal has laid bare that the CBSL’s former Governor Arjuna Mahendran acted contrary to the law, administrative norms, laid down codes of conduct and violated accepted procedures. It transpired during the Commission’s inquiry that he had the backing of politicians. Mahendran is now wanted by the Interpol after the Colombo Magistrate’s Court issued an open warrant for his arrest. The former CBSL chief is now absconding. Hence former top officials giving instructions to those not under their purview is not strange but has remained a common practice as the Commission heard.

I agree with Premier Wickremesinghe that there was an error in my account last week. I am a firm believer in the dictum enunciated by one of the world’s best known journalists, Carl Bernstein, who said reporting is to give the “best available version of the truth.” He was then a young reporter for the Washington Post. In 1972, Bernstein teamed up with Bob Woodward to report on the Watergate scandal that ousted US President Richard Nixon. When errors are pointed out, they are corrected in these columns. In this instance too I stand corrected. The correct file number at the Financial Intelligence Unit of the CBSL should read as C 12 – 2015 CR. However, this does not mean there was no file on the subject matter.

The PMO’s statement also makes another significant point. Asserting that the Central Bank cannot stop a probe coming under the Police,” Premier Wickremesinghe has said “what the Central Bank had done was to submit its cheques to the CID.” True indeed, but he does not elaborate on that.

The Sunday Times can reveal today that D.M.S. Dissanayake (known to be a driver) first made his complaint to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). It is here that a multitude of questions arose even before investigations began. Among them: Did an officer from an investigative arm associated with the CBSL’s Foreign Intelligence Unit (FIU) come under suspicion for receiving assistance from a person under probe? Did that see the then Police chief being directed to request the SIU to take over the investigation? Are reports of ten million rupees changing hands true? Did Dissanayake and another make a complaint to the FIU on March 6, 2015 on the conduct of the officer and was this not communicated to the CID? Did or did not the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) at first refuse to release invoices that accompanied the cheques it issued to some local political parties? Did some of those invoices go missing? Did CHEC operate over 50 bank accounts? Were 37 of them in two foreign banks and 13 in local banks? Has there never been an investigation into CHEC funding political parties during 2015 polls?

For many reasons, Premier Wickremesinghe’s remarks are unfortunate. He is no stranger and I have known him well. I have been impressed with his vast knowledge on most subjects from space to minerals. He speaks to the point with a fine sense of humour. He has been at the forefront, as a champion of media freedom, during my troubled times. One instance is worthy of mention. I had revealed in the Sunday Times the saga of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) procurement of MiG-27 jet fighters. I was then labelled a traitor by those in the Rajapaksa administration and had to flee to live temporarily in a foreign country.

The present government ordered a probe after I made a formal complaint. It has uncovered irrefutable evidence of corruption in the MiG-27 deal though no action has still been taken on those who stacked their monies in a secret bank account in Panama.

Those in power earlier used the full force of their office through the media, both print and electronic, to malign me. Wickremesinghe spoke out and I know of some Colombo-based foreign envoys telling me of how he expressed concerns. Of course, all these were when he was the Leader of the Opposition.

He is now the Prime Minister. Sadly though, the tragic irony is the fact that Wickremesinghe carries a big tar brush. He has blackened many of my colleagues including me since he became Prime Minister more than three years ago. Once again, when campaigning hard to become the UNP’s presidential candidate, Wickremesinghe has begun using the tar brush. He does not seem to believe in the recourse of turning to the media with a correction or clarification if he does feel there was something wrong or his viewpoint had to be heard? Is it because he is embarrassed by the reportage of the truth? Are those attempts to blacken journalists, who have no other recourse like political platforms? Is it to instil fear into journalists and drive them into the graveyard of the silenced? It does raise concerns when someone who aspires to be the country’s next leader uses his own bizarre carrot and stick policy.

I asked former President Mahinda Rajapaksa for his reactions on CHEC funding for his presidential campaign and the developments related to it. He was in Singapore and found time to respond to questions. “After more than three years in office, they are now talking of so-called funding for my presidential election campaign. This effort and an accompanying propaganda campaign are all intended to obscure the bond scam at the Central Bank where billions of public funds have been looted,” he told the Sunday Times. He charged that the so-called investigations were only a ploy “with the eye on the impending elections. This is why my family and I are being targeted.” He pointed out that it was not only in Sri Lanka that campaign donations were going to political parties but also in neighbouring India.

“Some are trying to pretend that political parties do not receive donations from different sources. There was one presidential candidate who got paid in dollars. What happened to that,” he asked. Rajapaksa said that the “more the government went ahead with vindictive acts, the more people will rally round the Opposition.” The former President said he was both “saddened and disheartened” when he spoke to some investors who wanted to come to Sri Lanka. “They told me the country was so unstable they do not want to place their monies,” he added.

This week’s developments show that a new war is gradually erupting between the UNP and those around Mahinda Rajapaksa. The détente is over as eyes are cast on the upcoming elections. In this midst Speaker Karu Jayasuriya chaired a meeting of party leaders on Friday to examine the possibility of conducting Provincial Council elections. He named Wickremesinghe to chair a Committee that would examine the Delimitation Commission report, a time consuming process.

Caught up in the ongoing political whirlpool are the media. In some of the autocracies, the media are told, “you have the freedom to write what you want. But we have the freedom to shoot you if we don’t like what you write.” In Sri Lanka, it appears to be slightly different. The message is You can write what you want. If we do not like, we will name and shame you . That is whilst making in their manifestos pledges to protect media freedom.