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Five long years ago, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was asked by then President Maithripala Sirisena to probe the SriLankan Airlines deal for four Airbus A 350-900 aircraft.

This probe identified those involved in concluding the deal together with six other narrow-bodied aircraft just after the conclusion of the Paris Air Show in June 2013. As the probe got underway, Mr Sirisena also called upon then Public Enterprises Minister Kabir Hashim to submit a comprehensive report to the Cabinet.

Believe it or not, Mr Hashim observed in his memorandum that though he was the minister in charge, none of the transactions, including the termination deal, had been copied to his Ministry. It began coming in instalments only after his Ministry Secretary had written strong letters to the SriLankan management.

Meanwhile, the CID findings, which were compiled into a report, gathered dust for almost five years with no action being taken, except an application to a Magistrate to confiscate the passports of the suspects. The case came alive only after a British Court heard that an executive of SriLankan and his wife, who allegedly ran an offshore company in Brunei, had received two million US dollars from the Airbus Company and were to receive more funds.

Investigations revealed that the money trail that began in London had gone to Brunei and later unknown sums had ended up in the accounts of persons in Sri Lanka including a sportsman. The sportsman’s funds had come from a bank in Australia to Colombo, according to investigators.

The order to arrest, SriLankan’s onetime Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kapila Chandrasena and his wife Nayomali Wijesuriya came from the Attorney General after the finding in the UK Court transpired and received wide publicity. They have now been remanded by Fort Chief Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake until February 19.

Some MPs want Mahinda to contest from Gampaha

Some Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MPs who met in Parliament want to appeal to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa for him to contest from the Gampaha District.

Their request is based on the belief that he would receive much more preference votes than in Kurunegala District which he represents now.

SLPP sources said Premier Rajapaksa plans to contest from the Kurunegala District and there has so far been no change.

Mangala blasts Govt., but Vasu says ‘devil chanting pirith’

Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has blasted the new Government’s economic policies.

During a lengthy speech in Parliament on Thursday, he claimed that the country was in economic turmoil within just two and a half months after the new Government took over.

The Government did not take kindly to Mr Samaraweera’s speech. State Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage remarked that Mr Samaraweera’s conduct as Finance Minister was one of the reasons that the Yahapalana Government lost the November 16 presidential election.

State Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara went further, saying Mr Samaraweera’s speech was akin to the “devil chanting pirith.”“The people of this country chanted pirith to chase away the devil. The devil was chased away. Now the same devil is coming back to chant pirith to us,” he quipped.

President’s visit cures dengue assistants’ woes

The first ‘agitation site’ allocated for protesters in a move to reduce traffic congestion within Colombo city, saw a surprise visit from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa this week.

Dengue prevention assistants recruited by the Health Ministry were gathered at the agitation site, demanding permanent job placements. They charged that since 2017 they had been working as assistants with no response from the authorities to their request for permanent employment.

The President’s visit to the agitation site located close to the Galle Face Green was received with joyous response from the protesters. They dispersed after the President promised to absorb the 1,300 dengue assistants to the Multi-Purpose Development Task Force, a Presidential Secretariat programme to generate 100,000 employment opportunities.

But in Parliament, a pertinent question was posed by an opposition UNP member to the onetime veteran trade union leader and current State Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara as to whether he agreed to confine protesters to one particular area as it would be one of the best ways of ignoring their demands. The question was met with stoic silence.

Luxury vehicles for politicos: Rs. 2.8 billion for deals within wheels

On Friday, Parliament was told that more than Rs 2.8 billion in taxpayers’ funds had been spent to buy vehicles for the benefit of Cabinet, State and Deputy Ministers of the previous Government.

The staggering sum was revealed when Chief Government Whip Johnston Fernando responded to a question raised by JVP Parliamentarian Nalinda Jayatissa.

It was revealed that 79 vehicles had been bought for Rs 2.8 billion. These included Rs 1.6 billion for vehicles of Cabinet Ministers, Rs 652.8 million for vehicles for State Ministers and Rs 564.9 million for vehicles for Deputy Ministers.

The vehicles were among the most luxurious in the market. BMWs, Mercedes Benzs and Toyota Landcruisers were the most popular by far. A few Audis and a couple of bullet-proof vehicles were also included; the latter being purchased by the Defence Ministry.  The types of the vehicles and their enormous individual prize tags prompted Dr Jayatissa to inquire whether Minister Fernando had mistakenly read out the inventory of a leading vehicle trader.

JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said the list was one example that laid bare how Government ministers lavishly spent taxpayers’ money even when the country’s economy was in dire straits.

He also pointed out that some of the ministers, for whom vehicles were bought, were also in the present Government.

“I would like to know whether these vehicles will be auctioned off to meet the needs of the people, such as those of pensioners or to purchase a scanner for the Maharagama cancer hospital, or whether you intend to distribute those vehicles again among yourselves,” he asked.Mr Fernando, however, pointedly dodged the question by insisting that the JVP, too, could not escape blame since it had protected the former Government as its own. “You had the chance to chase the Government out but you did not help us. You could have stopped the purchase of these vehicles then,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, Power and Energy Minister Mahinda Amaraweera on Friday denied he had received a Mercedes Benz valued at Rs 42 million while he was the Mahaveli State Minister under the Yahapalana Government, as stated in Parliament.

The Minister claimed he had no idea who actually obtained the Benz and would lodge a complaint with the police to launch an investigation. He said he intended to make a special statement in Parliament on the matter soon.