• India probes Tiger links of TN politicos
• Rotting: onions, rice, dried fish and CWE
• Kandy DIG moved out as Ratwatte takes over
• Mini budget to be presented on Tuesday

India probes Tiger links of TN politicos

Top CBI team was here for investigations

By Iqbal Athas

India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought Sri Lanka's help to establish links between several Tamil Nadu politicians and the LTTE.

The move is part of an extensive investigation into political aspects of the assassination of one-time Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. A call to probe such aspects had been made by the Jain Commission. Justice M.C. Jain probed the larger conspiracy behind the Rajiv Gandhi killing.

A three-member CBI team comprising M.N. Thiagarajah, N. Mishra and S.V. Sivaprakasam were in Colombo on a ten-day visit talking to heads of important Government Departments and State agencies.

Among the meetings were one with Attorney General K.C. Kamalasabeyson and Solicitor General C.R. de Silva.

Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani told the Indian parliament on Thursday that a high level Indian team undertook a ten-day mission to Colombo to clear formalities for the extradition of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, the main accused in the Rajiv Gandhi murder trial.

Officials in Colombo, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, admitted the visiting Indian team reviewed an earlier Indian request for the extradition of the LTTE leader.

"That was a formal procedural exercise and was not a specific request made during the team's visit. There were many other important issues discussed," the source said.

Declining to give details the source added "those probing the Rajiv Gandhi assassination have had an ongoing dialogue with several agencies in Sri Lanka. The recent talks were very much a part of it."

The Sunday Times learns that the main thrust of the three member CBI team, whilst they were in Colombo, was to gather evidence and compile material on several politicians in Tamil Nadu who had close links with the LTTE. With this in view, the team had discussions with several key State agencies including the Criminal Investigation Department, the Directorate of Military Intelligence and the Directorate of Internal Intelligence.

Among the politicians on whom details have been sought are two leading politicians — Vaiko Gopalaswamy and P. Nedumaran.

Vaiko Gopalaswamy is the leader of the Marumalatchi Dravida Munetra Kazkaham (Renaissance DMK), which is a constituent partner of the ruling National Democratic Alliance. He is regarded as being brazenly pro LTTE and is known to attend conferences arranged by them in various world capitals.

Before the arrival of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka in July, 1987, Mr. Gopalaswamy, entered Sri Lanka illegally and spent two weeks in the company of the LTTE leader, in a hideout somewhere in the Wanni jungles. An LTTE video released at that time showed how he walked through the jungles escorted by armed LTTE cadres and later meeting the LTTE leader.

P. Nedumaran, a former MP was earlier member of the Tamil Nadu Congress and later formed a splinter group. After that was wound up, he formed the Tamil National Movement, a pro-LTTE organisation. He also visited Sri Lanka illegally, soon after Mr. Gopalaswamy's visit, and spent time in the Wanni jungles with the LTTE leader. Photographs obtained during this visit are in the hands of the CBI team.

Mr. Nedumaran was responsible for obtaining the release of Karnataka film idol Rajkumar, who was held hostage in Tamil Nadu jungles by Indian brigand Veerappan for 108 days. He spoke to the hostage taker following an appeal made by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi.

His visit fuelled speculation that he carried a message from Mr. Prabhakaran to secure the release of Mr Rajkumar. Some rag tag liberation groups helping Veerappan are known to be having LTTE links and hence the LTTE leader's appeal.

One time Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated in the Tamil Nadu town of Sri Perampudur on May 21, 1991.

A special investigation team from the CBI led by D.R. Karthikeyan, conducted investigations. Several leads for breakthrough in the investigations came from Sri Lankan agencies whose representatives Mr. Karthikeyan met during visits to Sri Lanka.

Twenty six persons were convicted for the murder of Mr. Gandhi. They were sentenced but their convictions were commuted to prison sentences. Only four of them are still serving their sentences whilst others have been released in view of periods they had served and due to remission.

Rotting: onions, rice, dried fish and CWE

By Sunil Jayatillake

Huge stocks of rice, onions and dried fish valued at millions of rupees are rotting in the stores of Co-operative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) as the state's main trading organisation swirls in alleged malpractices and corruption.

CWE sources said other items including tyres, electrical metres and fittings were lying unsold in stores, largely because of irregularities or inefficiency.

They said serious irregularities had allegedly taken place in the import of rice from India, Pakistan and Vietnam resulting in the CWE being unable to sell the low quality rice. They said that heavy paddy purchases by the CWE from local farmers had also resulted in the organisation being overloaded with stocks of local rice.

As for the dried fish, some stocks had been disposed of as unfit for human consumption while part of it was being sold at a giveaway price of eight rupees a kilo, they said.

The onion problem began with the CWE buying it at 28 rupees a kilo from farmers plus transport charges. As a result, the onion had to be sold at a loss to fall in line with market prices.

The CWE was also suffering losses in purchasing other items such as milk food, canned-fish and soap from reputed companies. The CWE purchased these items in Colombo and transported them to the outstation outlets, instead of purchasing them at outstations directly from the sales reps, the sources said.

Among the other items at the stores are electrical metres costing Rs. 15 million, Chinese tyres costing Rs. 30 million, decorative bulbs costing Rs. 10 million and toys valued at Rs. five million.

Kandy DIG moved out as Ratwatte takes over

A day after Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte was named as the Deputy Defence Minister ,Central Province DIG Sirisena Herath who was allegedly threatened by Minister Ratwatte's son Lohan during the election period was transferred to the Police Headquarters.

Several other promotions for Police officers stationed in Kandy were also effected. ASP Daya Samaraweera was promoted SP while Kandy HQI Saliya Silva was promoted as ASP.

A day after elections Minister Ratwatte's son and his supporters reportedly armed with automatic weapons surrounded the DIG's office in Kandy and allegedly threatened him. A complaint was lodged by the DIG, but later charges against the Minister's son were dropped due to lack of evidence.

Mini budget to be presented on Tuesday

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti

A vote-on-account will be presented by the government on Tuesday seeking parliamentary approval for more than 133 million.

billion rupees to keep the government and public services running till the full budget is presented in March next year. Last year also, the government did not present a budget in November due to the Presidential election and instead put forward a vote-on-account. The budget itself was presented in March this year, with President Chandrika Kumaratunga herself as minister of finance making a surprise visit to parliament to present it.

The government will seek Rs. 127,934,027,000 for specified services and Rs. 5,261,417,000 by way of advances. It is customary to allocate funds through a vote-on-account only for recurrent expenditure but not for capital expenditure.

However, considering the country's current situation, it is believed that a departure from custom has to be made to make the necessary allocations for defence requirements.

The vote-on-account will be debated along with President Kumaratunga's November 11 policy statement in Parliament and the motion for the extension of the state of emergency. The UNP has demanded a vote on the Presidential policy statement

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