11th February 2001

Title

By Alia

Mines laid to rest

The Sri Lanka Navy recently laid to rest in the deep sea 10,500 anti-tank mines, decades old and disused stocks lying with the Sri Lanka Air Force.

The stock weighing 231,000 kilos was subjected to a Board of Survey and the Ministry of Defence approved the dumping.

Holding on to this stock posed storage problems for the SLAF.

Look out, Tiger coming

Police in the City have been alerted to be on the lookout for a Black Tiger cadre attempting to infiltrate and carry out attacks on a VIP target, under cover of the ongoing unilateral ceasefire.

The Tiger cadre is said to have been spotted in Vavuniya last week.

He had been in possession of a bomb laden suicide jacket and was said to be heading for the City.

Tender rivalry

Some allegations about irregularities in military procurements, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, declared last week was the result of feuding among prospective tenderers.

Those not successful were responsible for campaigns, she said. The response came when a caller questioned her during ITN's Janamandalee programme over a deal by the Ministry of Defence to procure 10,000 pieces of light weight body armour.

Little wonder. The local agent's commission over this deal, now cancelled, would have been Rs 40 million !!!

They got their cut

Talking about commissions in military procurements, here is a story that is now doing the rounds in military circles.

A security arm of the State concluded a multi-million dollar deal in November last year.

The deal has since been cancelled, but it now transpires that the cancellation came only after some top local persons who helped clinch the deal had been paid their commissions.

Some have got rich but the suppliers have become the losers !!

Travails over

Travails of Mili- tary Spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne, having to pay for his cellular phone bills to respond to queries from the media is over.

Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle, responded to the report in these columns last week and has raised his telephone allowances.

Rajpal Abeynayake's Column

Editorial/ Opinion Contents