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The
night that wrecked Air Chief's career
A chequered 30-year career in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) for
Air Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody ended abruptly last Friday. He retired
as Commander of the SLAF 20 days after an accident involving his
official car and a lorry, triggering off a scandal that embarrassed
the UNF government and sent shock waves in the defence establishment.
When his Puegeot
406 mowed into a lorry around 4.15 am on June 15 at the D.S. Senanayake
Junction (that links Castle Street to Horton Place), the lorry assistant
Ratnasena Silva was badly injured. Suffering minor injuries was
Flight Lieutenant Nilani Diyadawage, Officer-in-Charge of the Women's
Unit of the SLAF who was in the front seat of the car. Both were
rushed to Colombo National Hospital. Whilst the lady officer was
discharged after treatment, the lorry assistant who struggled for
his life died at 12.10 am on Friday. City Coroner,
Edward Ahangama, who held the inquest delivered a verdict of death
due to scepticemia. Maligakanda Additional Magistrate, S.D.A. Thaseem,
directed Air Marshal Weerakkody to appear before Court on Tuesday
after Borella Police filed a "B" Report. The days after
the accident had been riddled with tense drama. A businessman from
Mirihana, said to be a one time supplier to the SLAF, spearheaded
a campaign to brush the incident under the carpet. Claiming he had
made a donation of five million rupees to the UNP's election campaign
fund and boasting that he counted many government leaders as close
associates, the man not only spoke to bureaucrats, police officials
and politicians but also to many media personnel. There were offers
of attractive financial handouts if the incident was kept out from
the glare of publicity. He was to argue that this was insignificant
compared to former US President Bill Clinton's love tryst with White
House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
Following
an investigation, The Sunday Times has been able to piece together
the sequence of events leading to the scandal. It began on the night
of June 14 when Air Marshal Weerakkody attended a cocktail party
at the residence of the head of a Western diplomatic mission. There,
eye witnesses said, he helped himself to whisky. There were many
other senior Air Force officers who were at the same function. Later, most
of the Air Force invitees to the diplomatic cocktails had turned
up at the Senior Officers Mess at the Thunmulla Junction in Bambalapitiya.
There, Lal Perera, Director of Aeronautical Engineering, was hosting
a party to celebrate his promotion to the rank of Director, Aeronautical
Engineering. Air Marshal Weerakkody, who arrived there, sipped beer.
He was in such ahappy mood that he took the unusual step of dancing
with some male colleagues. Later a female officer joined him on
the floor. A senior officer in the Directorate of Management was
seen to whisper a message in his ears. It later turned out that
he was warning Air Marshal Weerakkody to be cautious. It was around
1.30 am and the party at the Senior Officer's Mess continued. Air
Marshal Weerakkody who left at this time turned up at the Library,
an exclusive club, at Trans Asia Hotel in the company of the female
officer. There they spent time. A Cabinet Minister who was present
ordered several rounds of Tequila for the duo. From there, Air Marshal
Weerakkody and the female companion adjourned to Blue Elephant,
the nightclub at ColomboHilton. Eye witnesses
there said they drank Tequila there and danced together.Their demeanour
drew the attention of many at the Blue Elephant. One among a group
of youngsters asked his friend "who's that lucky guy ?"
His friend responded in a whisper "that's the Commander of
the Air Force." They had left past 2.30 am. By next morning
(Saturday), Upul Jayakody had turned up at the Borella Police to
own up that he drove the Air Force Commander's official vehicle.
That was whilst the police had not interviewed Air Marshal Weerakkody
for many days. Mr Liyanage
was on a visit to Japan when Mr. Gunatilleke began his inquiry.
On Wednesday, Police Chief, Lucky Kodituwakku, had arranged his
conference room for Mr. Gunatilleke to record Air Marshal Weerakkody's
statement. Mr. Gunatilleke
told The Sunday Times his investigations had confirmed that it was
Air Marshal Weerakkody who had driven the official vehicle. He is
learnt to have denied any prior knowledge of Air Force driver Upul
Jayakody turning up at the Borella Police to claim he was the driver.
After making the statement to Police, Air Marshal Weerakkody met Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, at Temple Trees on Wednesday afternoon to inform him that he would send in his papers for retirment. On Thursday, he also met President Chandrika Kumaratunga to convey his decision. That evening, he handed in his papers of retirement to Defence Secretary Austin Fernando, who in turn sent them to President Kumaratunga via Defence Minister, Tilak Marapana. President Kumaratunga intimated that she had accepted the retirement. Air Vice Marshal Donald Perera, now Chief of Staff, is to be appointed the new Air Force Commander. Family
told not to talk, but here's what they said These are all
the belongings of Mr. Silva . He was the sole bread winner for his
family of five - wife, three sons aged 22, 18 and 17. The two elder
sons are unemployed whilst the youngest is in school. The family
has been warned not to speak to the media. But I persuaded one of
them to chat with me. This family member said Air Force officials
were helpful and were taking care of their needs. "Our prayer
is that he recovers soon," Mr. Silva's wife Leelawathie said,
unaware that soon after midnight the end would come. We were told
that the Air Force Commander had volunteered to pay all the medical
bills. He had even offered to transfer Mr. Silva to a private nursing
home if required. He had obtained three injections, each costing
Rs 3,000, milk powder and other daily necessities. "The Commander
promised to help find employment for the two sons and to look after
Mr. Silva in the event he could not fend for himself," the
family member said. We also visited the national hospital, while
Mr. Silva was being treated there. There too we found the staff
had been told not to allow media personnel to speak to the accident
victim. They had also been told not to provide information about
the condition of the patient. When we asked
Dr. Hector Weerasinghe, Director of the National Hospital, he said
the patient had asked that no photographs be taken. Nurses at Ward
21 said they were under instructions not to talk about the patient's
condition. Yesterday we
visited the house again but this time Mr. Silva's wife and children
were seated besides the coffin still unable to accept what had happened.
His wife Leelawathi kept weeping and was being consoled by another
relative. The coffin
just fit the room in the house along with a few chairs. A shed with
some chairs was made on the road, where a few relatives and neighbours
were seated. A family member
said a businessman, who owns a building which houses a casino had
given them Rs. 50,000 and had promised that a house would be built
and money provided for them. He had also promised jobs for the sons. Lorry assistant Ratnasena Silva underwent six operations since the accident. He passed away after 20 days of suffering. And during those 20 days, the high and mighty in the arms business, fought a different battle - to keep the details of the incident away from the public. They succeeded only for 20 days. |
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