A 'letter of comfort' from Govt. to IBIS
By Nilika Kasturisinghe
Despite twice delaying the payment of Rs. 840 million due to the Sri Lankan government, the IBIS company is now being provided with a guarantee to the tune of 30 percent of the value of shares.

Transport Minister Tilak Marapana told The Sunday Times that the government decided to give this guarantee, or whats called 'a letter of comfort' for 30 percent of the share value to enable IBIS to obtain a loan for operation of the companies.

This move coming in the wake of increasing anxiety is seen by many in the transport sector as a great risk while the private bus owners complain it is a highly unnecessary concession granted to a foreign company.

Details of the guarantee are being included in the agreement to be drawn up between the Public Enterprise Reforms Commission (PERC) and the IBIS company.

Meanwhile, Minister Marapana maintained that since the IBIS company was different to the other companies bidding for the remaining bus companies there would be no effect on the proposed share trading on the stock exchange.

The trading is scheduled for February 11 and bid bonds amounting to Rs. 1.3 million each were paid by the two bidders Jayalakshmi Transport Services and A.D.I. Holdings on February 5.

In September of last year Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe ruled that no single company or group of companies should be allowed to manage more than three bus companies. This ruling was incorporated as a condition in the advertisement for the sale of the companies that appeared on 1st October 2002.

However, more and more evidence has now come up showing an alleged link between the IBIS company and Jayalakshmi Transport Services Ltd.

A document signed by two directors of the Jayalakshmi Transport Services Ltd. shows Mr. R.B. Wettasinghe as a Director and Major Shareholder of this company, while the business address of the company given as 4, Chandra Wettasinghe Mawatha, Nawala, Rajagiriya, is similar to that of Mr. Wettasinghe.

Furthermore a letter dated August 6, 2002 by the Company Secretary of Jayalakshmi Transport Services (PVT) Ltd has been addressed to the Director General PERC informing him that Mr. I.M.D. Barrett and Mr. Ian Bulley have been appointed to the Board of Directors of Jayalakshmi.

Mr. Ian M.D. Barrett is known to be the Managing Director of IBIS Transport Consultants, while Mr. Bulley is a Director.

Thursday February 13 is the deadline for the payment of the first instalment amounting to 60 percent of the purchase price while the balance 40 percent is payable by March 13.

The bus companies due for trading on Tuesday, February 11 are the Vavuniya Peoplised Bus Company, New Eastern Bus Co., Wayamba Bus Company, Ruhunu Bus Company, Uva Bus Co, Nuwara Eliya Bus Company, and the Northern Regional Transport Board.

Court battle over Tiger memorial

S. Gurunathan
The Trincomalee Magistrate's Court has issued notice on an LTTE area leader to appear before courts after they attempted to erect an LTTE monument in a land owned by the Road Development Authority (RDA) in Kuchchaveli.

Magistrate S.Thiagendran issued notice on the LTTE's Kuchchaveli political leader, Thooyavan, after the police filed action seeking the intervention of the court to prevent the erection of an LTTE war memorial at Gopalapuram junction, saying it might cause a breach of the peace.

Police said the construction would also be a violation of the ceasefire agreement and asked court to halt the project until the ownership of the land was determined.

Police filed action on a complaint made by the Sri Lanka Navy. The Navy early this week deployed more than 15 men to guard the area after attempts were made to continue with the erection of the monument.

The monument is being erected to commemorate 22 LTTE members who died in a mid-sea mishap when they were returning after attacking a camp of the Eelam National Democratic Front (ENDLF), a group then backed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force against the LTTE. Thooyavan is the sole survivor of that incident.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission's Trincomalee chief Jon Ledang held discussion on Thursday at the LTTE Nilaveli political office with LTTE district leader Tilak and Thooyavan to defuse tension that arose in Nilaveli following the construction of a new camp by the Sri Lanka Navy and the ban on unveiling of the LTTE war memorial at Gopalapuram on Thursday. But, no final settlement has been reached.

Low-cost insulin shortage hits diabetic patients
A cut down in production of animal insulin by leading world manufacturers has resulted in a shortage of insulin Lente in the market with diabetic patients unable to afford expensive alternatives to keep their blood sugar levels down.

Insulin Lente has been out of stock for the past two months following a lack of supplies from the State Pharmaceutical Corporation which supplies to both the private and government sectors.

A spokesman for SPC told The Sunday Times that top class manufacturers in the world were discontinuing the production of animal insulin and switching to human insulin, which has put the SPC in a difficult position. At present two companies dominate the animal insulin market. "We have to go to a reliable source and make sure that the products are of high quality. We can't place orders with any company that produces insulin," the spokesman said.

However, he said, arrangements had been made to import Insulin Lente soon. Insulin Lente (beef insulin) is a cheaper variety than other categories such as pork insulin or human insulin, which is much higher in price than animal insulin.

Some pharmacies have run out of stock of Insulin Lente since November last-year leaving many diabetic patients helpless and penniless having to buy alternate insulin at a higher price to keep their blood sugar levels low.

Tyronne tells Iraq to cooperate with United Nations
Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando has called upon Iraq to cooperate with the UN, as tension regarding the situation in the Gulf heightened.

"The cooperation of Iraq is vital if we are to have a meaningful future for the United Nations. Also Iraq should leave no room for excuse," Minister Fernando said.

The Minister said he believed the UN was facing one of the most crucial moments in its history over the Iraq crisis.

Meanwhile the current mission of the chief UN weapons inspectors is "an important -- but not the last -- chance" to avoid a US war on Iraq, inspector Mohamed ElBaradei said as he arrived at the foreign ministry for talks with Iraqi officials.

ElBaradei and fellow chief inspector Hans Blix are at the start of a two-day visit in Baghdad to assess Iraqi compliance with United Nations demands that Baghdad disclose and eliminate its weapons of mass destruction, according to AFP.

Armed robberies on the increase
By Tania Fernando
A spate of bank robberies in the past few weeks has prompted the IGP to instruct all DIGs to be more alert and detailed special squads to apprehend the offenders so that similar incidents could be prevented in the future.

"I have sent out a circular requesting the police to concentrate more and have more police patrols during bank hours" IGP T E Anadarajah said.

He said meetings would be held with the banks and request them to have more armed security, close circuit cameras and an alarm system connected to the police station.
Meanwhile, bank officials say that they too will be asking the police to have more patrols during banking hours.

"Although banks take the maximum security precautions possible, it is sometimes impossible to ensure that there are no bank robberies", a bank officer said, adding that now the thieves seem to have better plans and are able to get away within a few minutes.

An officer of the Commercial Bank, which was recently robbed of Rs. 300,000 said that
two weeks prior to the robbery they had even strengthened the bank's security network on receiving information that criminals were hovering around the area.

He said some banks were not too keen about armed guards as this could result in a shoot out injuring customers and bank staff. An officer attached to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank whose Pelawatte branch in Battaramulla lost 5.6 million rupees on January 31 said they were looking at changes to their security system.

He said that though the security alarm was activated it was some 10 minutes before police could arrive at the scene.

The robber gang had vanished from the scene by then.

On the same day the Sabaragamuwa Development Bank situated in Nelumdeniya was also robbed of Rs. 62,500.

The police had checked the images on the close circuit cameras of both the Commercial Bank and Hong Kong Bank, no suspects have yet been identified and have made no breakthrough in the investigations.

Though year 2003 is only six weeks old but according to police statistics there have been six bank robberies already.

A total of 20 robberies were recorded last year of which the police have so far solved seven of them while the files on the ones that took place this year still remain open.

Crimes Division ASP Anton Dassanayake said that there has been a definite increase in the bank robberies with 15 recorded in 2001, 2002 had 20 and six in the past few weeks. "They have all been armed robberies," the ASP said.

He said that many those involved were often alleged to be army deserters. "It is upto the local police to have extra patrols and banks too to reinforce and their security," ASP Dassanayake said.

The latest institution to be robbed was the Uva Development Bank in Mahiyanganaya.
It took place on Thursday night with the armed gang escaping with cash and jewellery valued at Rs. 1.16 million.