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Engineers see snags in CEB reforms
By Shelani Perera
The CEB Engineers Union is protesting over the Board decision to begin the restructuring of the CEB on October 1, stating that practical issues need to be solved first.

The CEB is to be restructured with the Lanka Electricity Company (LECO) and the CEB being merged and restructured to form six companies. A union spokesperson said human resources issues need to be solved before going for the restructure.

"We are not against the reforms. The CEB is in a financial and administrative mess. Without resolving these issues we should not go for a merger,” he said. CEB Chairman S Zubair said once the Public Utility Commission appointments were made by the Constitutional Council, the Prime Minister's Office will appoint the officials to the six companies. He said the seventh company would be set up later for the North and East.

CID probes massive garment quota fraud
By Shanika Udawatte
The CID is probing a fraud amounting to Rs. 5.5 million which had gone unnoticed due to the alleged negligence of Textile Quota Board officials. According to CID officials, a manager of GJM garments had been appointed by the company officials as the representative of the company who would deal with matters relating to quotas and the Quota Board. On June 14, 2003 the manager had left the country for official business.

Taking advantage of this situation, an employee of GJM garments had allegedly forged the signature of the manager and sent a letter to the Quota Board on June 16 appointing him as the representative between the company and the Quota Board. On the same day he had made an application to transfer a garment quota worth over Rs. 5 million (CAT 352/052 45,000 dzs ) to SlimLine garments. Once the approval for the transfer had been received from the Quota Board he had handed it over to a quota broker. The quota broker has obtained cheques totalling Rs. 5.5 million from SlimLine garments for handing over the quota to the company. He had also encashed these cheques.

The Sunday Times learns that the Quota Board officials are also under investigation since the normal procedure to compare the signature of a company representative against the specimen signature sent by that company to the Quota Board, appears to have been overlooked, CID sources said.

The Sunday Times learns that there are noticeable differences between the specimen signature of the manager and the forged signature in the letter sent to the Quota Board by the employee. This has caused suspicion about the actions of the Quota Board officials. The CID has also learnt that the two suspects had paid an executive officer of another garment factory connected with SlimLine garments, over Rs. 500,000 as a commission to aid them in carrying out the fraud.

CID investigations to trace the Rs. 5.5 million are under way. Sources said about one million rupees had been detected so far. The forged documents are to be presented to the Examiner of Questioned Documents for a detailed repor. The suspects who have been remanded will be produced for an identification parade on July 16, in the Fort Magistrate's court.

Suspects speak of JVP link in Vijaya assassination case
The trial of Vijaya Kumaratunga assassination case was fixed for October 6 by Colombo High Court Judge Kuma Ekaratne this week. The first suspect Virantha Mudiyanselage Dhanapala alias Pala who was indicted this week was released on Rs. 500,000 cash bail with two sureties.

Dhanapala and another suspect identified as Thuraisamy Shrikanthan told Maradana police in 1998 that some JVP members, who were introduced to them by a friend, had asked them to keep a gun and a motorcycle with them.

The suspects said they made arrangements for the motor cycle, a red Honda, to be parked at the residenc of a friend, Anto, and the gun which had initially been kept under the bed of Dhanapala had thereafter been transferred to the house of another friend Samantha.

The suspects had stated they were unaware as to the purpose of keeping the motorcycle or gun until they heard it on the news that Vijaya had been killed. The killers had subsequently come and left the motorcycle and the gun with the friends of the accused, Anto and Samantha.

The two accused had been under great pressure from Anto and Samantha who were keeping the items, to dispose of them. This they had done by abandoning the motor cycle near the Kalubowila hospital, after removing the number plates, but kept the side mirrors with Dhanapala and palming the gun of to a man known to Shrikanthan. He was identified as Koombikele Dharme.

Dhanapala had also stated that nearly a year prior to the killing he had undergone training by the JVP in a camp in the outskirts of Matugama where he was taught to handle a weapon and to shoot.

The two accused were indicted in the High Court on June 2 for causing evidence pertaining to the killing of Vijaya Kumaratunga to disappear, that is, causing the disappearance of the motorcycle and a gun which were the evidence of the Kumaratunga murder, with the intention of shielding the offender from legal punishment, knowing or having reason to believe that during the period of February 16-18, 1988, Vijaya Kumaratunga's murder (an offence punishable under Section 296 of the Penal Code) has been committed.

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