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Presidential probe on five-star minister
By Our Political Editor
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to seek an immediate explanation from Rohitha Bogollagama, Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, as to why he disregarded his instructions and chose to stay at a suite in the Geneva Hilton instead of the Chateau de Bossey during talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The President has already directed that neither the Government nor any of its agencies should meet the bills for this stay. President Rajapaksa's move comes in the wake of repeated complaints to him that Mr. Bogollagama had chosen to disregard Government policy and chose to stay in most expensive hotels during his visits abroad.

Before the Sri Lanka delegation left Colombo for the Geneva talks with the LTTE, President Rajapaksa had briefed them. He had made clear that no wives should accompany Cabinet Ministers and that Swiss authorities were making all arrangements for accommodation of the delegation. This was at the request of the Royal Norwegian Government.

President Rajapaksa has now been told that Mr. Bogollagama did not stay with the rest of the Sri Lanka delegation at the Chateau de Bossey. He had instead booked a suite at the Geneva Hilton and checked in there with his wife and two sons.

Further complaints were to reach the President when the Government delegation met at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Geneva for private consultations.
It was felt that holding their own meetings at the Chateau de Bossey posed security risks since their conversations could be bugged. It was reported that Mr. Bogollagama had attended such meetings in the company of one of his sons. Delegation leader Nimal Siripala de Silva had brought this to the notice of President Rajapaksa. He had asked him to speak to Mr. Bogollagama and get his son to withdraw. In the alternative he had told Mr. de Silva to ask Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle to talk to Mr. Bogollagama.

However, Mr. Bogollagama had declined to ask his son to leave and explained that he was training him in politics. Hence his presence would help him learn.
This is the second occasion when Mr. Bogollagama has been reported to President Rajapaksa over matters relating to hotels. When the President was on an official visit to India in December, last year, his entire entourage of Ministers, politicians and officials were accommodated in hotels by the Government of India.

They were playing hosts. However, Mr. Bogollagama and his wife had booked accommodation and stayed in a different hotel. President Rajapaksa then directed that neither the Government nor any state agency should pay the bill. It is reported to have been settled by a private party.

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