The "Nigerian Scam", also known as the Advance Fee Fraud, has landed in virtually every single email box in the world. The fraud originates from someone who claims to have inherited a fortune but seeks your assistance to move millions of dollars out of the country (mostly in Africa or the Middle East) on the promise of a hefty reward. But there are suckers who still fall for the worldwide fraud.
A new twist to the old scam is that it now originates from the UN office of internal oversight services and is signed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon himself. The email address, which reads unitednation20112011@hotmail.com, is a fake.
And so is the letter supposedly from the secretary-general. It reads: "I wish to inform you that this is no hoax mail or anything of such nature. If you wish to receive your compensation, simply follow my given directive and it will be paid to you. The bank will inform you with details on how you can send them the $95 delivery cost when you contact them".
And therein lies the catch.
The UNP mess continues
UNP members elected in the recent local council polls had gathered at the party headquarters Sirikotha in Kotte on Friday to get their letters of appointment from party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Half of those present were handed over the letters after which Mr. Wickremesinghe and several other UNP seniors addressed the gathering.
However the programme came to an abrupt end when the organisers played the national anthem after Mr. Wickremesinghe finished his speech.
The new councillors who had come along with their families hoping to take a photograph of them receiving the letter from the UNP leader were left thoroughly disappointed.
They took out their anger on UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake whom they surrounded and accused of lying to them. Mr. Attanayake managed to calm them after some heated arguments with the promise that they would get the chance another day to receive their letters from the leader's hands.
Guffaw for a gaffe
It was the annual get together of the 1974 batch of the Sri Lanka Law College at the Continental Hotel last week.
They are proud to say that not only are they the centenary batch of the institution that produces the country's lawyers, but also they have some illustrious batch-mates among them including President Mahinda Rajapaksa who always makes it a point to join in the bonhomie.
Some of the batch mates in a state of exhilaration tend to call him "Mahinda" forgetting that decorum might suggest that they call him "Janadipathithumani" as they may not need to "Sir" him. Whatever it is, he is primus inter pares (first among equals) purely by virtue of the office he holds.
All these niceties sit lightly on the President himself who is casual, cordial and carefree on these convivial gatherings. It is not unusual to hear him call someone "machang", the Sri Lankan equivalent of "buddy".
But even he was taken aback when one of his batch mates, of the female type referred to him as "araya" (that fellow).
This lady lawyer had told her female machangs "araya thamai mage mahattayawa paraddewwe" meaning "that is the fellow who got my husband defeated". She had lamented that her husband would have won at the last Parliamentary general election as he had come fifth on the list, but someone at the last recount, others like current Ministers A.H.M. Fowzie and Susil Premajayantha who were down the list had emerged on top.
As these hotel walls have ears, the comment reached the Presidential ears, but it was greeted with a customarily loud Presidential guffaw.
Politico in palmyrah puke
A cabinet minister, on a visit to Kilinochchi, was invited by an old friend to dinner. He said he would attend but wanted his host to serve some Palmyrah toddy.
The Minister helped himself somewhat liberally with the toddy before enjoying a typical northern meal.
Problems came when he was returning to Colombo after the dinner. There were no hotels of even one star rating leave alone boutiques that were open.
He not only developed a bad stomach but also began to puke. So the ministerial journey was stopped every now and then along the roadside. However, there was sufficient bottled water around.
A northern journalist who spoke of the story told a colleague in Colombo not to ask the Minister concerned about the unfortunate thing that happened to him. Asked why, he replied, “though he speaks out on other issues, he will say no comment.”
Like fathers, like sons
President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared open an office of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in Gampaha on Thursday.
Moving around the premises, he noticed his son Namal walking together with Uva Province Chief Minister Sashindra, who is the son of Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa.
"What is the putra samagama (son's company) doing?" he asked. He was of course alluding to opposition parties calling the government the Rajapaksa Samagama or Rajapaksa and company. It provoked laughter among those present.
Guess who was
shopping in London
Some Sri Lankans in a London suburb were surprised when they saw a most-wanted personality in a supermarket.
That was Sicille Kotelawala, wife of Ceylinco Group big boss, Lalith Kotelawala.
It came to light that she had travelled from Singapore to London.
Minister raids kasippu den
Lands Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, who is a former police officer and his politico son along with the Mayor of Dambulla "raided" a well known kasippu den located close to the Dambulla Police station.
They apprehended around 20 persons who were engaged in manufacturing the illicit liquor.
The minister was overheard saying after the raid that during his time as a police officer, he did not hesitate to act against such illegal activities whenever they were brought to his notice. He said that Police had been informed of this illegal hooch den by residents in the area but no action was taken forcing him to take the law into his own hands.
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