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• CID submits more evidence regarding charges against Thico Construction Company
  and co-directors Thilini Priyamali and Kasun Harshana Perera

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has uncovered further details in its investigations regarding Thilini Priyamali and her close associates who are accused of swindling money from the people.

Detectives informed courts that among the evidence their investigations have come up with was the issue of invalid cheques for a value of US$ 60,000 and AUD 100,000.

Some of the gold items and cash found at Sri Muruga Jewellery shop

This followed a complaint lodged in July this year by Abdul Hassan Kamal Hassan, a resident of Malabe.

Court was informed that a residence at Hapana in Pilimathalawa was searched and during the search, eight bars of gold were found. They were 9.5cm and 9.2cm in length, 5cm and 5.2cm wide and 2.5cm in height.

According to the investigation carried out after obtaining a search warrant, the second suspect Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Isuru Shammika Bandara had gone to the Pilimathalawa residence in a jeep and handed over ten bars of gold to his father Hapana Pallegedara Anurudda Pallegedara. He had informed his father that the gold was given to him by Thilini and therefore it had to be protected.

A month later, two gold bars were handed back to Isuru Bandara at Kiribathgoda in compliance with Isuru’s request.

The bars of gold were inspected by investigation officers and all of them weighed 08.110 kg with a total value of Rs 100 million. Further investigations on the matter are underway. Court was to send the bars of gold to the Gem and Jewellery Authority for a report.

The CID also submitted to court details regarding the suspects Isuru Shammika Bandara, Kasun Harshana Perera and two others based on the complaint of obtaining a kilo of gold from the Thico company.

A statement had been recorded from Kasun Harshana Perera on August 30. In that statement he had said he was only an employee at Thilini’s company and he did not take part in these transactions.

He had admitted that he had worked with Thilini as a director at Thico Construction Company. Apart from that he had said that Thilini had deposited money to his personal Sampath Bank account.

According to investigations, it was revealed the kilo of gold mentioned above was sold to Thaleiyya Mohan and Mohomad Daalan from the Ja Ela area by direct intervention of Kasun Harshana Perera.

Therefore, all people who were present when the kilo of gold was sold could be identified, said the investigators. Mohomad Daalan is now abroad.

The questionable gold which was obtained from the complainant, by the owner of Thico Construction Company Thilini Priyamali was handed over to Thaleiyya Mohan owner of the Sri Muruga Jewellery shop at the address 18, Station Road, Ja Ela. The investigation regarding that too was carried out.

When inspecting the Sri Muruga Jewellery shop, 40 sovereigns of gold and Rs three million cash were found, the CID officers told court.

Among the gold items found were 18 chains, three bracelets, 60 earrings with stones, 25 women’s pendants, 12 anchor pendants, 11 golden stone pendants, 12 dharmachakra pendants, 12 sura pendants, 24 panchayuda and 70 stoned women’s rings. The items together with 600 Rs 5000 notes found at the shop are held under the custody of the officers investigating the incident.

Thaleiyya Mohan was arrested and produced in court. Investigations were carried out within the company building to clarify the connection between Kasun Harshana Perera and Thilini Priyamali. In that investigation following evidence was revealed:

Thico Construction Pvt Ltd is registered under Number PV00214372. The current directors of the company are Waduwaarage Thilini Priyamali and Kasun Harshana Perera. They have operated through an account at Sampath Bank. Kasun Harshana Perera was arrested and produced before the court.

Chief Inspector Niroshani Hewa Pathirana, the officer in charge of the Financial Crimes Investigation Division of the CID, had filed the report to court.

Biodiversity expert warns that Sri Lanka may end up like Argentina

There were many renowned academics who addressed the 48th Convocation of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura recently at the BMICH in Colombo. But one caught the attention of many due to the relevance in the current context, even though the message he shared was a bit bleak for the passing out graduates.  

Dr Rohan Pethiyagoda, one of the country’s biodiversity experts and a well-known taxonomist, said Sri Lanka’s economic crisis will not be like Zimbabwe’s as many argued, but the situation would be like Argentina which declared bankruptcy multiple times.

“It is not going to be bad as people say, that Sri Lanka is going to end up as Zimbabwe. I do not think it will. We have people like you in Sri Lanka but Zimbabwe does not. We might end up like Argentina. A 100 years ago Argentina was the 15th richest country in the world. On average, Argentinians were richer than Italians, French and Irish people. Today it is one of the poorest countries in the world. All because of a lack of common sense in political ideology. In 20 years, Argentina declared bankruptcy not once but nine times. We can also expect that Sri Lanka can go bankrupt again and again in the years to come. Unfortunately, that is how the world works. Recovery from the crisis we face is not easy. It is not going to be over in a year or two. It might take ten or twenty years or a generation, and you are the generation that can drive the recovery,” he said.

The next part of the message hit home for the fresh graduates when Dr Pethiyagoda recalled that the Government temporarily stopped new appointments until further notice, therefore they cannot depend on state jobs or hold protests demanding jobs.

India and China in complicated battle for trade with Lanka

It is not the Indians alone who are pushing their agenda on the debt-ridden government, but the Chinese too are putting in soft power to the maximum.

India has already been successful to a certain extent, securing a directive from the Presidential Secretariat to fast-track Indian projects which were put on hold during the previous government’s tenure.

It seems the Chinese are pushing for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) these days, since the talks between the two countries that mark bilateral trade amounting to US$ four billion were halted due to lobbying by local industries that enjoy monopolies.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the 5th China International Import Expo on Friday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe indicated that his government was willing to resume the negotiation process, while stressing the two countries marked seven decades of bilateral trade including the rubber-rice pact in 1952.

Some social media users wonder if Cabraal is still talking gibberish

These days, former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal is busy appearing before court as he is named as one of the respondents in many cases related to the economic downfall of the country.

The collapse of the rupee under his watch as Governor was monumental to the extent that the country’s economy destabilised. Anyhow, after a long absence since he left office, his official Facebook page was revived last week with some interesting quotes. One that was posted this week goes like this:

“In every instance that you face a setback, place your target higher than the previous target.”

Social media users were not sure what he means given the damage he has already done to the country’s economy. They were wondering if he was still talking gibberish.

Wednesday’s Opposition protest: Parties crumble in shambles

Wednesday’s anti-government protest, which turned out to be a big blow to the Opposition due to poor attendance and in-party disagreements, if not an embarrassment, forced its constituent parties in the alliance to do some reflection on their political future.

One minority party leader in the alliance shared a message to his close circles of what happened and the reasons behind the failure of the Opposition to muster its power, while it struggles to put up a fight against the Government.

The leader was of the view that Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa should not have agreed in haste to join the protest with the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). Many parties and influential politicos who assured their support failed to turn up, and even if they did, they were alone without their support base.

Once they arrived at the protest and noticed how things were unfolding, some party leaders and MPs silently left early to avoid embarrassment while others who were preparing to go, contacted their parties in advance to ask if they should join the protest, or keep away. Many decided not to go when they heard others were backtracking.

When the Opposition Leader decided not to proceed to the Police barrier, he lost the respect of core anti-government protesters and things became tense. Some protesters openly said if the Sajith Premadasa led Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) was not willing to face tear gas and water cannons along with them they too can go home–just like they demanded the earlier Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government to go home.

A potential joint protest of SJB and Janatha Vimuthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National Peoples Power (NPP) members would not be a possibility since the NPP firmly believed that move would diminish their voter base.

Indeed, these were some constructive reflections coming from the Opposition itself to go home with.

A wall of silence at Lanka’s embassy in Berlin

Many Sri Lankans needing consular services from their embassy in in Germany’s capital of Berlin would be grateful if the mission, at least answers phone calls. But the frustrating situation, The Sunday Times found, is not entirely the embassy’s fault.

One Sri Lankan professional desiring to renew his passport through the mission returned to Colombo this month, after his efforts get it done repeatedly failed. He said several others he knew did the same.

“I emailed the embassy in July seeking an appointment. I received a response in September saying there were no appointments available for several months,” he said.

He continued to call the mission every day for weeks. But there was no answer.

As he lived nearly 450km away from Berlin, he did not want to waste several days travelling back and forth from the mission without knowing he could get the service he required.

Sri Lankan missions in nearby countries who did answer their phones, told him they could not process his passport as the Berlin mission was still active and it was the job of the officers there.

With the document expiring in January, he flew to Colombo in frustration and got the renewal carried out directly at the Immigration and Emigration Department. Other friends did the same,
he said.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Ministry officials said there might be challenges dealing with queries fielded to the mission in Berlin. One was an issue several other
Sri Lankan embassies and high commissions also faced–the telephone systems are relics from the past.

“In the Berlin mission, someone who telephones might hear a ringtone and feel it is going to be answered but at the same time an officer at the mission is fielding another call. He or she can handle only one call at a time,” the official said.

Separately, Sri Lanka’s consulate in Frankfurt–which had three consular officers and handled a bulk of consular work–closed down in April and its work fell on the Berlin mission. The two consular officers there found they had to not only handle their own backlog, ongoing work and queries, they had to take on additional tasks. New employees were not hired.

To make matters worse, the Berlin mission had only one diplomatic officer till around three weeks ago. The last Ambassador, Manori Unamboowe, a Vyathmaga marcher left in August. Not even the phone line was fixed during her period.