5th Column

My dear Wije,

I thought of writing to you because everyone is talking about you these days. That is after you made those sensational claims about compensation for the X-press Pearl ship which sank off our coast two years ago. That has got everyone talking. The spotlight is on you which is probably what you wanted.

Although you are enjoying all the publicity this has generated, Wije, I am not sure whether you miscalculated the backlash. What you suggested was that you were trying to obtain a lot of money that would have enriched our bankrupt coffers, but it also raises many more questions.

You told Parliament that someone has been paid an eye-watering 250 million dollars, deposited into an account of a bank supposedly in Britain. This was to ensure that the compensation claim for the damage caused by the X-press Pearl disaster was not lodged in time by the authorities in Paradise.

Now, Wije, that is a lot of money and you will take a long time to accumulate that kind of wealth, even with the high legal fees you charge. Why, that is only a little less than the 330 million dollars we got from the International Monetary Fund recently as a first payment, for which we lit crackers!

Countries such as Britain have very tight regulations governing money laundering, and any large deposit to a bank would raise eyebrows. So, do you seriously think that a deposit to the tune of 250 million dollars – the kind of money governments, and not individuals, deal with – will go unnoticed?

What was more interesting was exactly what you said. You mentioned the name of a person and said the money was paid into his account. You also said that what you were saying was only ‘information’ and not ‘evidence’. You added that you were not taking responsibility for what you were saying!

That you said all this in Parliament is not lost on us, Wije. That is a place where you can say anything about anyone and get away with it, because you are protected by parliamentary privilege. Despite that, you still said that what you were saying was only ‘information’ for which you were not responsible.

That doesn’t make that ‘information’ very credible, does it, Wije? Being a minister who has been in the Cabinet for almost a decade, and being Justice Minister, do you think it is appropriate to provide Parliament with snippets of ‘information’ that you hear on the grapevine without being responsible?

Since you made your bombshell disclosure, many have tried to find out who this account belongs to and have been informed that the account number given by you is wrong. No one has been able to locate the person you named. No wonder then that you said you wouldn’t be taking responsibility!

It is also intriguing that you are now complaining about the delay in taking legal action against the X-Press Pearl ship. We are told that there is a two-year deadline to do so and that it was nearly over when action was finally taken. You tell us that the delay in taking action should arouse suspicions.

Indeed, it does. If such action was to be initiated, it should have been from the Attorney General’s Department. This Department comes under the purview of the Justice Ministry. Have you forgotten, Wije, that during the last year of that two-year deadline, the Minister of Justice in Paradise was you?

It was also you who triggered this discussion by making those claims in Parliament. At that time, you acted as the patriot who was trying to get what was due to his motherland. Parliament then asked to debate the issue. Then you say we shouldn’t talk about it because the matter is before courts now!

Wije, these twists and about-turns haven’t given you the best of reputations. Already, you are known as ‘Deal Daasa’ because of your changing loyalties from Mahinda maama to Aiyo Sirisena and now to Uncle Ranil. What has happened in the past few days will only enhance your dubious status.

No one is holding their breath expecting you to unravel the mystery of who paid what amount to whom to suppress the compensation claim for the X-Press Pearl. We are certain that it will be like the Easter Sunday attacks: we will be talking about it for years without getting to the bottom of it.

One thing has changed though: we thought we had a clever lawyer as our Minister of Justice. Now we know our minister is one who thinks millions can be deposited in false bank accounts without anyone noticing and he can talk about it without taking responsibility for it. What more can we ask for?

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: Being the kind of fellow that you are, Wije, I am not sure whether you have heard of the phrase ‘Justice must not only be done, but it must be seen to be done’. After your recent sensational claims, it now seems that, because of what our Minister of Justice has done, Justice has come undone!