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On January 12th, two days before President Anura Kumara is due to leave on his China trip, he summons senior Customs figures of the Colombo port to the presidential office and issues the presidential command: ‘Clear the port’s delay within 4 days.’

On the same day, a government press release states, ‘To expedite the clearance process, Sri Lanka Customs officers agreed to operate continuously, ‘24 hours a day, seven days a week.’

Two days later, Port Minister Bimal Rathnayake tells reporters, ‘It is not 24; but 30 ships have bypassed Colombo port.’

Three days later, the Deputy Ports Minister visits the Orugodawatta container yard and says, ‘Thirty cargo ships have turned back due to delays in container clearance.’

Ten days after the President had ordered Customs officials to clear the port backlog, the Customs Trade Union Alliance makes the startling announcement on January 22nd that it will not take any responsibility whatsoever for the goods held in the 323 containers which had been red flagged by the computer system but had been mysteriously cleared and released from port.

Customs Trade Union Alliance (CTUA) President Amila Sanjeeva holds a press conference and tells news reporters, ‘The containers marked in red by the computer system were flagged for higher inspection. Once red-flagged, these 323 containers required mandatory inspection. But it had been cleared and released without any mandatory inspection done. A scan has revealed that 80 percent of these 323 containers had goods that required mandatory examination by the Customs’.

DELAY CRISIS: President orders, ‘clear backlog in four days’ on January 12th

CTUA President Amila declared, ‘The union will not bear any responsibility if these particular containers are found to contain low-quality medicines rejected by the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), cosmetic items deemed unfit for use, illegal cigarettes, other illegal imports, drugs or even weapons. ‘On whose legal authority,’ he asked, ‘and under what law were there 323 red-flagged containers released from the port?’

In Parliament that day, the Deputy Minister of Finance admits 323 containers, all flagged in red, have been released from the port’s Green Channel and promises a probe.

CUSTOMS DIRECTOR GENERAL: Nonis

He tells the House, ‘There have been instances where containers have been released through special committees with the intervention of the Customs officials after obtaining Cabinet approval due to container traffic.’

Had Cabinet approval been obtained for the red-flagged containers?

He tells the House, ‘There have been occasions where red-tagged containers have been released after being scanned, and on some occasions, containers had been released through the Green Channel even without being scanned.’

Do references to past omissions act as legal precedents to justify the present instance, where 323 red-flagged containers have slipped through the Green Channel with only a cursory scan? Though the law demands that all red-flagged containers must not only be scanned but also manually checked before release?

He also tells the House, ‘On seven occasions, some 584 containers had been released since July 25, 2024.’

C’mon, Mr. Deputy Minister of Finance. After being in the team that salvaged Lanka’s bankrupt economy within two months of gaining power, surely you can do better than bleating lame excuses that such things have happened even during Ranil’s corrupt regime, as if it is a good certificate of reference?

WESTERN PROVINCE GOVERNOR: Yusoof

During the campaign trail not many moons ago, wasn’t it part of the JVP election rhetoric to claim as gospel truth that corruption was so rampant at the Colombo Port, container loads could be removed from the port without inspection on the strength alone of one phone call from a corrupt SLPP MP or a highly connected big-shot businessman?

Last Friday, January 24th, in Parliament, SJB’s Gampaha MP Harshana Rajakaruna raises concerns over the release of these 323 red-flagged containers without mandatory inspection.

Deputy Ports Minister Janith Kodithuwakku tells Parliament, ‘The government would assume full responsibility for the recent release of 323 containers from Sri Lanka Customs without inspection.’

What? Accept full responsibility for the release of goods no one has seen? Responsibility for imported goods held in 323 containers, which the port’s computer system had red-flagged as requiring a compulsory physical inspection before they can be cleared for release from the port? Where on earth have you heard of such a clearing system existing at a port of call?

Opposition ranks must have gasped in disbelief: Was this the radical system change the JVP had sworn to bring to replace the corrupt system that existed for 76 accursed years? Obviously, the Deputy Ports Minister isn’t aware of the exact price of responsibility? Had he but known its full import, he would have been more sagacious before rushing to accept full responsibility on behalf of his government.

However, on January 29th, the Director General of Sri Lanka Customs labours to justify the release of these red-flagged 323 containers from the port without the legally required mandatory manual inspection. In a statement released to the media, the Director General, B.S. C. Nonis, goes to extraordinary lengths to explain the many fangled ways and ‘various tactics’ deployed to release containers from port.

First, Nonis says: ‘From September 2020, the Sri Lanka Customs, keeping with the risk management principles in release of goods carries out

1. physical inspection,
2. scan inspection or
3. dual inspection of physical and scan inspection, or
4. do not carry out any of the inspections.’

Remember, that out of the thousand or more containers that land in the port daily, these 323 containers have been specifically chosen, not by human hand on a hunch but by the Port’s sophisticated computer system which had red-flagged these containers as holding suspicious cargo that must, in addition to a scanning, be subjected to compulsory physical check.

Surprising, isn’t it, that out of the 4 risk management principles used to release goods, as outlined by Director General Nonis, it is the laughable 4th principle which states to release all containers without inspection that had been used.

It’s understandable, the President wanting the backlog cleared. He would have admired and appreciated the dedication of Custom officers volunteering to work ‘24 hours a day, 7 days a week.’ But not even the President would have bargained for such a ‘no question asked, no inspections done’ quick clearance method to be used – even on red-flagged containers – to free the port’s backlog.

Clever. With such a fast modus operandi, the port’s backlog can be cleared in 2 days, affording ample time to custom officers to have a leisurely lunch break, followed by a long siesta  before clocking off for the day.

The Customs Director Nonis seeks to defend this system on the doctrine of necessity. But how did he determine what’s inside a red-flagged container without laying his eyes on its contents? Did he consult the Vestral Virgins of Rome or ask Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi to run their divine eyes through each of the 323 red-flagged containers, and receive their all-clear?

Perhaps answer came there none, for Mr. Nonis, employing, as he states in para 3 of his statement, ‘various tactics one of which was to set up a screening unit consisting of experienced senior officers and thereby select and release the import containers that can bear the risk.

Instead of the Divine Oracles of Delphi and of Rome, he had consulted the Port’s in-house Oracle of a Committee of Wise Men to screen 323 red-flagged containers with their own mortal eyes and give the ‘go-ahead’ for its release.

Ingenious.

Enter Haniff Yusoof. Apart from being the Western Province Governor, he is a well known businessman, involved in the export and import trade. His name had recently popped-up on social media, and even made the newspapers, in connection with port’s container scandal.

Exasperated by the allegations cast on him, he complains to the CID.

In a televised statement on January 29th, Yusoof says: ‘For the last few days I have been bombarded with untruths, malicious social media statements by politicians who have not been elected by the people.  I have watched the situation, and I could not bear it as I have come to serve the people. I am not a politician but I have come to serve and because of these allegation which are totally fabricates,  I  went to CID today and made a complaint. I wish the CID would investigate this speedily and clear my name and bring sanity back to what was before.’

Custom Director Nonis says in the first part of his sentence, ‘I also note that the above-mentioned containers do not include any containers imported under the name of Expo Lanka’. That is confirmed.

But he errs when he says – in the last part of his sentence – ‘there is no possibility of goods such as weapons, gold and narcotics entering the country illegally and losing customs revenue.’

Tell it to the birds, Mr. Nonis. Even kids know no one can guess what’s in Santa’s Christmas bag, without seeing it firsthand.

Guess, the nation will have to wait for a probe to reveal what happened during the four day operation ‘Clean Port’.

Never-say-die, Johann in seven summit quest ‘Never say die’ mountain climber Johann Peiris, who narrowly failed to make the final ascent to Everest in 2016, has conquered frozen Antarctica’s highest mountain peak, Vinson. The conquest of the 4,892 metre-high mountain has made him the first Lankan to set foot on Mount Vinson’s summit. JOHANN: Lankan on the world’s mountaineering map Though he failed to conquer the world’s highest mountain nine years ago, two years later, in 2018, Johann’s diehard spirit to win his elusive Everest dream succeeded when he set foot on its peak. In 2014 he had already made it to the top of Kilimanjaro, Arica’s highest snowcapped mount. He has even trod the mountaintop of Kosciuszko in New South Wales, Australia’s tallest mountain. . In 2019 he made a bid to ascend Mount Aconcagua. In 2023 he made scaling mountain peaks seem like child’s play when he scaled Mount Elbrus and Mount Denali that same year. Though he succeeded in triumphing over Mount Elbrus, Russia’s and Europe’s highest mountain, he failed to conquer Alaska’s Mount Denali, now renamed by Trump as Mount McKinley, North America’s tallest peak. But failed attempts have not dulled the edge of his mountaineering spikes. It had only sharpened its steel. This year, he intends to return to the challenge to bring the mountain peaks of Aconcagua and Denali under his feet, the first this month and the latter in May. He has so far 5 peaks under his belt, namely Kilimanjaro, Everest, Elbrus, Kosciuszko and now Vinson. Of his relentless quest to plant the Lanka flag on the peaks of the seven highest mountains, he says, ‘Mountaineering is not for the faint-hearted. It requires immense focus, training, and the ability to endure physical and mental hardship, but the rewards are immense. I want to inspire all Sri Lankans to take on their own challenges, whether on the mountain or in life.’ Take a bow, Johann. You have made Lanka proud.

COVER: Jill Biden Vogue lets politics spoil fashion judgement The international fashion magazine ‘Vogue’ has slammed a vile, prejudiced jibe at America’s First Lady Melania Trump for appearing in a specially taken portrait looking like a ‘freelance magician.’. The calculated snub came after she released the photographs on the official Flotus Instagram account this week. ‘Trump looked more like a freelance magician than a public servant,’ wrote Hannah Jackson about the portrait in Vogue magazine. Jackson raged against the ‘situationally inappropriate tuxedo’ worn by Melania for the historic photograph, which shows the first lady in a power pose. Jackson concluded, ‘It’s perhaps unsurprising that a woman who lived in a gold-encrusted penthouse, whose fame is so intertwined with a reality television empire, would refuse to abandon theatrics—even when faced with 248 years of tradition,’ Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper reported on Wednesday. COVER: Kamala Harris Melania Trump surprised her devoted Instagram followers with her new official White House portrait, which was unveiled on Monday. The specially commissioned White House portrait was taken on January 21 by Belgian photographer Mahaux in the Yellow Oval Room of the residence. Melania, whose stylist Hervé Pierre has revealed in the past that it’s difficult to dress her because many American designers refuse, showed off a black Dolce & Gabbana pantsuit with a white shirt. But an ulterior motive lay beneath the world’s fashion bible, Vogue. It was the political bias of the magazine’s editor, Anna Wintour, a Democrat. It was apparently clear that politics had coloured her fashion judgement. The newspaper reported how ‘while Democratic First Ladies such as Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton were put on the Vogue cover, Republicans such as Laura and Barbara Bush were not’. ‘Vogue famously excluded Melania from its pages while she was First Lady, breaking its tradition of putting the presidents’ wives on its coveted cover.’ Vogue had even showcased Vice President Kamala on its prestigious cover but booted First Lady Melania Trump from its front-page pedestal. Democrat Annie Wintour is surely a sore loser, isn’t she? Allowing her partisan attitude to make her see red with revenge, alas, prevents her from putting First Lady Melania Trump of America First? INSIDE: Melania Trump