The Political Column

31st May 1998

Provincial Council polls to be put off?

By our Political Correspondent

After running into a storm in the debate on AirLanka the govern ment has now turned its focus on the upcoming Provincial Council elections.

Definitely it is far more important for the government than the debate on AirLanka.

The People's Alliance Executive Committee has proposed that key ministers should contest at Provincial level to ensure victory.

But most of the Cabinet Ministers had refused to contest the PC polls except for Bertie Premalal Dissanayake who will be the Chief Ministerial Candidate for the North Central Province.

Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva and D.M. Jayaratne have declined to contest the Uva and Central Provinces respectively.

Some party stalwarts feel that such a request for these ministers to contest would be unfair by them since they have toiled for nearly 17 years to get back to government.

In the circumstances the PA is planning to field two deputy ministers to contest the Uva and the Sabaragamuwa Councils.

They are Samaraweera Weerawanni and Athauda Seneviratne.

The PA is still wondering what it should do about the Western Provincial Council.

The idea of fielding President Kumaratunga's sister Sunethra Bandaranaike has been dropped. Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike reportedly had doubts on such a move and the PA was left with no choice, but to put the present Chief Minister Susil Premjayanth on top of the list.

However, the President feels Mr. Premjayanth would hard pressed against UNP's formidable and popular candidate Karu Jayasuriya.

Thus the PA is having a hard look at its main candidate for the Western Province to see whether he could make it.

In the meantime there is another school of thought emerging in the PA for the Provincial Council elections to be put off.

They fear the PC elections would do more harm than good to the party. Hence they propose Presidential elections before PC polls.

On the other hand their argument is that the government would have to face a referendum soon after.

However, the President is unable to go for a Presidential election until the end of November till she completes four years as the Executive President. Although the President is elected for six years, ex-President J.R. Jayewardene brought in an amendment to the Constitution enabling the incumbent to go for election once he or she completes four years.

Meanwhile the UNP is planning to invoke the jurisdiction of the Bribery Commission on the AirLanka-Emirates deal.

UNP's General Secretary Gamini Atukorale has made a formal complaint to the Permanent Commission.

The UNP feels that the AirLanka-Emirates deal is scandalous and it handed over all documents to the Commission.

The Commission's Chairman T.A. de S. Wijesundera has told Mr. Atukorale that Police Chief W.B. Rajaguru is not releasing adequate number of Police officers to carry out investigations. He says this has hampered the work of the Commission.

The government is yet to appoint a third member to the Commission after the death of Siva Selliah last year.

The after effects of the AirLanka debate is spilling over with ULF member Ravi Karunanayake deciding to take both Rupavahini and the ITN to Court on charges of defamation.

The charges stem from statements made by Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle in Parliament. The minister alleged that the company Air Euro Services (Pvt) Ltd in which Mr. Karunanayake had a big stake, had tried and failed to get some contracts from AirLanka.

The interviews, Mr. Karunanayake claims, are defamatory of him.

He has now decided to sue the government media and file a private civil suit against Mr. Fernandopulle.

Later Mr. Karunanayake sought permission from the Speaker to make a short statement in Parliament explaining his position.

He said:

"Let me thank you for giving me the opportunity to make a personal explanation regarding certain accusations and wild allegations made against me by Jeyaraj Fernandopulle during the debate on AirLanka on 19th May, 1998.

Being an Honourable Member of this august Assembly and a Member of several Committees of Parliament such as the C.O.P.E., Member of the Consultative Committee on Finance and Aviation, I had taken up the AirLanka privatisation as a matter that is highly injurious and detrimental to AirLanka and to the country at large.

This made me pursue the reasons for this privatisation through the Committees of which I am a Member and they did expose disturbing revelations. This information was communicated by me to Her Excellency the President, the Minister in charge of Aviation, the Deputy Minister of Finance and the P.E.R.C. officials on many instances.

When the date for the debate on AirLanka was fixed, I wrote to the Chief Government Whip indicating my desire to speak on this matter. I did not even have the courtesy of an acknowledgment to my letters of 15th and 18th May, 1998 in this regard. Finally, on 19th May 1998 I met the Chief Government Whip and made my request verbally and was informed that I will not be allocated a time to speak.

During the debate, I was astonished and horrified to hear Mr. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle giving reasons for not allocating time to me to speak on this matter. He stated that I had commercial interests in AirLanka, which is in conflict with my position as a Member of Parliament. This was the first time that such an allegation was brought to my notice. (quote annexure 1).

In his speech, he made the following specific allegations. The summary of those defamatory allegations are as follows:

(A) Air Euro Services (Pvt.) Limited has written to AirLanka making an offer for Aircraft-handling to be done through Air Euro Services (Pvt.) Limited and therefore not to privatise AirLanka.

(B) That I, together with Mr. Lal Wickrematunga has formed a company named Air Euro Services (Pvt.) Limited.

(C) Air Euro Services (Pvt.) Limited was formed on 18th March, 1998.

(D) I am a Director of this Company.

(E) I have been at Roton Vander (Freighting) Limited for 7 years.

(F) Objectives of Air Euro Services (Pvt) Limited is for aircraft handling.

I totally deny these allegations and wish to reply each of them individually,

(A) No letter was written by Air Euro Services (Pvt) Limited to AirLanka making any such offer. I challenge the Hon. Member to table the so called letter in Parliament.

(B) That is incorrect. The Company was formed by the following persons:

Mr. S. Nagendra, Mr. S. Selvaratnam, Mr. K. Sivanathan, Mr. J. Vincent and Mr. Lal Wickrematunga.

(C) Air Euro Services (Pvt.) Limited was incorporated on 5th January, 1998.

(D) Subsequently I was invited to become a Director of the said Company.

(E) I have been at Roton Vander (Freighting) Limited for a period of 10 years.

(F) Air Euro Services (Pvt.) Limited is a General Sales Agent for handling Balkan Airlines in Sri Lanka. It is not for handling aircraft or ground handling as stated by the Hon. Minister.

Sir, I am a Chartered Accountant (C.l.M.A.) by profession and I have varied interests in the commercial field. For your information, I ventured into the commercial field long before I became a Member of Parliament. As a result, I am a Director, not only of Roton Vander (Freighting) Limited not only of Air Euro Services (Pvt.) Limited but of several other Companies. If he requires any further information he can pay and get a copy of the declaration of my assets and liabilities which I have filed in conformity to the law. But let me re-iterate on the floor of this House that I have taken great care not to bring them in conflict with my role as an M.P (Member of Parliament) .

By now Sir, you would agree that I am not a person who "runs with the hare and hunt with the hound". Sir, if I wanted to achieve the objectives as per the Hon. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle I could have easily acted surreptitiously by introducing "ghost directors" as done by many influential politicians of today and reap the benefits. You would agree that my conduct is transparent and clear unlike that of the conduct of those who were involved in the handling of the privatisation or I say the alienation of shares of AirLanka. Sir, I would be failing in my duties if I don't reveal, this privatisation will immensely help me commercially, you could check this out from Emirates itself. However, I believe that my role as a politician and that as a businessman should be separate.

I have strived to make a success of my life through hardwork and not by resorting to gratification and ill-gotten gains. If I needed to hide behind my role as a Member of Parliament and engage in commercial transactions, I could have made use of the many privileges offered to and enjoyed by government MP's such as liquor licences, fuel subsidies etc.

Hon. Minister Mr. Fernandopulle challenges that he was prepared to resign his seat, if his allegations were proved wrong. Sir, you will no doubt see that all accusations are baseless and false. Therefore what is left now for the Hon. Minister is to act honourably by taking up the challenge that he dared.

The inability to counter the charges that was exposed in the AirLanka debate cannot be pushed under the carpet by making baseless personal allegations against an individual Member of Parliament.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, my late Leader Lalith Athulathmudali was a great believer in the dictum of "what is right and not who is right." I too believe in this.. Despite virulent personal attacks, I will continue to speak the truth.

Before I conclude, Mr. Speaker, I wish to bring to your notice the fact that during the past 24 hours the media, particularly Rupavahini, lTN, and S.L.B.C. have embarked upon a campaign to publicize the allegation made by Hon. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. These untruthful statements and interviews are detrimental to my reputation and cannot be allowed to go un-countered. Therefore, I request you to direct the media organisations to give the same prominence and publicity to my explanation, too."

Apart from AirLanka another significant political event of the week was the Muslim Congress Convention atwhichboth President Kumaratunga and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe were present. Mr. Wickremesinghe arrived first and waited in a special lounge till the President arrived.

Though the scheduled time was 10.15 am the President arrived around 11.00 am. Thereafter both leaders were invited for tea where they had an opportunity to talk to each other.

However, they did not speak of crucial issues but on general matters of little importance. Minister and SLMC leader, M.H.M. Ashraff said he had known Ranil from their Law College days but the President went further and said she had known Ranil from childhood. The President also said, the convention was not a live debate. Mr. Wickremesinghe replied with a smile.

The President and Mr. Wickremesinghe then shook hands and it was a happy occasion for Mr. Ashraff to see both leaders on the same platform.

Soon after the Convention Minister Ashraff had another pleasant surprise. A mixed bouquet of flowers with green, yellow and white roses awaited him on a table of his official residence with a hand written note from the President.

The note said:

My dear Minister Ashraff - I am sending these flowers to congratulate you on your successful Convention and to wish you every success, long life and prosperity, in all your efforts to bring about a united Sri Lanka and peace for all of us.

With warm regards

Sincerely

Chandrika Kumaratunga.

But the friendly tone between Mr. Wickremesinghe and the President did not last long. A few days after the Convention, the President addressing a rally at Piliyandala used hard words on Mr. Wickremesinghe and his party. She said some day the nation would call them traitors for not giving the necessary support to the final attainment of peace through a political solution. As the President was speaking a close friend, and Municipal Counciler C. Mahendran called Mr. Wickremesinghe and told him what was being said by the President.

Mr. Wickremesinghe immediately switched on the TV, but it was too late. Now he has asked his media people to get the tape and play it for him to hear exactly what was said.

Mr. Ashraff had a successful Convention, both the President and the Leader of the Opposition had a goodwill meeting where they exchanged pleasantries but it lasted only a few days. Now the Wickremesinghe camp is planning once again to go on an offensive and launch a barrage of attacks on the President.

The SLMC Convention also showed glimpses of the on-going battle between Minister Ashraff and Minister A.H.M. Fowzie.

Mr. Fowzie is widely regarded as the Colombo leader of the PA and is known to be promoting his son for the Provincial elections but PA Municipal Councillors defied him and participated in the SLMC Convention to express solidarity.

Eleven of the PA Municipal Councillors arrived at the Stanley Jansz Park, venue of the SLMC Convention and said they wanted to put up banners congratulating the SLMC.

Mr. Ashraff was not at the park at that stage. Officials immediately contacted Mr. Ashraff and he rushed to the park. He encouraged the Councillors to put up their banners at a prominent place.

Most of the participants thought that it was a slap in Minister Fowzie's face.

It was recently that Mr. Fowzie hosted a dinner for Ministers and Parliamentarians for which Mr. Ashraff received a prominent place.

When Mr. Ashraff arrived there with his wife Mr Fowzie conducted them to the air conditioned VIP lounge where the other VIPs were.

Whatever it is, it appears that the battle between the two Muslim leaders is still on, though one of them is trying hard to bring about a reconciliation between the UNP and the PA.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle who played the role of a ''full back'' for the government in the AirLanka debate, brought a loaf of bread for a probe by the Cabinet.

President Kumaratunga was the first to have a look at the loaf which was in a shopping bag.

It was underweight and anything but palatable. The country spends Rs. 11.70 for such a loaf and the people buy it at Rs. 8.50. When such things happen people blame the government the Minister said.

The President then invited Food Minister Kingsley Wickremaratne to have a look. They agreed the bakers were cheating the people and immediate action should be taken.

At the end of it the President wanted to taste the loaf. She plucked a piece while others like Ministers Kingsley Wickremaratne and Mangala Samaraweera followed.

Clarification

Chartered Accountant Nihal Sri Amarasekere, in a letter states;

I refer to the following paragraphs in your Political Correspondent's report of May 24.

"On the day of the debate UNP's advisors on the AirLanka issue were in the Opposition Leader's office to direct operations and give assistance to the speakers. The advisors included Ronald Perera, Daya Pelpola, Milinda Moragoda and Nihal Amarasekera. They were also there to gauge the quality of the speakers.

Mr. Wickremesinghe was seen studying the issues one by one to justify and substantiate his claims."

Upon reading your aforesaid report a number of persons contacted me in such regard. I was not in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition on the day of the AirLanka debate, as so reported by your Political Correspondent, as having seen Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe studying the issues. I was not even in the precincts of Parliament on the said date.

I might add, that Mr. Wickremesinghe being a well experienced political leader, would no doubt have been most competent to have gauged the quality of his speakers.

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