New York Times exposé on Rajapaksa: FCID seeks Police Chief's advice
The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) will seek a directive from Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara over this week’s New York Times report that alleged former President Mahinda Rajapaksa received funds from China for his January 2015 election campaign.
This follows a complaint the FCID received from UNP Parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake over the contents of the NYT report. SSP Dammika Priyantha, Director FCID, said the purpose of the directive was to ascertain which police unit would carry out the investigation.
According to the NYT report, at least US$7.6 million was dispensed from China Harbour Engineering Company's account at Standard Chartered Bank to affiliates of Mr. Rajapaksa’s campaign. The report cited a document from an active internal government investigation. The document details China Harbour’s bank account number — ownership of which, it said, was verified — and intelligence gleaned from questioning of the people to whom the cheques were made out.
Mr. Rajapaksa, however, dismissed as a “mudslinging campaign” the allegations that he received funds from China for his January 8, 2015 presidential election campaign.
“Why wait till all this time to come up with these slanderous accusations,” he asked commenting on the NYT report headlined “How China got Sri Lanka to hand over a port – A Times investigation reveals Beijing’s use of hardball tactics to collect from a weakened ally.” It appeared in the June 25 issue.
Mr. Rajapaksa told the Sunday Times that the publication of the report now showed “there is a political conspiracy” and declared “I refute all the allegations made. I am in consultation with my lawyers on further steps I should take.”
Other highlights of the report:
With 10 days to go before polls opened, around US$3.7 million was distributed in checks: $678,000 to print campaign T-shirts and other promotional material and $297,000 to buy supporters gifts, including women’s saris. Another $38,000 was paid to a popular Buddhist monk who was supporting Mr. Rajapaksa’s electoral bid, while two checks totaling $1.7 million were delivered by volunteers to Temple Trees, his official residence.
Most of the payments were from a sub- account controlled by China Harbor, named “HPDP Phase 2,” shorthand for Hambantota Port Development Project.
During the 2015 Sri Lankan elections, large payments from the Chinese port construction fund flowed directly to campaign aides and activities for Mr. Rajapaksa, who had agreed to Chinese terms at every turn and was seen as an important ally in China’s efforts to tilt influence away from India in South Asia. The payments were confirmed by documents and cash checks detailed in a government investigation seen by The New York Times.
Though Chinese officials and analysts have insisted that China’s interest in the Hambantota port is purely commercial, Sri Lankan officials said that from the start, the intelligence and strategic possibilities of the port’s location were part of the negotiations.
Initially moderate terms for lending on the port project became more onerous as Sri Lankan officials asked to renegotiate the timeline and add more financing. And as Sri Lankan officials became desperate to get the debt off their books in recent years, the Chinese demands centered on handing over equity in the port rather than allowing any easing of terms.
Though the deal erased roughly $1 billion in debt for the port project, Sri Lanka is now in more debt to China than ever, as other loans have continued and rates remain much higher than from other international lenders.
Mr. Rajapaksa and his aides did not respond to multiple requests for comment, made over several months, for this article. Officials for China Harbor also would not comment.
Estimates by the Sri Lankan Finance Ministry paint a bleak picture: This year, the government is expected to generate $ 14.8 billion in revenue, but its scheduled debt repayments to an array of lenders around the world come to $12.3 billion.