UNP sees presidential probe as witch-hunt
Sirisena pushing hard for presidential election alliance with SLPP, but Rajapaksa’s group holds key on who the candidate will be UNP faces spectre of damaging revelations by probe commissions, senior leaders see the process as "a polls ploy"
Just four days after his return from a state visit to the Philippines, President Maithripala Sirisena took off again, this time to Singapore. The visit to Manila, his Media Division announced after his return to Colombo the previous Saturday (January 19), was to study how the drugs menace was fought in that country. It is common knowledge worldwide that President Rodrigo Duterte spearheads a ferocious campaign against drugs and more than 5,000 have been killed since it was launched. The afterthought was possibly the result of bad publicity over the visit where there were no accompanying media representatives. There was only a group of SLFP parliamentarians for whom it was a virtual free holiday.
The Singapore visit, as his Media Division acknowledged, was to take part in the ‘Third Forum of Ministers & Environment Authorities of Asia Pacific’. President Sirisena was the only Head of State and Head of Government attending this 40 nation event. He is also the Minister of Environment.
The names and designations of a few delegations underscore the low key nature. India – Pratap Singh Parihar, Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board; Japan – Yasuo Takahashi, Vice Minister for Global Environmental Affairrs; Australia – Adam Carlton, Assistant Secretary, Communications and Engagement Branch; North Korea – Kim Kyong, Junior Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; China – Li Jieqing, Deputy Director General, Department of International Co-operation; the Philippines – Jonas Leones, Under Secretary for Policy Planning and International Resources, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Ministry of Ecology and Environment; Indonesia – Putera Parthama, Director General for Watershed and Protection Forest Management; Iran – Naser Moghaddasi, Deputy Head of the Department of Environment; Laos – Sommad Pholsena, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment; the Maldives – Hussain Rasheed Hussein, Minister of Environment; Bangladesh – Mohamed Shahab Uddin, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, South Korea – Cho Myung Rae, Minister of Environment.
Mahendran’s extradition
This is not the first occasion when Sirisena has taken part in such a low key event. In July last year, he flew to the Italian capital of Rome to take part in the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Committee sponsored meeting of the sixth World Forestry Summit. The event was essentially for bureaucrats. Of course, he cannot still be faulted. Arguably, he has some claim to attend in his capacity as the Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment though as President of Sri Lanka he is much higher on the ladder in terms of protocol. That elevated position has prevented previous Presidents from taking part in such events. They did not wish to dilute the dignity of the office they held. They had sent ministers, deputies or officials. Yet, included in his delegation were L. K. S. U Dharmakeethi, Director of Mahaweli Development and Environment and Deepa Liyanage, Director, International Relations of the same ministry.
There is, however, a more important reason for President Sirisena’s visit to Singapore. He carried with him a bulky file on Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) from January 2015 to June 2016. During bilateral talks with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last Friday. He was to brief him on Mahendran’s role in the CBSL bomb scandal and seek his extradition to Sri Lanka. However, both SLFP acting General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekera who accompanied the President and the President’s Office in Colombo told the Sunday Times that the matter was not raised with the Singapore Government. Paradoxically, he has been complaining that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the UNP were preventing Mahendran from being extradited from Singapore to face charges in Sri Lanka in the Central Bank bond scandal.
However, the fact that he was going to raise issue at the highest level emerged in Colombo last Wednesday morning, barely hours before Sirisena emplaned for Singapore. He paid a visit to his predecessor and Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa at his Wijerama Residence. According to a source close to the Presidency, Sirisena indicated to Rajapaksa that he was going to raise issue with Singapore leaders over Mahendran being brought to Sri Lanka to face trial. The source declined to provide details saying, “We have to see what happens in Singapore.”
Sirisena’s visit to Wijerama Road was to tell Rajapaksa and his family of his inability to attend the wedding of their youngest son Rohitha the next day ( Thursday). He congratulated Rohitha and handed in a gift. The wedding turned out to be easily the biggest in Sri Lanka with an estimated guest turnout of more than 5000. Details appear in the Café Spectator.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and some of his Cabinet Ministers were present. Basil Rajapaksa, the architect of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), was late for the event and missed the poruwa (an elevated platform) Ceremony. He was an attesting witness at the wedding of Nithya, daughter of Kalutara District p a rliamentarian Ro h i t h a Abeygunawardena at the Shangri La Hotel in Colombo. He was driven later to Medamulana in Weeraketiya (Hambantota District).
Singapore Premier Lee, like his legendary father Lee Kuan Yew, leads a government which strictly adheres to the rule of law and legal norms. Even though they may not have displeased President Sirisena with a snub, they are bound to explain that seeking the repatriation of Mahendran, would have to be in keeping with internationally accepted procedures. Foremost would be the requirement that such a most wanted person should be indicted in a court of law in the country where the offence is committed before extradition is sought. This apart, according to reliable diplomatic sources in Colombo, “a perception has already been created in the highest levels of the Singapore government that the Mahendran affaire is a politically driven exercise by President Sirisena against his rivals.”
Sri Lanka born Mahendran was an economist and banker in Singapore where he is now a citizen. In January 2015, he was appointed Governor of the CBSL, after a heated debate in the Cabinet. Some ministers were not in favour but Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was strongly of the view that he was the best choice for the job. President Sirisena was to later declare in media interviews that he was not in favour but gave into the wishes of Wickremesinghe. He said he did not want to displease the Premier at the time. But when his extension came up, Sirisena put his foot down and refused, and then appointed a Commission of Inquiry to go into the CBSL bond issues.
The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court has issued an open warrrant for the arrest of Mahendran after he failed to turn up. Summons delivered to him through a courier service had been returned. Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne noted that there was “sufficient material to prove that he is alleged to have committed cognizable offences under the Public Property Act and the Penal Code.” The Criminal Investigation Department ( CID) has named then CBSL Governor Mahendran, the benificiary owner of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd., Arjun Aloysius, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kasun Palisena and the PTL as suspects in the case. A CID source said the Attorney General’s Department was unable to file indictments against Mahendran until his statement was recorded.
President Sirisena however raised issue with Premier Lee over the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and this generated wide publicity in Colombo. The presidential media unit briefed the local media on this aspect saying Sirisena conveyed his plans to make amendments to the agreement. There was no mention of other matters. Some reports stated that Singapore had pointed out that the FTA was already signed between the two countries, but that it would take note of the Sri Lankan President’s concerns.
President Sirisena also used the Singapore trip to appease the SLPP, with whom he is banking on an electoral alliance and thereafter support to be the joint presidential candidate. Before his departure, Sirisena urged Anuradha Jayaratne, Kandy District MP supporting the SLPP, to join his entourage. The parliamentarian is the son of one time Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne. He had agreed to join but had informed President Sirisena thereafter that he had prior commitments. An SLPP source, however, claimed that his family was opposed to his visit. As a result President Sirisena was accompanied by the SLFP’s acting General Dayasiri Jayasekera and former minister S.B. Dissanayake. This was no doubt a reward for them in the form of a free tour. If Jayasekera is now tasked with “strengthening” the SLFP, Dissanayake had played the role of a broker to enable talks between Sirisena and Rajapaksa. He, however, bungled the exercise. Twice he has been discredited with giving both Sirisena and Rajapaksa ‘dead ropes’ on getting the required numbers in Parliament to defeat the UNP.
UPFA General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera complained to a colleague that he had not been invited for the visit to the Philippines or to Singapore. Has he been sidelined? He was also a promoter of the alliance with the UNP.
Even if President Sirisena eventually did or did not raise the issue of Mahendran’s return to Sri Lanka to face charges, timing-wise, it is significant for other reasons. Whilst the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been handling investigations into the CBSL bond scam, the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) has now joined the fray. It has begun probing another aspect, the use or abuse of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) money for trading in CBSL bonds.
Moves to fix UNP before presidential poll
There is an interesting twist to this investigation. Originally, in February 2016 it was Charitha Ratwatte, Advisor to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who wanted then Inspector General of Police N.K. Illangakoon to investigate an anonymous complaint about serious irregularities in the use of EPF funds. It was forwarded to the FCID. Now, as the investigations continue, some accountability issues related to the matter, it transpired, fall on the then Central Bank Governor (Mahendran) and the Monetary Board. They took the decision to utilise EPF funds. By extension, it can reflect on the Prime Minister’s office under whom the CBSL was then placed. Both had to grant approval. Though somewhat technical, briefly put, the so-called “New Way of Robbing EPF Money,” as alleged, works as follows:
EPF investment manager allegedly teams up with mainly two Primary Dealers (PD) and a bank to carry out this suspected scam. When there is long-term primary bond auctions, the PD will buy these long term bonds from the auctions. They allegedly have a pre-arranged agreement with the EPF investment manager that the EPF will buy these bonds through at least one PD and a bank before it is bought by EPF at a much lower yield than the auction.
They wash the bonds through at least one PD and a bank before it is brought by EPF much lower yield than the auction.
The anonymous complaint listed specific dates on whch auctions were held and alleged that were “pre- arranged transactions involving a PD ( Primary Dealer), a Bank and Perpetual Treasuries and the EPF tried to give a geniality to the deal.” The FCID, which said it had begun investigations in October last year, has reported findings to the Fort Magistrate’s Court. The essence of its reported findings was that there had been a loss of Rs 83 million to the EPF as a result of certain officials of the EPF acting allegedly in connivance “with two secondary market dealers and a bank investing in Treasury (CBSL) bonds.”
In another report of its findings in January 2016, the FCID had reported that the purchases “in the secondary market on Treasury bonds with a face value of Rs 8,150 million (Rs 8.15 billion) had resulted in a loss of Rs 83 million to the EPF. The investments had been made from January 8, 2016 to January 25, 2016 in the secondary markets through Wealth Trust Treasuries Securities Ltd (Rs 100 million), PAN Asia Bank
PLC (Rs 3,350 million or Rs 3.35 billion), Perpetual Treasuries Ltd ( Rs 4,150 million or Rs 4.15 billion) and First Capital Treasuries Ltd Rs 550 million.”
The FCID has reported that investigations are still under way to determine whether “the losses were caused intentionally and whether there was an act of money laundering.” In the light of this, and also in view of the fact that these PD’s and the Bank involved have not made their own positions clear, the issue at present remains only allegations. The FCID has recorded statements from 19 people including those at the EPF, the Central Bank and the private company. Investigations are also underway to ascertain whether money was illegally obtained. EPF Superintendent Rathgama Acharige Ananda Jayalath and Senior Assistant Director Badugoda Hewa Indika Saman Kumara have already made statements to FCID detectives.
Yet, stepped up investigations in this regard, on the bond scandal by the CID and now the use of money from the EPF, by the FCID, are pointedly directed at the previous government albeit the UNP and thus its leadership. That the two agencies are working hard on the bond scandal, just months ahead of a presidential election later this year, comes as a severe blow to the UNP. Matters arising from them could become the talking points at political platforms and dampen voter preference for the UNP. “There is a clear pattern in all this to confirm beyond doubt that it is a political witch-hunt against the UNP,” declared a senior leader who did not wish to be named. He asked “what about all the other investigations. The people will see through this transparent ploy.”
Added to that is President Sirisena’s appointment of a Presidential Commission of Inquiry to probe a string of irregularities including bribery, corruption, fraud, criminal breach of trust, abuse or misuse of power among other matters. The five- member Commission is headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Upali Abeyrathne. The period to be probed is from January 15, 2015 to December 31, 2018 – the four years when the United National Party (UNP) led United National Front had been in power. There are seven aspects which this commission has been called upon to investigate and report. They are: To call for and receive public complaints, information and other material relating to serious allegations against persons who have held or continue to hold political office, those who have been or continue to be public servants and officers of statutory bodies, regarding acts of corruption, fraud, criminal breach of trust, criminal misappropriation of property, cheating, and abuse or misuse of power, State resources and privileges allegedly occurred during the period of 15th January, 2015 to 31st December, 2018 and have resulted in serious loss or damages to State assets and State revenue ;
To conduct prompt, impartial, comprehensive investigations and inquiries into complaints, information and allegations;
To identify persons who have been or are responsible in terms of the law for committing such offences, acts of wrongdoing, and abuse or misuse of power or authority, State resources and privileges;
To Identify and collect evidence available with regard to such offences and acts of wrongdoing as referred to in paragrph 1 above, and against persons responsible for having committed offences connected with such incidents and wrongdoing;
To Identity which of the acts coming within the ambit of matters referred to, should be forwarded to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption or to the Police or to any other law enforcement authority or statutory body for the conduct of necessary investigations and inquiries with the view to instituting criminal proceedings against persons alleged to have committed the said offences;
To transmit to the Attorney General investigational and inquiry material, enabling the Attorney General to consider the institution of criminal proceedings against persons alleged to have committed the said offences and prosecute the accused;
To present to me recommendations of the Commission regarding what action if any, should be taken against those held responsible for having committed offences and acts of wrongdoing and recommendations aimed at preventing the occurrence of such offences and acts of wrongdoing in the future; Significant enough, as reported earlier, three months is the deadline placed for the commission’s interim report with the final one expected in six months. If one looks at the unpcoming presidential election, even if Sirisena does not choose to exercise constitutional provisions enabling him to conduct polls a year before the end of his term, it appears unlikely. His five- year term would end on January 8, 2019. The Election Commission is constitutionally empowered to make preparations for a presidential poll from October this year by calling for nominations. This is just nine months away. Similarly, it is also empowered to conduct a presidential election on any date between November 8 and December 8, 2019. That way, the winner will be ready for swearing-in on January 9, 2019 or thereafter, as the new President.
President Sirisena’s recent measures make it unambiguously clear that he has chosen to wage a full frontal political onslaught on his Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his government in the presidential election year – 2019. Any startling findings through the commission reports, together with the outcome of ongoing investigations, will be lethal. Seeking early reports means the findings could become weapons in Sirisena’s hands for the campaign. In fact, at the highest levels of the UNP, there is some serious concern which they also say is the contributory factor to their less aggressive or even submissive stance. However, the billion dollar question is how Sirisena is going to set about with it. He is now on the edge of a political razor with many an issue clouding his future. Strangely, that appears second priority for him judging by his own actions than the political uncertainty he faces.
SLFP-SLPP alliance formation
He wants to strengthen his own SLFP where a sizeable number is now wanting to join hands with the Wickremesinghe-led UNF. He has only nine months left. In what seemed a move to contain them, Sirisena named most of the parliamentarians remaining with him as new district organisers. With the exception of Dayasiri Jayasekera, Thilanga Sumathipala, S.B. Dissanayake, most others are in favour of an alliance with the UNF. They have however, not been able to obtain a meeting with the President and want to do so after his return yesterday. If they are not allowed to join the Government as members of the SLFP, the group wants to know whether they could each join as Independents and form an alliance. This will help the UNF enlarge the cabinet in in keeping with provisions of the Constituition calling it a National Government. If it is going to be a total refusal, what would follow is not clear. UNF leader Wickremesinghe declared this week that a National Democratic Front (NDF) would be formed within weeks. He believes that the SLFP group could become its members in the alliance if not from the party even as Independents. If that does not materialise, the NDF will be a mere name change from the present UNF.
However, Sirisena has not abandoned hopes of an SLFP-SLPP electoral alliance and is still seeking the prospects of being their joint presidential candidate. There is yet a slim chance and sections of the SLPP leadership confirm this. One of them said yesterday a formal invitation from Sirisena, as leader of the SLFP, for the resumption of SLFP-SLPP talks was now being awaited. “Earlier, he spoke to us as the President. We now want him to formally talk to us as SLFP leader,” he said. The remarks highlight the upper hand of the SLPP. Such talks are expected to be between Sirisena and Rajapaksa and are to focus on the parametres of an alliance. One is not wrong in saying that Sirisena’s SLFP would have to give more to the SLPP than take from it. Mahinda Rajapaksa himself has stated that the “winnable” canididate will be picked as the (SLPP) presidential candidate. This was in answer to a question raised as to which of his two brohter’s it would be, Chamal ( the elder) or the Gotabaya (the younger).
These notwithstanding, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the de facto leader of the SLPP, was strongly critical of legislation that was introduced at Sirisena’s insistence to amend the Commissions of Inquriy amendment bill. He complained that some provisions appear directed at him and his family and could be used for a “political witch- hunt.” The main thrust of the amendments was to provide for findings by Commissions of Inquiry and Presidential Commissions of Inquiry prosecutable in courts. The President earlier accused the UNP of blocking this piece of legislation in Parliament. There were moves by sections of the SLPP not to vote for the amendments. In contrast, others insisted that they should support the bill. However, it was passed unanimously in Parliament. Here again, with the new law coming into effect, sources close to the Presidency said, action would be filed against those named in the findings of the Commission of Inquiry that probed the Central Bank bond scandal. This is besides other commissions of inquiry.
Security concerns
These developments, no doubt, contribute to perceptions, both in Sri Lanka and abroad, that the country is not yet politically stable. In other words, the situation since the constitutional turmoil in October last year has not changed. That it is a situation not conducive to foreign investment, coupled together with an economic meltdown, contrary to the boastful claims of some ministers, is cause for grave concern. It is in this scenario that some deeply worrying developments are taking place on the national security front. This is at a time when the Police have been placed under the Ministry of Defence and the entire security apparatus in the country is in one hand – the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Hemasiri Fernando. He has already generated controversy by remarking that war heroes or ranaviruvos are those who have won medals and not others. Those remarks have created consternation within the tri-forces. There are thousands of soldiers who have died, unsung and unheard without mention and without medals. The Defence Secretary, once a Navy officer, is being accused of humiliating those who lost their limbs in the near three-decade-long separatist war and their beloved families. It is incumbent on President Sirisena, as Commander- inChief not only to set the record right but also tell the nation whether the bureaucrat to whom he has entrusted the running of the nation’s defence establishment is doing the right thing.
This is at a time when there are growing signs that a misguided extremist Muslim group, very small in number, is bent on resorting to religious violence. It must be said unequivocally that as a whole, the Muslim community in Sri Lanka, has abhorred violence and lived side by side with other communties. There have been occasions when unfortunate incidents have occurred, sometimes due to some of their own faults and otherwise. The idea in saying this is to highlight the dangers that portend due to lack of awareness and living in the blind belief that all is well. Only a few Cabinet ministers have been making veiled references to groups which want to create ethnic disharmony and warning the public not to fall prey to them. The silence of the Defence Ministry, which should have formulated an action plan, to educate the people and thus adopt countermeasures is deafening.
The actions of small groups in Mawanella have been under the microscope of security authorities for many months now. Several months ago, they uncovered evidence that eleven Muslim families left Sri Lanka to a West Asian (‘Middle Eastern’) country and thereafter to a war zone where Islamic militants are fighting. In the recent past, less than a handful of Ulemas (preachers) have been delivering Friday jumma sermons propagating extremist ideas. It is in this backdrop that the Mawanella Police arrested seven persons for allegedly destroying Buddha and Hindu statues. They made detailed statements about what they have been asked to do including destroy statues and crosses. They also made an important disclosure -- some bomb making material and other war like items lay in an 80-acre coconut estate at Vanathavillu in the Puttalam District. A team of CID detectives and Police Special Task Force (STF) personnel raided the place and found the items. They took four persons into custody. They are now revealing more details.
This is whilst the Mawanella Police conducted another raid on a rented house which the seven suspects had been visiting. A suspect’s father who had been living there had escaped and was reported to be hiding somewhere in Nawalapitiya. Police asked the owner to open the house. They found a Motorola walkie talkie, a charger, pen drives, laptops, white powder wrapped in red plastic sheet, an air rifle, pellets for them and other items.
These detections should come as a warning to Muslims to be conscious of the consequences they will be forced to face for no fault of theirs. To make matters worse, one Muslim politician in Colombo claimed he could produce two moulavis who the Poice were looking for, if there was an assurance. He made the offer to a top police official. There is also another political leader, perhaps not knowing the intensity of the issue using influence to help those involved. However, the investigators are not giving in and are maintaining strict secrecy.
This disclosure is not to alarm but to educate. Whether they are aware or not, the Kollupitiya Jumma Mosque management took the laudable step last week of inviting members of all religious faiths to visit the mosque. There, they were entertained with food and questions raised were answered. The idea was to explain that the vast majority of Muslims were not for violence but for co-existence. Like this example, there are many other measures Muslim organisations could take to educate others that it was only a handful who were bent on causing communal chaos. These measurs cannot be carried out only by Muslim politicians, some of whom have only their votes in mind. This is whilst the security authorities continue their investigations. There is no gainsaying that President Sirisena, under whom the Police now remain, should take the initiative to ensure there is no bad fallout.
Of course, for Sirisena, the problems are mounting to unmanageable proportions. The more that happens, the more he will turn to the SLPP for a prop. For the UNP, however, the spectre of damaging revealations of its four-year rule is both haunting and worrisome. Like the wounded, both seem to be moving in crutches.