Political Corruption - News stories

[Chaminda Tilakumara]

Dear All,

Is it not obvious that root of all misery in Sri Lanka is unaccountable political practices perpetrated by those whom we have placed our great trust in. Political corruption is the basis of all evil in Sri Lanka. At a time our nation is embroiled in a ruthless war waged by Tamil Tiger Terrorists, our democratically elected (or otherwise) politicians are destroying every decent social fabric our Nation has built up, over its long recorded history. These so called representatives of the people goes on plundering the Nation in every possible way, placing themselves first and foremost before country, whilst considering themselves above the law of the land. These politicians have done more damage to our Country in the last 50 years than the 350 years of European colonisation or than any other foreign invading armies, the Country has seen over the past 2 Millenniums of written history. To be more precise, it has been the last decade that the Country has seen most of the damage.

Under the above topic we plan to bring you a series of news stories that highlights the antics of our unaccountable politicians and their corrupt political practices. Please feel free to contribute to these pages.

Yours truly,

Chaminda Tilakumara (Human Rights for Victims of Terrorism)

[Chaminda Tilakumara]

[ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka]

Nov 16, Colombo: The acting director general of the Bribery Commission had been removed by the government to save Minister Mangala Samaraweera from being prosecuted for his credit card scandal, according to sources at the Bribery Commission.

Rienzie Arsecularatne was removed early this month and Gampaha magistrate Piyasena Ranasinghe had been appointed in his place.
Mr. Arsecularatne had recommended to the Commission that there was a prima facie case against Mr. Samaraweera for illegally obtaining a credit card from Telecom using his powers as its former minister. Mr. Arsecularatne was removed overnight before the prosecution, sources said.

Minister Samaraweera had taken this credit with an upper limit of $5000 in September 1997 for his use. He had used it to buy shoes, clothes and jewelry and to search the Internet, spending nearly Rs. 600,000.

Former UNP parliamentarian Rajitha Senaratne had made a complaint to the Commission in 1998 and the Commission recorded his statement early this year. Mr. Arsecularatne had recommended to the Commission that a statement from Mr. Samaraweera be recorded and prosecuted because there was case against him. But he was removed soon after his report, sources added.

[Manel De Silva]

[ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka]

Nov 17, Colombo: The state media continue with their partisan and biased election news against the main opposition UNP, despite protest made to the highest authorities in the land - the Supreme Court and the Election Commissioner, independent observers said.

Free Media Movement spokesperson Sunanda Deshapriya said the state media including Lake House radio and television were highly biased, and he could not expect a free and fair election according to the way the campaign is being done.

He said all journalistic norms had been openly breached by these institutions, and the Supreme Court and Election Commissioner have not been able to tame them.

The UNP, after failing to get a desired response from the courts and poll chief, finally complained to the inspector general of police, asking him to take action against the state media violating election law.

Deshabandu Karu Jayasuriya, in a letter to the police chief, has urged him to prosecute those people in the state media involved in the abuse of public funds and property aimed at disrupting the verdict of the people at the December poll.

But several private media executives said it was very unlikely that police would take any action.

[HRVT]

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead on Saturday a Sri Lankan opposition candidate campaigning for the country's parliamentary elections next month, police said.

Police said Thambiraja Jeyakumar, a United National Party candidate, was shot dead while driving to a campaign event in eastern Batticaloa District.
``He was shot by bystanders wearing civilian clothes,'' a Batticaloa police official said, adding that no one else was hurt. Jeyakumar was the first candidate killed during this campaign in a country where violence is common during elections. Several candidates were among the 70 people killed during a parliamentary election last year.

Dozens of politicians have been killed in recent years, mostly in attacks blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a rebel group whose 18-year campaign for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka's north and east has been marked by a brutal suicide-bomb campaign.
A rebel suicide bomber blew himself up in the capital Colombo just after the campaign kicked off last month. Five people died in the attack which the government said was intended for the prime minister.

Campaign rallies of both the opposition and the ruling party were attacked by suicide bombers in the 1999 presidential election. Scores of people were killed and President Chandrika Kumaratunga was among the many seriously injured.

Kumaratunga's UNP opponent was killed by a suicide bomber at a rally during the 1994 presidential polls which brought her to power.

[Manel Perera]

[ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka]

Nov 19, Colombo: President Chandrika Kumaratunga, addressing a PA rally in Tissamaharama in the deep south, told her supporters to kill anyone who kills a PA supporter.

She was addressing a highly guarded meeting at the Debarawewa Maha Vidyalaya in support of the candidature of Minister Mahinda Rajapaksha. The President said the PA could not tolerate anyone killing their supporters. "If one of our supporters is killed, kill the killer," she said.

Minister Mahinda Rajapaksha, who was visibly shaken after this remark, appealed to the media not to publish it. Even as the President was making this tit for tat statement, election violence had risen to unprecedented levels. At Kiribathgoda, a son of PA candidate Nandisena Herath attacked UNP supporters, wounding at least 10.

Kiribathgoda was like a battlefield, and the attacker also was injured. The President, addressing the Tissamaharama meeting, said the PA behaved like very sober men and women in the past, but it could not be practiced today.

She blamed the former president Ranasinghe Premadasa for ruining the country. His son Sajith Premadasa, the key UNP candidate there, has complained that he was not allowed to conduct his campaign and has asked that an impartial Army officer be sent to the area to maintain law and order. He has accused the police of siding with the PA.

[Frederica Jansz]

Election violence erupts in the hill country
--------------------------------------------

Frederica Jansz in Colombo, 1 p.m. SLT Monday November 19. On Monday November 12, a clash occurred between Arumugam Thondaman, former minister and the leader of Ceylon Workers Congress and the PA Candidate for Pussellawa, S. Rajaratnam. Thondaman resigned from the government two months ago and has promised support to the opposition United National Front.

Thondaman says the incident had occurred while he was travelling late night at Pussellawa in the central province. Three of Mr.Thondaman's supporters travelling in one of the vehicles had received gunshot injuries, police said. Thondaman has alleged that the attackers had first stoned his convoy of vehicles before opening fire.

S. Rajaratnam, the PA candidate alleges that Thondaman's supporters had thrown the first stone and attacked his supporters who thereafter retaliated in kind.

Following this incident, S. A. Kandasamy, General Secretary for the National Democratic Party appealed to all factions in the upcountry and island-wide to maintain decorum and conduct their political campaigns peacefully.

[Mahen De Alwis]

[ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka]
Nov 19, Colombo: Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva pointed out to a lawyer supporting a fundamental rights plea by retired major general and former deputy speaker Sarath Munasinghe regarding the government’s withdrawal of his security that Mr. Prabhakaran had no security either.

The lawyer, Upul Jayasuriya, told the three-judge bench that General Munasinghe was facing a threat from the LTTE, but the government had withdrawn the 12 military personnel assigned to him a few hours after he changed his political affiliation.

He submitted that although he went before the Human Rights Commission, the police had failed to submit an assessment about threats to General Munasinghe’s life. General Munasinghe is contesting the December election as a UNP candidate from the Kurunegala district. The Chief Justice remarked that if every candidate contesting the elections complained of security threats, it could be a nuisance and such cases are not matters for human rights violations.

He said even Mr. (Velupillai) Prabhakaran had no security. Mr. Jayasuriya's request was that the General be given at least half the strength provided earlier.

[Ajith Perera]

G L Peiris alleges election fraud and misuse of public property
 
Frederica Jansz in Colombo, 12.50 p.m. SLT Monday November 19. Media Spokesman for the United National Front, Prof. G. L. Peiris, on Thursday November 15, charged that members of the Presidential Security Division were rounding up vehicles from state institutions.

As election campaigns intensify around the Island, Prof. Peiris said that 25 official vehicles from the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation had been seized. In addition, another 10 were taken from the CWE --25 cars from the Ports Authority together with 40 trucks and 25 shot guns also from the Ports Authority had been taken in by the PSD.

[Shehan Fernando]

The Island - 20 Nov 2001

The UNP on Sunday charged that the government was behind the killing of UNF organiser for Paddiruppuwa, Batticaloa Thambirasa Jeyakumar, and action against the assassin who had acted with the blessings of the PA.

Jeyakumar was shot dead on Saturday by an unknown gunman at point blank range. Media spokesperson for the UNP yesterday said that the killing of the ex-policeman was the first in a series of killings planned out by the PA. He warned that the PA was set to kill a number of opposition candidates, unable to accept the certain defeat at the next election. He added that there were also plans to arrest UNP organisers for incidents initiated by the PA, and to record statements at will. He claimed that the Police had been given orders through the IGP to arrest UNF/UNP candidates.

He asserted however that his party would see the elections through, undeterred by bullets directed at its members.

The Kalawanchikudy police however said that up to now the killer is suspected to be an LTTE gunman. "We think it is an LTTE gunman upto now. We are conducting further investigations," a spokesman for the Police said.

Election monitoring sources said that there was confusion relating to even previous killings.

They said that the killing of an EPRLF (Varadaraja Perumal faction) activist a few weeks ago had the party leader blaming the TNA while police suspected that it was the LTTE. Then again the death of a JVP member in Anuradhapura saw the JVP accusing the UNP while there were alternate reports that the member’s death had been due to an accidental fall.

[Viji Herath]

* Anura Bandaranaike predicts another election if the PA is defeated

[ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka]

Nov 19, Colombo: Former Speaker Anura Bandaranaike said that there would be another election within one year if the PA were defeated.

He was addressing an election meeting in Navalapitiya. Mr. Bandaranaike added that since his sister the President would be President for the next five years, there could be elections until the UNP got tired of them.

President Kumaratunga also had said that even if the UNP wins, she had the power to appoint the next Prime Minster and the Cabinet. She had said that there was no requirement to call the leader of the majority party to form the next government. Mr. Bandaranaike, elaborating what the President had said, added that if the PA were defeated, the President could dissolve or prorogue the parliament.

He further said that there was no fear of a PA defeat because an opinion poll conducted by a US and UK team had predicted victory for the PA. But he failed to name who conducted the poll.

[Niranjan Silva]

Religious leaders condemn President’s blood-for-blood call
[ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka]

Nov 20, Colombo: All religious leaders strongly oppose and condemn President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s recent statement in Tissamaharamaya.

She had reportedly said that PA supporters had the right to kill anyone who had committed murder.

“We, the MahaSangha, are deeply shocked and perturbed to hear the statement,” president of the Jathika MahaSangha Sabaha, Ven. Urapola Pemasiri thero, told ColomboPage.

“Unfortunately the President forgot our civilization and our history,” the Most Reverend Bishop Oswald Gomiz said. “We requested to her to withdraw these controversial remarks,” he added.

Meanwhile, all religious leaders are planning to make this request in writing to President Kumaratunga. “Otherwise, we are ready to walk into the streets by the name of democracy in this country,” a well-known Buddhist philosopher, Professor S. B. Hettiarachi, told ColomboPage.

The Jathika MahaSangha Organization met today and passed the following Resolution.

“We, the MahaSangha is deeply shocked and perturbed to hear the statement made by our President Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge addressing a meeting at Tissamaharama in support of the candidature of Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, who has been accorded a honorary title by the Maha Sangha themselves, to murder anyone who kills a PA supporter. To advocate to murder any person is a gross violation of the Buddhist principles and all other religious teachings. No civilized society can approve in any manner this type of attitude. Mrs. Kumaratunge is the Head of State of Sri Lanka. She has a supreme duty to maintain law and order of the country. She should not allow anybody to take law and order into his or her hand. There is a clearly laid down legal procedure to follow to punish anybody who is found guilty after due inquiry. If the Head of State advocates a deviation from this procedure and to take revenge by killing others, then there is no doubt the State is leading towards the state of terror and anarchy. This is a serious threat to and erosion of fundamental rights of the people.

The Jathika MahaSangha Organization therefore earnestly and kindly requests the President to withdraw this statement immediately and to give wide Publicity."

[PTI]

COLOMBO: In an unsual move, Sri Lanka's opposition on Friday asked the United States, Britain and the European Commission to intervene to stop what they called an impending "bloodbath" during election time at the alleged behest of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Opposition United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe wrote to US President George W Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and European Commission President Romano Prodi seeking "urgent help" to save democracy after Kumaratunga allegedly held out a murder threat against UNP supporters.

"You have the power to stop a bloodbath. Please act forcefully in the name of democracy," Wickremesinghe told the three leaders in identical letters, copies of which were released by the UNP today, noting that each of them was "determined to stamp out terrorism in whatever form it occurs."

"Please bring to bear the maximum diplomatic pressure you can on our President and this government," he said, referring to Kumaratunga's reported advice to her supporters a few days ago at an election rally to "kill" UNP workers if they tried to kill her People's Alliance activists.

"We have been patient and suffering for seven long years. 'If they try to kill us, you kill them', there's nothing wrong in killing a murderer," he quoted Kumaratunga as telling the rally.

Former minister and current opposition front spokesman G L Peiris told a news conference here that if the UNP came to power, it would seek to prosecute Kumaratunga for allegedly inciting murder after amending the Constitution to do away with the legal immunity the President now enjoys.

Wickremesinghe said in his letters that one would have expected a statement such as the one made by Kumaratunga to have been uttered by a terrorist in war-torn Sri Lanka.

They would be right if they were reminded them of dictators like Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Idi Amin of Uganda or Ceaucescu of Romania, he said.

This is Sri Lanka's third election in as many years after the Presidential election in 1999 and parliamentary polls last year. "Each was more violent than the last, as this government is desperate to cling to power," Wickremesinghe said, citing the slaying of one of his party candidates and attacks on others "with grenades and claymore mines".

"We have received intelligence reports that the final week of the election campaign will see unprecedented government-sponsored violence," he said.

The run-up to the Dec 5 parliamentary election has been marked by more violence than ever before, with an independent poll monitoring group saying there had been over 1,200 violent incidents and 18 murders in last three weeks of campaigning.

Sri Lankan opposition leaders often complain to diplomats from other countries against the government of the day, but this is the first time that the western powers have been invited to intervene to stop alleged state violence.

Wickeremesinghe had recently briefed diplomats about the government's alleged misuse of state machinery, electronic media and social welfare schemes to influence voters.

[Chaminda Tilakumara]

Frederica Jansz in Colombo, 4.35 p.m. SLT Friday December 7. Lohan Ratwatte, son of former Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte was booked to leave Sri Lanka on Emirates Airlines flight number EK 815 departing from Colombo at 0045 hrs SLT bound for Male today.

Lohan, reportedly fled the Island after it was confirmed that a new government led by the United National Party had won the December 5th election and his father Anuruddha Ratwatte lost his seat in the Kandy district. Lohan reportedly left with his wife and two children. Many charges of thuggery, voter intimidation, ballot rigging and murder have been levelled against Lohan Ratwatte by residents of the Kandy district.

Feared and hated my many, Lohan Ratwatte's name figured in the murder of Fijian born ruggerite Joel Pera in 1998. Lohan was also accused of mass scale voter intimidation and ballot rigging during the October 2000 General Election.

His name figured once more this year on Wednesday December 5th, when voters in the Kandy district alleged that goon squads belonging to Lohan Ratwatte attempted to again initiate a repetition of last year's fear psychosis in Kandy. Rauf Hazeer, brother of Rauf Hakeem and Leader for the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, today alleged that Lohan Ratwatte's gang shot dead at point blank range ten supporters of the SLMC on Wednesday evening at Udathalawila - Kandy, an hour after polling had concluded.

[Dutugamunu]

Election results shows that LTTE supporters in Sri Lanka is atleast 4% or less, which is less than 30% of Sri Lankan Tamils.

If 5% of Sri Lankans can get together and coherently voice their opinion against LTTE every time they create propaganda, we can defeat LTTE fairly easily.

I don’t have any affiliation with this site, but another good place for us to get together and develop Terrorist fighting skills over the web.

http://www.infolanka.com/cgibin/ubb/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Peace+Web&number=1

Dutugamunu

[HRVT]

 
Frederica Jansz in Colombo, 9.30 p.m. SLT Wednesday December 12. Former deputy minister and Peoples Alliance strongman for the Puttalam district D. M. Dassanayake was arrested by Puttalam police today and released on a cash bail of Rs. 50,000/-.
Dassanayake has been ordered to report to the police every fourth Sunday of each month. Dassanayake's arrest followed after complaints were made to the police that the deputy minister is responsible for unleashing brutal incidents of pre poll violence at Puttalam, Chilaw and Anamaduwa in the lead up to the general election on the 5th of this month.

Police sources say that there are more than 60 arrest warrants issued in the name of D. M. Dassanayake, but the arrests were never carried out by the ASP and SSP for Puttalam who allegedly helped shield the politico who has earned a reputation for being ruthlessly violent in order to hold onto political power.