News

When Ireshika Somapala, a mother of two from Sri Lanka’s North Central district of Anuradhapura, started a six-month training in tailoring in February, little did she know she would soon become part of the response to the global Coronavirus pandemic. Ireshika joined other women from the nearby villages to sew 5,000 masks for the district’s hospitals and their communities. Putting their newly acquired sewing skills to good use, they helped their communities to reduce the spread of COVID-19 during an extended period of curfew.

USAID’s Social Cohesion and Reconciliation (SCORE) initiative, implemented by Global Communities, supported the tailor training, along with initial material and one sewing machine, to start sewing masks. Local communities and a private apparel establishment in the area contributed enthusiastically to provide more sewing machines and material while the village’s funeral society provided the space for women to carry out the work.

As the women sewed together, they shared personal stories and built relationships. Their work is now creating a stronger network between villages. This collaborative opportunity has given Ireshika and the rest of the women a sense of pride and self-worth. But most importantly, this opportunity paved the way for financial independence. The women are now producing masks to sell in the local market and earning an income to provide for their families.

USAID’s Social Cohesion and Reconciliation activity (SCORE) helps rural communities to uplift lives, and advance social cohesion and reconciliation. Since the beginning of the pandemic in Sri Lanka, SCORE has responded to the needs of rural communities across the island. SCORE provided hospitals in some regions with essential items such as sewing and washing machines, personal protective equipment, and sanitizers. The project also refurbished an isolation unit for COVID-19 patients in a northern hospital. In addition, a SCORE-supported social media youth group shares reliable information from the Sri Lankan health authorities, providing accurate guidelines on COVID-19 prevention and countering misinformation among rural communities.

Rifkhan Bathiudeen, the brother of former minister Rishad Bathiudeen has written to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Easter Attacks categorically denying the allegation leveled by a TV channel.

He noted that TV Derana had mentioned his name with regard to helping the leader of the Easter Sunday attack Zahran Hashim to flee the country in 2018.

Rifkhan noted that on Derana's breakfast show programme 'Derana Aruna,' it was read out that he helped Zahran Hashim abscond from Sri Lanka to India by boat.

"This is to inform the commission that during the ‘Derana Aruna – Sri Lanka’s Breakfast Show’ conducted today at 6.55 am via the Derana TV Channel, it was read out that one of the brothers of former minister Rishad Bathiudeen named Rifkhan Bathiudeen who is presently under the detention of the Criminal Investigation Department had assisted Zahran Hashim who led the suicide bombers squad of the Easter Sunday attacks to flee from the island through a boat to India in 2018 while he was issued an arrest warrant by the courts," he said.

It was further stated that this was revealed to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Easter Attacks by a former Director of the Sri Lanka Intelligence Service. This news has also been picked up by several media channels and websites.

However, while reiterating that he had never met Zahran Hashim, he said that it is younger brother Riyaj Bathiudeen who is presently in CID custody and not him as read out by Derana.

"First of all, I wish to state that this news is totally false and it is our younger brother Riyaj Bathiudeen who is only presently under the detention of the CID. I also would affirm that neither he nor I had personally met Zahran Hashim at least once," he noted.

"We as a family who were forcibly evicted by the LTTE in 1990, have always acted in a manner to eradicate terrorism. This nature of fake news which is being published via reputed media firms is extremely in contradiction with media ethics. The media should have the utmost responsibility to convey the genuine message or news to the public," Rifkhan said.

He further said that the Commission is now being involved in a tremendous service towards identifying the exact motives and the convicts involved with the act.

"However, these types of news articles at this circumstance which is being publicized without any clear evidence will undoubtedly mislead the public and be a hindrance for the genuine investigations of the Commission," he added.

Rifkhan also requested an opportunity to produce evidence to the Presidential Commission.

 Letter to presidential

Secretary to the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Cultural and Religious Affairs M.K. Bandula Harischandra stated that Sri Lanka’s archeological sites, monuments, premises and museums will reopen for local tourists from July 01.

He said that the decision to open on July 1 was aimed at helping domestic tourism which had been severely hampered due to the virus and all archaeological sites, monuments, national museums and other sites would re-open.

The Colombo High Court acquitted four defendants of the case against Samarappulige Niraj Roshan alias ‘Ali Roshan' due to insufficient evidence.

Priyanka Sanjeewani, the clerk in charge of the Elephant Registration at the Department of Wildlife Conservation together with three other mahouts were acquitted when case was taken up before the Colombo High Court Judges Vikum Kaluarachchi, Dhammika Ganepola, and Aditya Patabandige today (22).

The Attorney General's Department had filed 27 charges against ‘Ali Roshan’ and six other defendants under the Offences against Public Property Act and were arrested in 2018 by the Criminal Investigation Department.

However, the special High Court Trial-at-Bar decided to continue the case against the main accused Samarappulige Niraj Roshan alias ‘Ali Roshan’ and three other defendants as there was sufficient evidence to prosecute them.

The "tongue-lashing" senior officials of the Central Bank including the Governor received from president Gotabaya Rajapaksa a few days ago was an act of bullying, former finance minister Mangala Samaraweera said. In an open letter to Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Samaraweera noted that never in the seven- decade long history of our Republic have either the government or opposition ever spoken to the Central Bank in such a manner.

"Under the full glare of cameras, the President’s outburst publicly humiliated the institution and its officers in a most disgraceful manner. To publicly castigate public officials in such a crabby and aggressive manner is nothing less than an act of bullying. It reflects an inner callousness and meanness of spirit that sets an unfortunate example to our nation’s children," Samaraweera said.

As Mahinda Rajapaksa's predecessor who was in charge of the subject of finance until November last year, Samaraweera said that it was his duty to defend the Central Bank against the petulant charges that have been unfairly and ungraciously been hurled at them, especially due to the incumbent's deafening silence.

"Sri Lanka’s current economic woes are fundamentally fiscal, not monetary. Therefore, there is only a limited role for monetary policy in this crisis. Even so the Central Bank has undertaken a number of major stimulus activities. Some of them are well beyond the call of duty – so much so that members of the Monetary Board and Public Debt Department have left themselves open to facing a court of law," he added.

Samaraweera observed that the Rajapaksa government took the unprecedented and irascible step of asking two of five members of the Monetary Board to resign even though their six-year terms were not completed.

"As a result, the three members of the Monetary Board are all appointed by the President. In fact, the majority (the Governor and Treasury Secretary) effectively serve at the President’s and Finance Minister’s pleasure. However, it is now an open secret that the Central Bank’s politicization is initiated not by you, but by the true economic czar of the regime. A person once called an ‘economic assassin’ by a senior government minister," he warned.

A Central Bank’s role is to manage the supply and cost of money in order to achieve price stability, Samaraweera said adding that the cost of money has come down dramatically, the supply of money has increased to a more than satisfactory level, and inflation remains under control.

"In other words – the Central Bank has done its job. To shout and scream at the CBSL in this context simply reflects no understanding of the Central Bank’s role in the economy. The responsibility of driving economic growth and articulating the strategy for economic revival is the role of the Treasury and other arms of the government. The President’s accusations have no basis. In fact, they suggest that he is unable to cope with the demands and strain of his great office. This comes as no great surprise considering that he has very little economic, political and policy-making experience," Samaraweera said. 

An open letter to PM from Mangala 21.06.2020.

In a letter to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim activists say that Ramzy Razeek arrested on April 09 for allegedly violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Cyber Crimes Legislation has also been denied medical treatment and legal access in detention.

“Despite orders from the Magistrate to allow him access to medicine, reliable sources state that his health condition is deteriorating due to lack of access to specific medicines of which he is in dire need. A lawyer attempting to visit Razeek this week, was also denied access at the Colombo Remand Prison, citing the COVID-19 virus,” says the letter addressed to HRCSL Chair Deepika Udagama.

Ramzy Razeek, a retired government official was arrested over a post in early April, in which he calls for an ‘ideological Jihad (struggle)’ against all forms of fundamentalisms and racism persecuting the Sri Lankan Muslims as a community.

Two days later, Razeek had posted again to note that he had received countless death threats as a result of his post, and that many had misconstrued his words, calling for him to be jailed for propagating racist ideas.

The activists’ letter highlights that Razeek who has a history of critiquing Muslim fundamentalism and racism in Sri Lanka, very specifically states in his post that he is proposing a struggle of ideas and intellect to question and counter the attacks against progressive Muslims from outside, as well within the Muslim community.

In September 2019 HRCSL had issued a letter to the Sri Lanka Police regarding the lack of legal clarity and discriminate application of the ICCPR Act, and clarifying the legal scope of the offence, including the level of severity that was required for an arrest.

The ICCPR, meant to hold accountable those who incite violence, has since recently been weaponized by the State against those who critique the State and/or its policies, says the letter by activists to HRCSL.

“Those who actively disseminate misinformation, incite ethnic and religious hatred and violence, and engage in cyberbullying, predominantly against ethnic and religious minority communities, continue to enjoy impunity and political patronage. Meanwhile, those who critique this violence, are persecuted for their words.”

Local and international rights bodies have repeatedly raised their concern about misusing the ICCPR act. It was used to detain award winning writer Shakthika Sathkumara for more than four months during the last government backed by many civil activists.

Copies of the letter had been sent to opposition leaders of the dissolved parliament as well as UN officials at home and abroad.

Karuna Amman on Friday (19) has said that he was more dangerous than the Covid 19 virus as he had killed nearly 2,000-3,000 military personnel during the war.

Karuna’s statement has drawn criticism from many parties claiming that he was trying to glorify the killing of Sri Lankan soldiers during his time as an LTTE militant.

Sethuparan, an independent journalist who had migrated to Norway twenty years ago, had visited Sri Lanka with his family and close relatives from Norway to celebrate his daughter’s coming of age in 2019. However, the celebrations had to be abruptly cancelled when he was arrested by the Police in Nelliyadi on fabricated complaints.

"My family members had to return leaving me behind and it was a traumatic situation for our entire family. I was released as it was totally a fabricated complaint," he said in his letter.

Continued harassment!

Sethuparan said he was wanted by the police for another case for which he was given an arrest warrant which had imposed a travel ban. 

"This too was a fabricated case and I had to go into hiding due to the obvious threat for life.  As a reputed journalist carrying Norwegian citizenship, I sought legal advice and filed a case in the appeal court. The Court of Appeal overruled the Magistrate Court's decision and allowed me to obtain my passport from the Colombo passport office and return to Oslo as my passport was lying in the Immigration to get visa extension," he stated.

Sethurupan returned to Norway but returned to Sri Lanka to finish the court proceedings based on the fabricated allegations. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he could not return back to Norway.

Due to the nature of these complaints, Sethuparan was forced to move from one place to another covertly until his travel arrangements were finalised as it became apparent to him that his life was under threat.

During this period, he was unexpectedly summoned by the Police in Kankesanthurai for an enquiry and had given a statement.

"With all these harassment from unknown parties, I wanted to leave as early as possible to start my work in Norway," he said.

He had managed to book a flight to depart Sri Lanka on 21 June but was detained by the Immigration authorities at Bandaranaike International Airport by citing a court order. He was then summoned to the TID unit at Jaffna Police headquarters for an investigation thereafter.

"I have not committed any crime in Sri Lanka or elsewhere and I am shocked to see the way I am targeted by unknown elements," Sethuparan noted.

He also observed that various elements connected to the underworld are targeting him and that these trumped up charges against him have brought his family 'tremendous trauma'.

In his letter, he requested President Rajapaksa to provide him with adequate protection during his stay in Sri Lanka and to transfer any inquiry to the TID office in Colombo as he feared to travel to the North where he could be threatened by unknown parties.

He also appealed to the President to expedite the police investigations and to hold an inquiry on the nature of complaints against him to prove his innocence from such fabricated charges.  

Noting the need to return to his family as these incidents had caused traumatic conditions for his children as well as his parents living in the North, Sethuparan appealed to the President to safeguard his return back to Norway.

Presently, there are only three members serving in the Monetary Board, instead of the statutory number of five members. As the governing body, the Monetary Board is responsible for making all policy decisions related to the management, operation and administration of the CBSL, he pointed out.

Tennakoon asserted that it is not the CBSL but the Monetary Board that has the responsibility to proffer advice to the Government concerning the economy and related financial issues.

The former Southern Province Governor also said that the CBSL officials who had attended the meeting convened by the President at the Presidential Secretariat on Tuesday (16), were those who are known to carry out the instructions that are given to them by the Monetary Board.

He noted that had the President convened a meeting with officers of the Monetary Board there could have been far more tangible and constructive results rather than merely admonishing the CBSL officers who are only there to implement the decisions made by the Monetary Board. Tennakoon reiterated that legal power on taking decisions concerning financial issues lies firmly with officers of the Monetary Board.

Hence, he questioned whether the Monetary Board officers would be able to proffer advice to the Government in the future, when they had been publicly humiliated by the head of the Government, the President himself.

He explained that the three existing members of the Monetary Board were Governor of the CBSL Prof. W.D. Lakshman, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance S.R. Atigalla (officially appointed) and appointed member Sanjeewa Jayawardena (PC).

Those two vacancies would have to be filled after the names recommended by the Finance Minister (Mahinda Rajapaksa) to the President, being approved by the Constitutional Council, through an appointment letter issued by the President.

He observed that it would not be difficult even to sack Sanjeewa Jayawardena (PC), who is said to be closely connected to the present regime.

He has lastly asserted that merely lambasting the officers of the CBSL, instead of finding fault for the country’s present economic mayhem with those serving at the Monetary Board, would not serve the purpose of this Government.

The US courts issued a warrant for Edward’s arrest after the court heard how he and five others had duped investors for over USD 44 million, promising high returns. It was also revealed that they had presented themselves as federal officers.

According to the allegations contained in the indictment, from at least June 2013 through August 2016, Rienzi Edwards, Michael Jacobs, Ruby Handler-Jacobs, F.K. Ho, Lawrence Lester and Rachel Gendreau orchestrated and executed a fraudulent high-yield investment programme known as the “Cities Upliftment Programme,” or CUP, which the defendants falsely told investors was operated by the New York Fed. The scheme was principally designed and operated by Edwards, with the assistance of Jacobs and Handler-Jacobs, and was marketed to investors around the world through brokers, including Ho, Lester, and Gendreau.

In another case in the UK, Edwards pleaded guilty on 24 May 2006 at Southwark Crown Court of "possessing false instruments" contrary to Section 5(2) & 6 Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. It was reported that they had forged cheques totalling 101.6 million Canadian Dollars. Edwards was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 2 years and ordered to pay costs of £750 for this offence.

There was no deportation order made because in open court as Edwards stated that it was intention to return to Sri Lanka immediately.

Stolen loot used to buy luxury properties!

Edwards is said to have invested most of that stolen money in Sri Lanka, buying expensive properties in and around Colombo 07, including the old Central Hospital land at Horton place, bought under his wife’s name.

He also bought into the Nuwara Eliya "Royal Turf Club" and has a stake in a stud farm in Hyderabad, India.

LRL has firmly in place a 99 year leasehold right to a 7 acre property in the Palatupana development area in Yala. The project development work was delayed due to a prior court order and the terror attacks that took place in April 2019.

LRL was and is in place with all resources required to develop the site on a tight timeline, it was reported.  

However, it is widely known that the SLTDA Chairperson, Kimarli Fernando has tried stalling the development process. It is also reported that government funds may have been used by filing a declaration of cancellation on the aforesaid lease.

Furthermore, it is reported that Kimarli Fernando is protecting her husband’s (Malik Fernando and family – Dilmah Tea) business operation, Wild Coast Tented Lodge (owned by Wild Coast Lodge (Pvt) Ltd) which coincidentally is on the immediate neighboring site, right next to LRL’s property.

Malik Fernando (Kimarli Fernando’s husband) is a director and shareholder of Wild Coast Lodge (Pvt) Ltd which in turn owns the Wild Coast Tented Lodge. There is a clear and apparent conflict of interest between the Chairperson of the SLTDA Ms. Kimarli Fernando, and this development project by LRL, due to the above.

When development is required in Sri Lanka at a time when our borders remain closed, it is sad to note the behaviour that state officials are engaging in by proactively seeking to stall development projects merely to protect their family business interests.