News

Sri Lanka's cricket board has invited retired judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Justice Rohini Marasinghe to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations of match fixing against Panadura CC and Kalutara PCC.
 
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the retired judge Marasinghe will evaluate the reports of the inquiries conducted by the SLC appointed Panel of Inquiry led by Asela Rekawa Attorney-at-Law and that of the Ministry of Sports conducted Palitha Kumarasinghe PC.
 
She will also conduct her own inquiry and pronounce a final judgment as well as recommendations for punitive action against those found guilty.
 
Justice Rohini Marasinghe was a sitting judge on the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and has served as a judge of the Court of Appeal and also the Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

Source : Colombo Page

Many HNB customers of the Northern Province Hatton National Bank are preparing to protest against HNB for interdicting two employees who had participated in the Mulliwaikkal Memorial in memory of those who were killed during the war nine years ago, it is reported.

The Assistant Manager of the HNB Killinochchi Branch and another newly recruited employee had been interdicted for having organised a commemoration ceremony within the KIllinochchi HNB branch premises and lighting lamps in memory of the dead.

The bank administration had justified their decision claiming that it was one that was taken on behalf of the ‘Pride of Sri Lankans’.

Issuing a statement regarding the matter, HNB noted that, "HNB takes very seriously any sentiment or act that is in violation of, or poses a threat to the morale of citizens of Sri Lanka. As a Bank that stands for all Sri Lankans, our goals, interests and initiatives are all aligned to the vision and greater good of our Country."

"We regret an unauthorized incident that took place recently in one of our branches, which does not reflect the values of the Bank. The matter has been investigated and necessary action taken," the statement further stated.
 
''A company that disregards human emotions''

The people of the North who were enraged by the action taken against two of their employees who had commemorated the thousands killed during the destructive war, had written many letters seeking the suspension of their bank accounts with the bank, Radio Gagana reported.
One letter written to the Jaffna HNB Manager noted, “I have no desire to conduct transactions with a bank that does not respect human emotions”.

Northern Provincial Council member M.K. Sivajilingam said that this boycott will affect other HNB branches as well and not only the North.
"HNB takes very seriously any sentiment or act that is in violation of, or poses a threat to the morale of citizens of Sri Lanka. As a Bank that stands for all Sri Lankans, our goals, interests and initiatives are all aligned to the vision and greater good of our Country."
 
"We regret an unauthorized incident that took place recently in one of our branches, which does not reflect the values of the Bank. The matter has been investigated and necessary action taken." He said, “When the whole North is mourning the loss of their loved ones, it is not ethical for the bank to take such revengeful action.”

He pointed out that even the prominent Ministers within the government have accepted the Tamil people’s right to commemorate the loss of their loved ones at the Mulliwaikkal ceremony.
 
Pressure to immediately reinstate the two interdicted employees:

The Killinochchi Citizens Club noted that the action taken by HNB to interdict two of their employees for holding a commemoration ceremony to mourn the Tamils killed during the war, has violated the trust placed in the bank by the Tamil people. Therefore, they demanded that  the two interdicted employees be reinstated immediately.

“Perhaps relatives of some of the bank employees could also have been killed during the unfortunate incident on May 18,” the Secretary of the Killinochchi Citizens Club Aingararasa Jeewanayagam told Radio Gagana.

“The state and private institutions in the entire North and East shared their grief with the Tamil people without any discrimination. But this interdiction by HNB is a very insensitive act.”

The Head of the Jaffna University Law Faculty Kumaravadivel Gurubaran, condemning the interdiction said it was an act of “Racism of the Sinhala Buddhist businesses”.

HNB was adjudged the best bank of the year in 2017 by ‘The Banker’ magazine, while its current Chairmanship is held by President's Counsel (PC) Rienzi Arsakularatne.

Father of Sri Lankan cricketer Danajaya Silva and Dehiwala - Mount Lavinia municipal councillor, Ranjan Silva was killed in a shooting last night. He had contested the recent election under the Pohottuwa symbol representing the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

The incident had taken place around 8.30 pm last night in the Gnanendra Road, Ratmalana. According to Police, three people were injured in the incident while one victim, was declared dead after being admitted to the Kalubowila Hospital. Mount Lavinia Police are conducting further investigations according to Police Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara.

Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit has revealed how criminals fixed two Test matches - the highest level of international cricket - and were planning to fix a third.

The two fixed matches were Sri Lanka versus India in July last year and Sri Lanka versus Australia in August 2016. Both matches were played at Galle International Stadium in Sri Lanka.

In secretly filmed meetings, the match-fixers also said that they were planning to fix England's game against Sri Lanka, also at Galle, in November this year.

The world cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), has launched an investigation into Al Jazeera's findings.

Robin Morris, a match-fixer from Mumbai, told undercover reporters that he bribed the groundsman at Galle to doctor the pitch to ensure guaranteed outcomes. The match-fixers then made large sums of money from betting.

In Al Jazeera's documentary, Cricket's Match-Fixers, the groundsman, Tharanga Indika, assistant manager at the Galle stadium, says he can make pitches to favour either bowlers or batsmen.

"If you want a pitch for spin bowling or pace bowling or batting, it can be done."

At a meeting in a hotel in Galle, Morris gestures towards Indika, and says: "What happens is he, we, can make a pitch to do whatever we want it do to."

"Because he's the main curator. He is the assistant manager and curator of the Galle stadium."

For the Australia match, Indika says he made a pitch for bowlers. "In that five-day match, we prepared the wicket poorly without using a roller. In that way, we made a spinning wicket."

The "bowling pitch" ensured that the game would not last for the full five days and so the game would not end in a draw.

Batsmen were out quickly and the match was over in less than two and a half days. A Test match can last for up to five days. Knowing that batsmen would struggle, the match-fixers made money by betting that the game would not end in a draw.

A Test match can end in a draw only if no side has won when the teams have played for the full five days 

Concerns were raised about the condition of the pitch at the time but the International Cricket Council, which had an inspector at the match, took no action.

Indika told our undercover team that for the India match at Galle he made a pitch for batsmen. "India was set for a batting wicket."

"We pressed the wicket thoroughly with a roller and then, we put water on it to make it even harder," he says in the documentary. The batting pitch ensured a high score in the first innings so the criminals could bet on a first innings total higher than the bookmakers' prediction.

In the event, India scored a massive 600 runs in their first innings and the match-fixers made a large profit. Morris, a former professional cricketer, offers an undercover reporter a deal for future fixes.

"I have the information. I will give it to you. And you can bet good money, big time." The match-fixer says he wants no money up front but wants 30 percent of the reporter's winnings. 

At the meeting in Galle, the reporter asks the match-fixer when the next pitch-fix will be carried out at the stadium. Morris replies: "England v Sri Lanka." England are due to play Sri Lanka at Galle in November 2018.

The reporter asks Indika if he could ensure that the match would be over within four days.

Indika replies, laughing: "I can do it in two and a half!"

Morris denies any wrongdoing and says Al Jazeera had invited him to audition for a role in a movie "for public entertainment only".

Indika denies any involvement in pitch-fixing and says any conversations he had with Al Jazeera journalists was just to be courteous to foreign tourists. There is no suggestion that any of the players involved in these Test matches had any knowledge of the pitch-fixing.

The ICC said it "will take the contents of the programme and any allegations it may make very seriously". It said it was "working with anti-corruption colleagues from member countries based on the limited information we have received".

The ICC declined to comment on why it had not taken action when initial concerns were raised about the Galle pitch for the Australia match in 2016.

Source : Al Jazeera

Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara Thero has been found guilty in the case filed against him for threatening Sandya Eknaligoda, the wife of missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, within the Homagama court premises. 

The verdict in the case was delivered today (24) by Homagama Magistrate Udesh Ranatunga. The sentence is set to be delivered on June 14. 

Gnanasara Thero had verbally abused and threatened Sandya Eknaligoda at the Homagama Court on January 25, 2016 while Homagama Police filed a case against the Thero charging him with criminal harassment and criminal intimidation under the penal code.

The wife of Australian businessman Brian Shaddick, the third witness in the alleged financial fraud case filed against the two accused, including Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader MP Udaya Gammanpila on Friday informed the Colombo High Court that she had never put her signature executing a Power of Attorney to Gammanpila, for the selling of shares belonging to the Digital Nominees Company.

Witness Janet Elizabeth Shaddick, (69), was present before Colombo High Court A.A.R. Heiyanthuduwa in connection with an indictment filed against MP Udaya Gammanpila and Sydney Jayasinghe for allegedly misappropriating Rs.21 million following their alleged fraudulent share transaction that took place in 2000. In reply to a question raised by Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris regarding a power of attorney, the witness said her signature had been allegedly used.

“I was shocked to see this document because there are a number of forged things. Whoever put the signature was not known to me. It looks like this Power of Attorney was given by us for Gammanpila’s benefit. It is a silly act. I have not given such authority to Gammanpila,’ Shaddick said.

Meanwhile, after perusing the document in question, the witness said the handwriting in the document that looks like it was written by Gammanpila. When asked as to how she came to such a conclusion, the witness said she was familiar with Gammanpila’s handwriting since he had earlier sent a fax message with his handwriting.

‘Sydney Jayasinghe and Gammanpila were employees of our company. I was enthusiastic to learn about Buddhism. I wanted to ask Sydney Jayasinghe about the wife of The Buddha. He said he was a Christian and asked that this question be referred to Gammanpila.

“Udaya Gammanpila was an office boy of our company. He was employed under the recommendation of Sydney Jayasinghe. Gammanpila had sent me a fax message in his handwriting regarding the wife of The Buddha. So, I can recognize his handwriting which were written in block capital letters,” the witness said.

Meanwhile, the witness further said she was informed by his husband that Udaya Gammanpila and another person named Jagath had told him that there is a conspiracy to assassinate him by the youngest son of Sydney Jayasinghe. Thereafter, he did not come back to Sri Lanka until 2015,” the witness further added.

The witness was cross examined by Defence Counsel Nalinda Indatissa.

The Attorney General (AG) alleged that MP Udaya Gammanpila has cheated Rs.20 million and misappropriated another Rs. 21 million along with Sydney Jayasinghe, the second accused when selling shares of Digital Nominees to a businessman called Dhammika Perera.

The AG further charged that the alleged business transaction had taken place using a fraudulent Power of Attorney to sell shares belonging to Australian businessman Brian Shadick.

The AG has listed 20 persons as the witnesses in the case and named 16 documents as production items of the case. MP Gammanpila was arrested in this regard on June 18, 2016.

Source : Daily News

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that he expects to reduce the Value Added Tax by 2.5% by the year 2020. As the entire population is burdened with heavy indirect taxes, steps would be taken to reduce the VAT to 12.5% from the current amount of 15%.

Samaraweera made these remarks at an event held at the Ministry of Finance to hand over letters of appointment to 68 newly recruited Assistant Superintendents of Customs. Speaking at the event, he emphasized that the new appointees were selected purely on merit and that there was no political intervention unlike in the past. According to the Customs Department, over 10,000 applicants had sat for the competitive exam with 227 passing.  68 were then selected after an extensive interview process.

The Minister noted that the government’s tax revenue base has been on a growing trend as the public are coming to terms with their responsibilities. Referring to the new Inland Revenue Act, he said that during the first month after the act was implemented, around 46,000 new tax files were opened.  He added that the Customs and the Inland Revenue Departments are the two main agencies that bring revenue to the government. 

"The Customs Ordinance we have is over 200 years old, introduced during the reign of Queen Victoria and therefore, a new Customs Act would be brought to Parliament before the next budget", he said. 

“It is the poor people who mostly pay taxes to the government by way of indirect taxes. We should relieve them of this burden. Therefore, I expect to reduce VAT by 2.5% in the year 2020”, The Minister declared.

We are still a divided nation

Minister Samaraweera went to say that even after 70 years of Independence, the country could not achieve peace as the people were still quarreling on the basis of race, religion and party politics. 

"After the 30 years of conflict, certain forces were trying to create an authoritarian rule under the guise of war. Fortunately, the revolutionary forces managed to change the destiny of the country in 2015. Since then, Sri Lanka has been revived under the three pillars of democracy, reconciliation and development".

Inherited a debt-ridden economy

While underscoring the importance of actively contributing to the economy by way of revenue collection, Minister Samaraweera said that this government inherited a debt-ridden country in 2015. However, the government has been able to manage the national debt stock and debt servicing by increasing the national revenue. 

"After independence in 1948, the highest amount of debt servicing has to be paid in 2018. The total foreign debt to be paid this year is USD 2,845 million of which USD 1,789 million has to be paid for government borrowings done before the year 2015. Only an installment of USD 1,056 needs to be paid for foreign loans borrowed after 2015.  Accordingly, 63% of debt installments to be paid this year are repayments of debts that had been borrowed during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure as the Minister of Finance. It was at the level of 75% in 2017", he added.
According to the Minister, this situation would further worsen next year as USD 4,285 million have to be paid in 2019 of which USD 3,315 or 77% of the repayments are for debts obtained during the Rajapaksa regime.

Public debate on debt stock still in the balance

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday (22), Samaraweera challenged former Finance Minister and current Parliamentarian Mahinda Rajapaksa for a public debate on national debt stock and debt servicing. Even though Rajapaksa has not yet responded to the challenge, his son Namal was quick to offer a meek response by asking the Minister to focus on the current deluge instead of public debates.

Hundreds of Army troops across the flood-affected districts of Kegalle, Kalutara, Polonnaruwa, Kandy, Galle, Ratnapura, Gampaha, Puttalam, Matara, Kurunegala, Badulla, Colombo and elsewhere continue their rescue and relief operations in close coordination with Disaster Management Centre, District and Divisional Secretariats.19 members of the 9 Gemunu Watch troops of the 582 Brigade under the 58 Division on information that a feeble old woman living near a landslide prone house in the general hilly area of Yatagampitiya in Bulatsinhala, rushed there braving knee deep flood waters and rescued her before she was brought down to the safe area on a wheelchair to be sheltered in the Yatagampitiya Primary School on Friday (25). 

Troops of the same Brigade assisted Bulatsinhala Divisional Secretariat Office to pack up dry ration stocks, made available by Cargills (Pvt) Ltd for free distribution around 7.00 pm on Thursday (24).

On the directions of the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, all Security Force Headquarters, Divisions and Brigades across the island began to rush troops to island-wide vulnerable areas to provide relief and engage in rescue operations, if necessary in the wake of worsening weather conditions due to heavy rains that commenced around 20 May 2018 while mobilizing another group of soldiers to be alert to the worsening weather conditions.

Similarly, 1200 troops belonging to 24 regiments of the Army were meanwhile kept on standby to meet with any eventualities as rainy weather began to worsen in the past couple of hours.

Troops while attending to the priorities supported distribution of cooked meals, evacuation of victims from locations under water, stacking of sand bags to avoid bank splitting, immediate repair works, etc in worst-affected areas as situations warranted.

Source : Army Media

Interpol had officially informed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Arjun Mahendran, was indeed in Singapore. 

Arjun Mahendran's whereabouts were confirmed when the Attorney General's Department informed the Fort Magistrate's court today (24).
The former Governor had been absconding the court in connection to the case pertaining the treasury bond scam.

With torrential rains showing no signs of slowing down, most parts of the island are still being battered by heavy rains. Widespread floods experienced during the past few days have greatly affected the day to day lives of the people in almost two thirds of the country.

The onset of the Southwest monsoon has seen an unprecedented record of rainfall in the country. Floods, landslides, heavy winds and lightning related incidents have so far claimed 13 lives.

The government has mobilized the tri forces in strength to carry out rescue and relief operations. As of today, more than 820 tri forces troops have been mobilized for flood related relief operations in Gampaha, Colombo, Matara, Kalutara, Kegalle, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Galle, and Kurunegala areas. In addition 63 boats, armoured carriers, busses and trucks of the Army and Navy have also been put to use for this purpose.

7300 troops of the Sri Lanka Army, Navy and Air Force are on standby to be deployed in areas that are vulnerable, the Ministry of Defence said.

UPFA Puttalam District MP Sanath Nishantha Perera and his brother former Arachchikattuwa Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Jagath Samantha Perera have been further remanded until June 07.

Due to the hospitalization of Chilaw High Court Judge Sanjeewa Morayas, the case was taken up before High Court Registrar Ajith Jayasundara today (24). 

The Puttalam District MP and his brother are charged over the assault of the Arachchikattuwa Divisional Secretary and the case is being heard at the Chilaw High Court. 

Upon being granted bail in the case, a condition was set ordering the duo to appear before the Chilaw Police on every Sunday and place their signature. 

However, they have been accused of failing to appear at the police station since August 2017 and thereby violated their bail conditions. 

Source : Ada Derana