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The UNP claims Maithripala Sirisena was handed a double-edged sword when he was appointed as the country’s President on January 8, 2015.

According to UNP MP Thushara Indunil, this sword was handed to Sirisena to destroy all corrupted individuals. However, as of today one side of the sword has become blunt he said requesting that the President use the figurative sword to strike down crooks.

The MP made these comments while addressing a public gathering held aiming at the upcoming local government polls.

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Fraud and Corruption Commission Report Hidden Away!

The MP accused the President of hiding away the reports submitted by the fraud and corruption commission.

While the report by the Serious Fraud and Corruption Commission has also been handed over to the President that particular report has not been publicized as yet with authorities remaining silent in this regard.The Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the fraud and corruption was chaired by Court of Appeal Judge Padman Surasena and consisted of five judges.According to inquiries carried out by this commission, it has been recommended that the civic rights of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa be abolished under one charge.Investigations reports on 17 complaints handed over to President

After the commission was established, more than 2000 complaints were received, of which 400 were investigated.

Investigations have been completed regarding 17 of the complaints which have now been sent to the President.

The commision is said to have looked into various frauds committed including the Avante Garde transaction, the fraud at the Hambantota port opening ceremony, irregularities that took place at Sri Lanka Airline as well as the Irrigation and Water Supply Projects of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board.

Accordingly, the President’s office has instructed the Police Financial Crimes Division (FCID), Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption to investigate 120 complaints received.

These instructions were issued as the relevant institutions have already commenced investigations into these complaints.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General's Department has received six reports into the large-scale frauds committed to commence legal proceedings in this regard.

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya has told the media that the charges will be framed in the near future.

India has introduced over 40 training courses for Sri Lankan government officials to give them an understanding of India's approach towards governance, the Indian High Commission reported.

The 45-day-long courses with full funding from Indiawill commencen from January 15, the Indian High Commission here said in a statement.

The courses would work under the Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme of the Ministry of External Affairs, the statement said.

The training courses aim to give Sri Lankan government officials an understanding of India's approach towards governance and rural and urban development.

The streams include Leadership and Skill Development, International Trade, Management, Accounting, Water resources, Entrepreneurship, Renewable Energy, Governance, Medicine, IT, English Language, Agriculture, Rural Development and Tourism. (PTI)

Hitting out strongly at former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his allies, Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka said Rajapaksa was a man who had no qualms about betraying the country to serve his family.

The Minister said his sole intention behind betraying the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and forming the flower-bud party was to find a way to bring his son, Namal Rajapaksa, to power.

"Such a man will not be reluctant to betray the country for his own benefit," Ratnayaka said, addressing a meeting in Morawaka, on Sunday (31).

The Minister added that President Maithripala Sirisena was elected the President democratically and became the Chairman of the SLFP. "Then the President took measures to rebuild the party. That was when Rajapaksa decided to divide the SLFP camp. The flower-bud party was formed not for an election, but to ensure a future for the former President's son. It will never bloom."

"Even the ones who genuinely respected Rajapaksa for the military triumph over the LTTE now find it hard to vote for the flower-bud party. They have now joined us and work for the UNP's victory," Ratnayaka said.

He said under the Rajapaksa administration, two roads were built in the Morawaka area - one for the public and one for a private property belonging to the brother in law of the former President.

"The road built for the public was washed away after a couple of rains. But the road built for the former President's brother in law remained intact. It shows the reality of their so-called development," the Minister explained, adding that the road constructed for the public was a mere eyewash aimed at hoodwinking the people before the election.

"Laying concrete or carpet on village roads is not the sole objective of development. We should empower the public - especially the less-privileged sections of the society and bridge the income gaps. That's what our government is working on," Ratnayaka added.

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya stated that plans are afoot to appoint a team of experts tasked with expediting the trial process in courts that have been held back over the years due to various reasons.

The AG noted that they have identified a team of 30 lawyers who will be tasked with expediting the hearings of these overdue legal cases.

The leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and chief organizer of the opposition Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has stressed that the information contained in the Presidential Commission to Investigate into the Bond issue should be disclosed to the people immediately.

If the information is not disclosed the party will request for the information through the Right to Information Act on Tuesday (02) he said.

Dissanayake said that 17 reports have been submitted through the Presidential Commissions to Investigate Financial Crimes, but none of them has been disclosed to the public. “This should not happen with the report on the bond issue,” he said.

According to Dissanayake, the public has the right to know the contents of the report regarding the controversial issue.Serious Fraud and Corruptions Commission

While the report by the Serious Fraud and Corruption Commission has also been handed over to the President that particular report has not been publicized as yet with authorities remaining silent in this regard.The Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the fraud and corruption was chaired by Court of Appeal Judge Padman Surasena and consisted of five judges.According to inquiries carried out by this commission, it has been recommended that the civic rights of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa be abolished under one charge.Investigations reports on 17 complaints handed over to President

After the commission was established, more than 2000 complaints were received, of which 400 were investigated.

Investigations have been completed regarding 17 of the complaints which have now been sent to the President.

The commision is said to have looked into various frauds committed including the Avante Garde transaction, the fraud at the Hambantota port opening ceremony, irregularities that took place at Sri Lanka Airline as well as the Irrigation and Water Supply Projects of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board.

Accordingly, the President’s office has instructed the Police Financial Crimes Division (FCID), Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption to investigate 120 complaints received.

These instructions were issued as the relevant institutions have already commenced investigations into these complaints.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General's Department has received six reports into the large-scale frauds committed to commence legal proceedings in this regard.

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya has told the media that the charges will be framed in the near future.

The expiration of US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for Sri Lanka and 119 other countries, with effect from today, will not have any negative impact as every country will need to pay the same duty and be placed on a level playing field, Deputy Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, Dr. Harsha de Silva said.

The US GSP program has been renewed by US Congress as a normal practice and it applies to all 120 countries.

“So we are not singled out and there is no disadvantage at all. All the countries will be on the same level of competition like just now. In any case, only US$173m of $2.8 billion of exports to US last year had US GSP. Apparels only $27m,” the Deputy Minister asserted.

According to a research by the Institute of Policy Studies, although nearly three-quarters of Sri Lanka’s exports to the United States are concentrated on apparel and articles, only about 0.2% of the current apparel exports are eligible to receive GSP concessions. Exporters of rubber, the second largest export product to US, will have only about a quarter of their exports covered under GSP concessions.

Meanwhile, analysts pointed out that when the US GSP scheme was authorised for renewal in 2015 by the former United States President Barack Obama, he had only signed the ‘Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015’ on June 29, 2015 almost two years after it expired in 2013. Thereafter, the preferential duty-free tariffs to the US market for selected products were applied retroactively for the years that were missed out.

The scheme, instituted in 1974 and renewed periodically is designed to promote trade in developing countries. The full list of GSP-Eligible Beneficiaries (as of March 2017) is found on this link

Rs. 55 Million out of the Rs. 60 Million allocated for the self-employed youth under the ‘Pibidemu Polonnaruwa’ development project has been returned to the Treasury. Making this revelation President Maithripala said only Rs. 5 Million of the allocated funds had been spent in 2017.

The President was addressing a gathering in Siripura, Polonnaruwa when he made this statement yesterday (31).

According to him, the funds were returned as institutions comprising of public representatives were not present in the villages. Following the upcoming local government polls, the President promised to establish a special force to ensure development in the villages.

Presidential Secretariat officials will study the report of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to probe the Central Bank Treasury bond issue before deciding on what course of action to take. A senior Presidential Secretariat official said the report was a comprehensive one and they would need some time to study it. The report was handed over to President Sirisena by the Commission’s Chairman, Supreme Court Judge K. T Chitrasiri, last afternoon.

“It’s a complete report with all the recorded evidence, annexures and recommendations,” he said. The report, numbering 1,400 pages, includes around 100 annexures. The evidence of 70 witnesses who appeared before the Commission, too, is included.

The handing over of the Report brings to an end the work of the three-member Presidential Commission of |Inquiry (COI) appointed in January to inquire into the issuance of Central Bank Treasury Bonds from February 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016.

The other members of the commission were Supreme Court Judge Prasanna Sujeewa Jayawardena and former Deputy Auditor General Veluppillai Kandasamy.

Source: The Sunday Times

The agreement regarding media guidelines to presented to Parliament and gazetted by the Elections Commission on December 4, 2017, to ensure a fair and independent election will be signed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees tomorrow (02).

 These guidelines approved by the Cabinet would become law once they are approved by Parliament and it would be the duty and responsibility of all sectors of the media to abide by these media guidelines, the Prime Minister’s office said in a press release.

This will guarantee just and fair use of mass media which is one important aspect of conducting all future elections in a fair and independent manner. This could be considered as another victory of ‘Yahapalanaya’, the release further added.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is said to have asked the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) to be the managing agent for the financial arms of the EAP Group–Edirisinghe Trust Investments (ETI) and Swarnamahal Financial Services PLC.

Public Enterprise Development Minister Kabir Hashim had met the BOC board this week as part of negotiations for a possible management deal, authoritative sources said. Should the BoC be made managing agents, there would be more discussions in the coming weeks on terms and conditions, they said.

The businesses of EAP Holdings–including its broadcast and media arms–are up for sale but it is understood that the CBSL is keen to strike a management arrangement for the finance companies of the group. A due diligence has already been done by auditors and studied by the BOC.

ETI, established 40 years ago, offers services in the areas of fixed deposits, gold loans, leasing, hire purchase, personal loans, business loans and mortgage loans. It has 46 branches around the country.

Swarnamahal Financial Services is a listed company licensed by the CBSL. It has 11 branches and six pawning centres.

EAP deal broker detained at BIA

Meanwhile, a Malaysian businessman negotiating on behalf of a Singaporean company to buy EAP Group businesses was detained with three others at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) last month while attempting to smuggle out foreign currency.

Dollar notes amounting to US$ 50,000 were found in the hand baggage of Jaya Sudhir Jayaram. Two others–one of them was his son–also had US$ 50,000 each in their possession while the fourth carried US$ 58,000. This is a total of US$ 208,000 or Rs 31.8 million.

The detection took place on November 10. Two suspects were stopped around 7 am at boarding gate 14 by Airport and Aviation of Sri Lanka (AASL) security when the money showed up on the x-ray machine near the departure lounge. Both were Malaysian nationals scheduled to leave on UL314 to Kuala Lumpur. An inspection led to the discovery of a total of US$ 100,000.

.Upon questioning, Mr Jayaram (who said he was involved in a power project in Vavuniya) had claimed the money was the proceeds of a win at a popular casino in Colombo. However, he could not offer documentary evidence for this claim.

Due to substantial political pressure, Mr Jayaram was released without penalty, reliable BIA sources said. He left the country (for Kuala Lumpur) shortly after his detention–before an inquiry could be conducted–after handing over the US$ 50,000 that had been in his possession to one of the other suspects. He has given a guarantee that he will return for an inquiry when it is scheduled.

The inquiry into non-declaration of currency by two other suspects (who were detained at the gate) was held on the same day. They were fined Rs 200,000 each and released. The undeclared currency was forfeited. The inquiry into the actions of the fourth suspect was postponed till November 23. All three left for Kuala Lumpur in the night of the same day. Mr Jayaram was released in the morning.

Neither Mr Jayaram nor the fourth suspect honoured their word by presenting themselves for the subsequent Customs inquiry, the Sunday Times reliably learns. The proceedings were, therefore, conducted ex-parte. The undeclared currency was forfeited with no penalty imposed.

The Malaysian businessman has been in and out of Sri Lanka over the past few months. Authoritative political sources said he is a facilitator for several business deals–including the Horton Square (Pvt) Ltd, a proposed mixed development project in Horton Place, and power projects. Straits Grid Pte Ltd, the Singaporean company vying to invest in the EAP Group, is also an energy company.

The offence the group was booked on is non-declaration of currency. Under regulations, anyone taking more than US$ 10,000 in any form of foreign currency, including notes, bank drafts or travel cards, must declare it to Sri Lanka Customs. Anyone taking currency notes of more than US$ 5,000 must also declare it.

The EAP Group is in negotiations to sell its businesses to Straits Grid Pte Ltd. The negotiations are being fronted by Mr Jayaram, who is a longstanding business partner of R.M. Manivannan, Chairman of Supreme Global Holdings. He was most recently listed as a director–along with Mr Manivannan–of Horton Square (Pvt) Ltd, a proposed mixed development project in Horton Place. Mr Jayaram’s address entered in the company registration form was in the British Virgin Islands and common to hundreds of other offshore entities from around the world.

Source : The Sunday Times

The President is set to hand over the Bond report to the courts for further legal action, Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Mahinda Amaraweera said.

The Minister made these comments while addressing a gathering of supporters in the Hambantota district.

According to sources, the President had held a discussion regarding the recommendations in the report with the Presidential commision after being handed over the commission report.

The President is said to have later taken the report to his residence in Polonnaruwa while reserving the whole of yesterday (31) to study the report. He is also said to have called the Prime Minister and the Auditor General for a discussion on Tuesday (02) to discuss the next steps to be taken regarding the report.

The Commission was appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to begin an inquiry into the issuance of Bonds that took place during the time period February 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016.

It has now been revealed that all recent deaths in Jaffna had been caused by identified illnesses.

A formal investigation into all deaths reported from Jaffna in the last three months was conducted by a team led by Director of the Epidemiology Unit, Anil Dissanayake. According to this investigation, it has been concluded that all reported deaths were due to identified illnesses.

Accordingly, medical evidence indicates that all these deaths can be clinically confirmed. It has also been confirmed that these deaths have not happened within one family or among close relatives.

The Epidemiology unit of the Ministry of Health says the rumours that the deaths are due to an unidentified reason are false and that is has been proven scientifically.

The unit further added that therefore media reports that deaths of nine persons within one family had occurred due to an evil spirit are untrue.