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According to 34 investigations carried out by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID), the government has incurred a loss of Rs. 15,000 million, the Voice Against Corruption Movement stated.

Convener of the Voice Against Corruption Movement and former Parliamentarian Vasanatha Samarasinghe said that the country had incurred a loss of Rs. 11,000 million due to the Avant-Garde deal alone, one of most controversial cases in the country.

Samarasinghe stressed that they are ready to take legal action if there is a delay in recovering the loss incurred to the government.

He further said that they will ask for details of the 34 investigations under the Right to Information Act.

The incumbent President of the Sri Lanka Bar Association (BASL), President’s Counsel U.R. De Silva was re-elected as the President of the Association.

He was re-elected as the President unanimously for the years 2018/2019.

De Silva has previously served as the BASL Treasurer in 2001 and as Secretary in 2008.

As the chairman of the Standing Committee of Law Week of the Bar Association for several years and as the Commissioner of the Legal Aid Commission he had organized Law Awareness Programs and free Legal Aid Clinics with members of the Bar for the needy people in the country.

The President of the Republic of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis and Mrs. Iveta Vējonis are visiting Sri Lanka on a private visit from 6-16 January 2018, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed.

 The Latvian President was received on arrival by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Vasantha Senanayake.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that if the 19th Amendment to the Constitution does not apply to the Presidential Elections held on January 8, 2015, there is no impediment for him to contest again at the next Presidential elections.

Rajapaksa made these remarks while responding to a query sent by President Sirisena to the Supreme Court to clarify whether there was any impediment to continue in the office of the President for a period of 6 years.

If the Supreme Court decides that the elected President can stay in office for a term of six years, both he and former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga could contest at the next Presidential election.

Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera said that one of the main proposals made in the budget to create entrepreneurs would be launched in March. He further said that those who obtain credit facilities would be given interest subsidy up to 75% .of the effective interest rate.

The government expects to disburse Rs 60,000 million through state and private banks to would-be entrepreneurs and another Rs 5000 million has been set aside by the Treasury to reimburse the interest subsidy to the banks.

Under this scheme, 15 different loan schemes have been proposed for young entrepreneurs in the fields of Agro, fishery industries and for small and medium enterprises. This scheme includes journalists and those who are self-employed as well

In addition to young entrepreneurs, women and differently abled persons will also be provided special opportunity to take part in this program. Women and differently abled persons who come forward to take part in this programme will be offered additional interests subsidy of 10% and 15 percent more respectively.

Minister of Finance and Mass Media, Mangala Samaraweera held a discussion yesterday with the Heads and the Chief Executives officers of the state and Private Banks at the Treasury. State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne and the ministry higher officials also participated in this discussion

The Minister has also called on all the banks to extend their fullest support to implement this programme of the Government, to create new jobs through the expansion of Economy while aiming to expand the exports

 The heads of state and the private banks assured the minster of their continuous support to this project to realize the government's objectives of creating one million new jobs, increase the per capita income and the expansion of exports through enterprise Sri Lanka program which is proposed to commence in March.

State Minister of Irrigation Palitha Range Bandara said that the government plans to construct a high-speed railway line from Colombo to Vanathavilluva. The Minister made these remarks at a public rally held in Vanathavilluva, yesterday (10).

A feasibility study to ascertain the construction costs will be carried out this year. The proposal for a high-speed railway line was made to further strengthen and expand the transportation system.

Parallel to the construction of this railway line, another rail line from Norochcholai to Mahawewa and Anamaduwa will also be constructed.

The Minister said that the long term objective of this project is to construct a high-speed railway line connecting Colombo, Puttalam, Anamaduwa and Mahawa via Triancomalee.

Russian Embassy in Colombo is said to have come under attack during the afternoon today with unidentified suspects hurling stones at the diplomatic office.

However, while expressing their concerns regarding the incident reliable sources close the Russian Embassy in Colombo said that this could be a scheme by the Russian Embassy itself to acquire the land adjacent to the embassy from which the stones appeared to have been thrown from.

While the embassy is said to have kicked up a huge fuss, they have made no official complaint regarding the incident to the police yet.

JO MP Gamini Lokuge is said to have sought treatment from a private hospital after being attacked by UNP MP S.M Marikkar during the brawl that erupted at Parliament today. The Parliament gathered for a special parliament sitting to discuss the Bond report which was handed over to the President recently.

The MP’s clashed today when a special statement was being made by Premier Ranil Wickramasinghe.

Despite requests made by party leaders from President Sirisena to present the Bond commission report and other reports regarding 34 other possibly corrupt financial irregularities during the Rajapaksa regime however these reports were not sent to parliament today.

To be presented on the 17th

However, Secretary to the President is said to have informed the Speaker that the reports will be presented to the parliament on January 17 according to advice by the Attorney General.

The move to not present the reports drew serious criticism from the Joint Opposition, the Tamil National Alliance and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. The situation grew tense when the PM was given the opportunity to make a special statement in parliament as well today.

 Brawl inside the parliament

 MP’s of the JO voiced their dissent against the PM by showing placards and acting in a disorderly manner. The fight erupted between the two parties when UNP MP’s attempted to respond to the protestors.

While the PM continued with the speech insults and profanities were exchanged between the MP’s as both parties accused each other of being ‘Thieves’. A full-scale brawl erupted when a JO MP threw a book at Wickramasinghe who was still making the speech at the time.

MP Kavinga Jayawardena was taken away from the house by UNP MP’s as he lost consciousness during the tussle between the parliamentarians.

JO and JVP boycott

The Speaker halting proceedings of the house called for a party leaders meeting after the PM’s speech was disturbed continuously. However the JO and JVP decided to boycott the meeting in protest.

As the parliament gathered the PM was allowed to continue with the speech as a result of the meeting. However while some MP’s of the opposition continued to protest, members of the JO were seen leaving the house.

PM in his speech explained steps taken by the government regarding the bond scam

The PM explained the steps taken by the government from March 2015 to investigate the bond issue he said the government continuously took necessary action and reported details on the issue to the Parliament, COPE committee, Attorney General Department.

“All that remains now is to recover the loss from the wrong doers” the PM said.

Will punish wrongdoers

The PM stressed that any wrong doers will be punished after investigations are carried in to other bond auctions held between 2008 - 2014 as recommended by the President.

He also said former President and the then Minister of Finance Mahinda Rajapaksa should make a statement regarding this to parliament.

Parliament was rescheduled to January 23 by the Speaker at the end of the day.

Law and Order and Southern Development Minister Sagala Ratnayaka said the Police would launch a pilot project in February to send traffic tickets to personal addresses of traffic rule violators.

The Minister, addressing the officers of the Police traffic unit today (11), said the new technology would be introduced to assist the Traffic police officers in their day to day work.

"We all know how they run into difficulties while doing their day to day work. Some even abuse police officers verbally when they try to take action on traffic rule violators. Their videos go viral on social media. All this can be avoided if we use modern technology for the benefit of traffic Police officers who perform their duties despite many hardships," the Minister explained.

The Minister added that a traffic ticket will also come with a photograph of the traffic rule violation as evidence and an explanation of the offence. "If the vehicle owner thinks he is not guilty, he can present his argument in courts," Ratnayaka said.

"I also instructed the IGP to take necessary measures to pay an allowance to traffic police officers working under difficult conditions. A portion of the money we collect from fines can be allocated for this. I will present a Cabinet paper seeking approval in this regard," the Minister said.

The event was organised to give a basic first-aid training to traffic police officers. It was held with the support of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society.

The Minister said first-aid training to Police officers would help reduce the number of deaths caused by road accidents, on a daily basis.

"Some deaths occur as those who take the victims of road accidents to hospitals use wrong methods. This happens mainly due to unawareness. That is why decided to give a basic first-aid training to Police officers. Tuk Tuk drivers too will be soon given a similar training," Ratnayaka added.

Political parties are pitting female candidates in losing battles says Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, executive director of Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE). According to him, political parties have placed their female candidates for the local government election for electorates where there is a powerful, often male, candidate contesting from another political party.

He made this statement during a program to train female candidates for the coming local government election at Madurankuliya, Puttalam.

“Female candidates must contest in at least 10% of the wards in a particular electorate and political parties often pit their female candidates against very strong male candidates. In most cases women candidates are competing against former chairmen of a local council or an extremely popular figure,” he said.

CaFFE has noted that political parties have given up attempting to win the seats in which their female candidates are competing and that this might adversely affect their ability to win a majority in an electorate.

“This might lead to many unstable electorates and you will see people complaining that this is the fault of the Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP), which is not the case at all,” he said.

CaFFE executive director added that the decision taken by political parties to put their female candidates against very strong male candidates will also strengthen the perception that women can’t successfully contest against male candidates.

“One of the main reasons why we campaigned for this new electoral system is because we wanted women to contest elections and win. We didn’t want women to just get through affirmative action. By putting a female candidate against a former chairman of a local council and not giving her the necessary support to carry out a strong campaign, political parties are ensuring that misogynistic attitudes are reinforced,” he said.

Colombo High Court today served Indictments to NFF leader and Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa over the case filed by Bribery Commission for allegedly earning around Rs 75 million by unknown means other than his lawful earnings.

He was granted two sureties of Rs. 500,000 and the case has been fixed for January 19.

The Bribery Commission filed indictments in the Colombo High Court against Weerawansa in November last year.

The Commission had indicted Weerawansa on 26 charges for earning Rs 75 million from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2014 by unlawful and illegal means.

 Source : Daily Mirror

The Sri Lankan government announced today that the prohibition placed on women to purchase alcohol has been removed. Excise Notification No. 666 of the Gazette Extraordinary had imposed a ban on the sale of liquor to women and employing women in places where liquor is manufactured or sold.

Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera put an end to this draconian legislation by signing the Excise notification Gazette Extraordinary in this regard.

According to the Excise Act, Section 11.2, it is prohibited for a tavern to sell alcohol to personnel in uniform, minors and people who are under the influence of alcohol.