News

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing fraud and corruption that had taken place after 2015 has assigned a fresh date for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to appear before it following a request made by the Prime Minister.

The Commission had summoned the Prime Minister to appear before it today (12) at 9.30am.

However, the Commission has now asked the Prime Minister to appear before it on the 16th of this month since Wickremesinghe had informed he was unable to attend today’s hearings.

The Prime Minister was asked to appear to give evidence on a complaint regarding the new building taken on rent by the Agriculture Ministry a few years back.

The Agriculture Ministry had to vacate the Battaramulla building in 2015 after the Prime Minister presented a Cabinet proposal to use the building for the activities of 17 Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committees and the Ministry later took on rent a new building paying a monthly rent of Rs 21.5 million.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera slammed the recently unveiled 'Economic Blue Print' of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)Presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa saying it is anything but a plan that setsSri Lanka on a Vipath Maga – a roadto sorrow – returning to the era of debt-fueled crony capitalism.

Samaraweera issuing a statement said that the 82 slides, released on Sunday, pump aspiration and dump implementation and that it has taken the sensible strategy of Vision 2025 and fused it with toxic Rajapaksa kleptocracy.

“A blue print is supposed to be a roadmap for how to achieve an objective. The slide-deck dreams many dreams. But there is precious little that can be actioned. It is, at best, a blue print for building castles in the air; at worst, a blue print for disaster,” the Minister said.

He has also expressed worry over the fact that Rajapaksa has taken the sensible strategy of Vision 2025 and fused it with toxic Rajapaksa kleptocracy.

“In reality, the ‘blue print’ sets Sri Lanka on a Vipath Maga – a road to sorrow – returning to the era of debt-fueled crony capitalism. The fact that one of the sessions was chaired by a person arrested for financial fraud and indicted by the Attorney-General demonstrates the calibre of advisors preparing these documents,” Samaraweera said.

He said the only surprise for him was seeing captains of industry listening avidly to Gotabaya’s speech.

For it was only a few years ago that, in hushed whispers and fitfully looking over their shoulders, many complained discreetly about having to cut deals and grease one of four gilded palms at 5 star to get anything done. Perhaps they think that attending such an event is an act of ‘strategic promiscuity’ – buying insurance should the worst occur,” he said.

The Minister further noted that insurance is no safety net and the sugar high of the post-war years cannot return.

He said that the previous regime borrowed so much during their tenure that Sri Lanka’s credit card is maxed out. The Minister said that any attempt to load further debt, or to destabilize the economy, will mean that financial markets will withdraw credit and increase interest rates.

“But that does not worry the organizers of Vipath Maga. Their economic plan is simple: a return to the dictatorial kleptocracy of the ancien régime. In fact, the Vipath Maga presentation shows that no lessons have been learnt from the mistakes of the past. There is no reassurance there won’t be even more Hambantota Ports and Airports, Lotus Towers and Cricket Stadia. Not to mention pumping and dumping the stock-market, artificially over-valuing the rupee (in the process destroying export competitiveness) and making a profitable airline loss-making because the CEO did his job,” Samaraweera added.

President Maithripala Sirisena, Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation of Sri Lanka Arjuna Ranatunga and High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Taranjit Singh Sandhu jointly flagged off a new train, Pulathisi Express, from Fort Station in Colombo to Polonnaruwa on Wednesday (11).

The train is supplied to Sri Lanka Railways by M/s RITES Ltd. under Indian Line of Credit. The train has best-in-class passenger amenities with fully rotating seats in the Air-Conditioned Chair Cars, on-board entertainment system and modular interiors.

In the last ten months, India has supplied 5 trains (Diesel Multiple Units-DMUs), 4 locomotives and 15 wagons to Sri Lanka Railways. One additional train, 6 more locomotives and 35 more wagons will be supplied by India to Sri Lanka within the next 3 months under concessional financing.

In March 2017, a contract worth around US$ 100 million for supply of 6 DMUs and 10 locomotives was signed between M/s RITES Ltd., India and Sri Lanka Railways. The first DMU arrived in Sri Lanka in December 2018 ahead of schedule. 5 DMUs and 4 locomotives have already been delivered to Sri Lanka Railways so far.

In addition, 50 wagons are also being supplied to Sri Lanka Railways. 15 wagons have been delivered so far.

In June 2017, India signed a Line of Credit Agreement for US $ 318 million for the development of railway sector in Sri Lanka. Under this Line of Credit, various projects are underway including procurement of 160 passenger coaches (contract for around US$ 83 million was signed in September 2018 between RITES Ltd. and Sri Lanka Railways); upgradation of around 130 km. railway track from Maho to Omanthai (contract for around US$ 91 million was signed in mid July 2019 between IRCON Ltd. and Sri Lanka Railways); upgradation of signal & telecommunication system from Maho to Anuradhapura; and setting up of a Railway Workshop in Rathmalana  etc.

India has so far committed Lines of Credit worth around US$ 1.3 billion for development of railway sector in Sri Lanka. The restoration of arterial railway lines, connecting the North and the South after decades of conflict; and the renovation of the tsunami-affected Southern Railway line were undertaken under Indian Line of Credit. India has also supplied rolling stock to Sri Lanka and contributed to capacity building of Sri Lankan railway personnel.

India remains committed to undertaking people-oriented connectivity projects in Sri Lanka as per Sri Lanka’s own developmental priorities, the Indian High Commission said.

Wheat flour would therefore be sold at the previous price with immediate effect, the Agriculture Ministry said.

Wheat flour companies increased the price of a kilogram of wheat flour by Rs 5.50 on Friday (6) while agents were notified to comply with the price increase.

Meanwhile the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) had stated that legal action would be sought against the increase of the wheat flour price without its approval.

However, representatives from the companies were called before the Cost of Living Committee yesterday (10) to show cause on the price hike.

Agriculture Minister P. Harrison said the companies had agreed to sell wheat flour at the old price during the meeting.

Indictments have been filed by the Attorney General (AG) against the suspects of the Rathupaswala shooting case before the Trial at Bar bench in Gampaha.

The announcement was made by the Coordinating Officer of Attorney General Nishara Jayaratne said.

On a request by the Attorney General, Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya on the 28th of August appointed three trial at bar benches for the hearing of three high profile cases including the Rathupaswala shooting case.

On the 11th of July the Attorney General sought the Chief Justice’s permission to indict Brig. Anura Deshapriya Gunawardena and three other soldiers namely D. Aruna Sirisena, G.M. Thilakaratna and Lalith Gray at the Special trial -at-bar High Court for the killing of three civilians and causing grievous injuries to civilians at the Rathupaswala protests on 1st of August 2013.

The Rathupaswala protest was organised demanding clean drinking water.

The retail prices of fuel have been reduced by Rs.2 with effect from midnight yesterday based on the fuel pricing formula, the Finance Ministry said.

Accordingly, the prices of fuel were decreased as follows:

Petrol (Octane 92) per litre will be decreased by Rs.1 and the revised price is Rs.137, Petrol (Octane 95) will be sold at Rs.161, decreased by Rs.2 per litre. One litre of Super Diesel will be lowered by Rs.2 and the new price will be Rs.132.

There was no price revision on Auto Diesel which remains at Rs.104.

Furthermore, the price of Lanka Kerosene and Auto Diesel will remain at Rs. 70 and Rs.104 per litre.   

United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa will be appointed as the UNP Presidential Candidate in a few days, says Sports Minister Harin Fernando.

Fernando made this statement in a post on his Twitter account.

He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Premadasa had had a very positive discussion last night.

“Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa had a very positive discussion with the Prime Minister. Sajith Premadasa will be appointed as the UNP Presidential Candidate in a few days,” the Twitter message read.

Talks were held last night between Wickremesinghe and Premadasa in an attempt to reach a consensus on the Presidential candidate of the United National Front (UNF) and it was decided to hold several discussions with the leaders of the UNF and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

The announcement of Premadasa’s candidacy is to be made during the weekend, senior UNP sources said.

The eight Ministers are: Sajith Premadasa, Ravi Karunanayake, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Navin Dissanayake, Harin Fernando, Mano Ganesan, M.H.A. Haleem and Gayantha Karunathilaka.

The TISL issuing a statement said the complaint was made based on information obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

“The information showed that eight Cabinet ministers had not submitted their declarations of assets and liabilities for 2018/19, as of August 20, 2019. Cabinet ministers are required to submit their declarations to the Presidential Secretariat under section 4 (a)(ii) of the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law. However, according to the Presidential Secretariat’s response to an RTI application filed by TISL on 28 August 2019, eight Cabinet ministers had not submitted their asset declaration as at 20 August 2019,” it said.

The TISL said that the non-declaration of assets and liabilities amounts to an offence punishable by a fine not exceeding Rs.1000 and/or a prison term of up to one year.

Following the filing of the complaint, TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere said, “Whilst several members of parliament have already gone beyond legal requirements to publicly disclose their asset declarations (available at www.tisrilanka.org/MPassets), it is important that those who have neglected their responsibility are held to account”.

Obeyesekere added, “TISL has also requested the same information from the Presidential Secretariat and the Office of the Speaker, to identify non-Cabinet, state and deputy ministers and members of parliament who have not submitted their asset declarations and we will be taking appropriate action when such information is received.”

TISL has requested the Bribery Commission to exercise its powers to ensure that this complaint is investigated and that prosecutions are undertaken where necessary

 SLFP General Secretary MP Dayasiri Jayasekara told a news briefing at the party headquarters that the decisions taken by Non-Cabinet Mass Media and State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene to appoint a new SLRC Chairman was done without the approval of a special Committee set up at the Presidential Secretariat to look into appointments to state media.

According to Jayasekera, this Committee was tasked with reviewing heads of State institutions.

“The previous SLRC Chairman Inoka Sathyangani was appointed with the approval of the Committee. However, Minister Wijewardene sent a letter requesting to appoint someone else as SLRC Chairman and that name was rejected by the Committee. As a result of that the previous Chairman continued to occupy the position,” the MP said.

Jayasekara further observed that Wijewardene had appointed a new Chairman without the approval of the Committee set up at the Presidential Secretariat. He claimed that the appointment led to internal conflict at the SLRC.

“Minister Wijewardene appointed Local Government representatives as Board members. That also was a reason for the internal conflict at SLRC. There was an incident when two people claimed the position.Considering all these circumstances, the President decided to bring SLRC under the purview of the Defence Ministry,” the SLFP General Secretary added.

He also said that the UNP is a democratic party and not the fiefdom of any individual or family.

Wijewardene said the President’s decision to bring Rupavahini under his wing is clearly a move to gain advantage at the upcoming presidential elections.

“With elections coming around the President wanted to take over the Media institution. I hear that the Chairman of Rupavahini will now be replaced. This clearly proves his intentions,” Wijewardana notes.

“He has taken the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) under his wings, he will most probably find another reason to take the rest of state media institutions.” he added.

Meanwhile, sending a letter to the President yesterday, Wijewardene noted that the President had repeatedly obstructed his attempts to change the management of SLRC, leading to the impasse which resulted in the Corporation being brought under the Defence Ministry’s purview.

“Since I took over the Ministry of Mass Media in February this year, I tried to appoint an efficient, talented, and suitable person as Chairman of the Corporation, but the President objected to all the nominees, giving various reasons,” Wijewardene said in the letter.

The President on Monday, after months of wrangling over differences over appointments to the management of SLRC, issued a gazette notification announcing that Rupavahini has been assigned under the Defence Ministry with immediate effect.

Wijewardene also stated in the letter that the takeover of SLRC is a blow to media freedom in the country, and has been done in a contravention of all accepted norms.
“Your actions can be construed as a move against media freedom in the country. The step has been taken arbitrarily, with no consultation with the Minister in charge of the subject,” Wijewardene said.

“Even during the height of the war, SLRC was not placed under the Defence Ministry. The reasons that were given for the sudden move cannot be justified, as in the past four years, no interest was shown by you to use the station to achieve those objectives,” the letter noted.

The Gazette notification removing SLRC from the Mass Media purview said that the Corporation would be tasked with “implementation of programmes for the promotion of peace, harmony, and reconciliation among people, whilst ensuring national security through the use of audio-visual media, enhancement of the entertainment quality of the people, and creation of a higher media culture using state-of-the-art technology.”

Wijewardene has pointed out that the current Chairperson of the SLRC has failed to improve the ratings of the station, while the Corporation has suffered massive financial losses running into Rs. 40 million a month.

The Minster has sought to remove SLRC Chairman Inoka Satyangani, who was appointed by the former Minister of Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera, and who has disregarded calls for her to step down.

The President’s Office did not comment on the sudden move, and is yet to name anyone to the SLRC management.