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In a recent statement, MP Prasanna Ranatunga has revealed the reason he did not support MP Sudarshini Fernandopulle during the vote held in parliament to choose a deputy speaker. According to him the decision to not support her was based on the fact that her faction had helped the United National Party (UNP) to gain power of the Seeduwa Municipal Council.  

He also says the group of 16 that left the government must choose if it will join former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the SLPP or remain with President Maithripala Sirisena and the SLFP. 

However, it is a popular fact that Fernandopulle had come forward to contest in the vote to be appointed as deputy speaker with the acknowledgement of Rajapaksa as confirmed by Wimal Weerawansa, Gammanpila and Vasudeva. 

Sources say Weerawansa, Gammanpila and Vasudeva had even stayed away from a joint opposition meeting in protest of Ranatunga not supporting Fernandopulle.

While a constant tussle between the two groups since the no confidence motion has been on going sources say the real cause for the issue is a rift of the JO due to the power struggle between Basil and Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines Suren Ratwatte has resigned from his position. 

Ratwatte had tendered his resignation to SriLankan airlines Chairman Ranjith Fernando. He joined the national carrier as CEO in October 2015 but had failed to revive the loss making institution as expected.

PM Ranil Wickramasinghe has challenged Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reveal how he would reduce the country’s debt by 20 per cent if he comes back to power as claimed by him. According to the PM after having set a world record for obtaining loans during his tenure, Rajapaksa should now show how he intends to reduce the debt as claimed. 

The PM made this public challenge while attending the opening of the Ranwala Aswatta bridge recently. 

According to the PM during his tenure Rajapaksa increased the country’s debt by Rs. 7391 Billion thereby increasing the country’s total debt by three-fold and setting a record for loan taking. The PM also noted that the burden to repay these loans have now fallen on the public. 

Wickramasinghe also pointed out that when his government took over in 2015 the coffers were empty with no funds left for development. “We have now begun developing the country while repaying the loans taken by him,” he said adding that the newly opened bridge is proof of that development. 

He also noted that taxes had to be increased in order to pay off the loans taken by the Rajapaksa regime. “Some may scold us over taxes but we must repay these loans by 2023” he clarified adding that if not the future of the country’s young generation will be extremely bleak.

The Attorney General has informed the Secretary to the President that releasing section C350 of the Bond Commission report will not impact the ongoing investigations into the Central Bank treasury bond scam, the Presidential Secretariat said. 
 
Section C 350 or the ‘Forensic Report on Communication Information Analysis’ - is said to contain detailed phone records collected by the CID of conversations between individuals connected to Perpetual Treasuries Limited including its owner Arjun Aloysius and politicians, journalists, religious leaders and civil society members.
 
President’s Secretary Austin Fernando had sought the advice of the Attorney General on releasing certain sections of the Bond Commission report which had not been released previously, based on several requests received by him from various parties.  
 
Issuing a statement to the media on June 1, the President’s Secretary said that there have been repeated calls from various sections for the release of the names of 118 MPs who allegedly accepted money from Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL).
 
However, Fernando said that he does not know where the media or others who talks about it got their information as he is not aware if there are 118 such names. 
 
He stated that MP Dayasiri Jayasekara has requested from him, under the Right to Information Act, for the CID investigations reports as well as all other documents and information mentioned in the Bond Commission’s report and not presented to the parliament.
 
However, he said that he cannot do so due to the advice given to him by the Attorney General and the Bribery Commission DG and that he cannot release those information without asking them. 
 
Fernando said that he made a request to the Attorney General in writing seeking his advice on the matter. 
On June 5, it was reported that sections C 350 to C 360 of the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Central Bank bond scam, which had not been released previously, have been handed over to the Speaker of Parliament.

A 19 –year-old worker fell to his death from the 13th floor of the Lotus Tower this afternoon. According to sources he had fallen down the lift shaft of the building. 

According to Police, the victim Koneswaran Nidharshan from Kilinochchi, had died in the accident which had occurred at the tower which is currently under construction. The youth is said to have fallen from a height of some 145 meters while reports say that the elevator he had fallen from was also under construction at the time. Police are carrying out further investigations into the incident.

Police have arrested Yashodha Range Bandara, the son of State Minister Palitha Range Bandara, over the suspicion of drunk driving and misuse of public property. 

He has been arrested while admitted in the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital following a motor accident on Wednesday (6), the Police Spokesman said. The Chairman of the Puttalam Pradeshiya Sabha and Yasodha Range Bandara, 25, were injured when the vehicle driven by the latter had lost control and crashed into a house in the Kottapitiya junction, on the Chilaw-Puttalam road.

A double cab, belonging to the Ministry of Irrigation, was involved in the accident while it was later reported that the state minister’s son had been under the influence of alcohol at the time. 

Arachchikattuwa Police had launched an investigation into the incident.  Chilaw Magistrate and District Court Judge yesterday ordered the Arachchikattuwa Police to arrest Yashoda Range Bandara and Puttalam Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Anjana Sandaruwan.

Source : Ada Derana

Mohamed Ismail was sworn in as a Member of Parliament today evening before Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. He is the replacement for Mohamed Haniffa Mohamed Navavi of the All Ceylon People’s Congress who was elected to parliament through the United National Party.

The MP had recently resigned thereby creating a vacancy for a parliamentarian. According to sources, Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam had propose the name of Mhamed Ismail for the position.

Nuwara Eliya Police have found another child at the house of the Chairman of Talawakele-Lindula Urban Council who is currently in remand custody over a child abduction case. 

Police spokesperson said that the boy (11) is currently under police custody with the Nuwaraeliya Police conducting further investigations.

Four suspects including the Chairman and a Councillor of the Talawakele-Lindula Urban Council were arrested last Sunday (03), on charges of kidnapping a 5-year old girl in 2017.

The arrested suspects were presented at the Nuwara Eliya Magistrate’s Court on the 4th and were ordered to be remanded till the 11th.

Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera challenged Kurunegala District MP Mahinda Rajapaksa yet again to a public debate on the country’s current national debt stock and economic situation.

He made this challenge while commencing the debate on the five notifications under the Excise Ordinance in Parliament yesterday (07).
Samaraweera said that Mahinda Rajapaksa was following Goebbels' theory to discredit the government while propagating misinformation with the help of lackeys.

“Goebbels once said that if you repeat a lie continuously, it will ultimately become the truth. Rajapaksa is following the same theory to discredit and tarnish the government. It was his government that employed fascist ideologies. He claims that the cost of living has increased.

It is good. At least now he is taking note of the cost of living since during his presidency, he ate off of the people’s money. His lackeys, too, are spreading the same lie. However, he is yet to respond to my challenge to a public debate the country’s national debt stock during now and the at the time he was President”, Samaraweera added.

Reducing taxes by 20%

Referring to Rajapaksa’s statement where he said he will reduce taxes by 20% if he attains power, Minister Samaraweera charged that such claims are unrealistic.

“Though he is promising to reduce taxes by 20%, during the Rajapaksa regime, the public was burdened with over 80% of the indirect taxes placed on them.  Furthermore, he has not even presented a mechanism to reduce taxes. Rajapaksa should know that prices of many food items are still lower than it was during his time”, Samaraweera said.

Finance Minister stated that the current government wishes to reduce VAT by 2.5% before 2020.

After the inauguration of the second session of the 8th parliament, the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) will be convening for the first time, today (07).
 
It was proposed at the inaugural session of the current Parliament that, the previous Committee should be reinstated. However, a member of the previous COPE committee, MP Weerakumara Dissanayake, was replaced by MP Jayantha Samaraweera.

Accordingly, the COPE committee comprising of 26 MPs will be meet this evening. A chairperson for the committee would be selected at the meeting and reportedly, the previous Chairperson, MP Sunil Handunnetti, will be re-elected to the post. Meanwhile, MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage stated that all the members of the COPE committee should sign affidavits saying that they haven’t received money from Arjun Aloysius.

Source : Ada Derana

Fly Dubai, the only international airline operating in the Mattala airport has decided to suspend its operations. Fly Dubai, the only international airline operating in the Mattala airport has decided to suspend its operations. 

Deputy Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Ashok Abeysinghe said that the airline will suspend its operations till November. 

It is learnt that the Mattala airport, which was once dubbed by Forbes as the world's emptiest airport, is not commercially viable anymore.

Sri Lanka was elected to one of four (04) seats available for the Asia-Pacific, in the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, for the period 2018-2022, at the election that took place in Paris during the 7th General Assembly of UNESCO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Eight countries contested from the Asia-Pacific Group, namely, Bangladesh, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Malaysia, Palau and Sri Lanka. With Palau withdrawing its candidature earlier today, seven countries stood for election. The countries that succeeded in being elected are: China, Sri Lanka, Japan and Kazakhstan, securing 123, 122, 107, and 98 votes respectively.

This is a significant milestone for Sri Lanka as it was able to garner more votes than Japan while falling behind China by just one vote. This is also the first time that Sri Lanka contested for a seat in the Committee since becoming a State Party to the Convention in 2008 . Political analysts pointed out that this demonstrates the confidence the international community has placed on Sri Lanka under the new unity government that has made great strides with regard to democracy and good governance. 

Sri Lanka was able to get more votes than established Asian countries such as Thailand and Malaysia due to efforts undertaken by the current government to strengthen the rule of law, human rights and reconciliation, analysts said. 

The Foreign Ministry said that Sri Lanka recognizes that intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization, and that an understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of different communities helps promote intercultural dialogue, and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life. 

The decision to seek election to the Committee at this juncture is driven by the Government’s commitment to the process of reconciliation in the country through which Sri Lanka endeavours to preserve and promote ancient traditions of all communities in the country while fostering respect and understanding of each other’s ways of life, practices, customs and traditions.