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The President said at the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) convention held in Matale on Saturday (21) that Wickremesinghe had attempted to mislead the public by claiming that he (the President) had called for the special Cabinet meeting last week.

Sirisena explained that Minister Ravi Karunanayake had telephoned him twice on Thursday (19) morning, saying the Prime Minister wanted a special Cabinet meeting.

The President said that he had advised Karunanayake to tell the Prime Minister to call him.

However, since the Prime Minister had not contacted him, the President said he had called Wickremesinghe who said he wanted a Cabinet meeting to be called to discuss the executive presidency.

Sirisena said he had agreed to call for the Cabinet meeting that afternoon but when the meeting was held, several ministers objected to the proposal put forward by the Prime Minister to abolish the executive presidency.

He said the meeting had to be called to an end prematurely as things heated.

The President added that he had asked the United National Front (UNF) to sort their issues out on their own.

The Cabinet of Ministers decided to award Vitol Asia Pte Ltd. the deal for diesel and petrol for the next eight months from 15 July 2019 till 14 March 2020, a statement said.

The Cabinet decided this week to award the contract of importing 1.04 million barrels of diesel and 1.28 million barrels of Jet A-1 with respect to a period of 8 months from 1st October 2019 to 31st May 2020 to M/s Mena Energy DMCC.

The contract is for the importation of 900,000 barrels of Petrol with respect to a period of 8 months to Sri Lanka in accordance with the recommendation of Special Standing Procurement Committee appointed by the cabinet.

Vitol delivered a shipment of 20,000 metric tons of substandard Fuel Oil in Aug 2009. This fuel which was imported by CPC for the use of Independent Power Plants caused machinery breakdown resulting in the closure of several power plants which lead to the level of a national crisis.

Vitol delivered the second batch of dirty fuel, this time it was 20,000 metric tons of diesel, in August 2011. Cars, Lorries, trains and over 1000 busses were brought to a halt at that time.

Vitol, who had been blacklisted twice and re-listed twice, supplied the third shipment of dirty fuel, this time, Low Sulphur Fuel Oil for the use of Kerawalapitiya Power Plant of Ceylon Electricity Board. Power generation came to a standstill as the Fuel was contaminated with water and used lubricating oil.

Even under these circumstances this dirty petrol supplier has bee entrusted with the task of supplying fuel to CPC for the fourth time.

Sources at the Sri Lanka Police told have said the technology required to reproduce and analyse the tape recordings of phone calls was not available in the country at present and the CID had decided to seek the assistance of specialists at the FBI.

Noyahr was abducted and assaulted on 22 May 2008, and eventually released after an alleged series of high-level telephone calls on the night of his abduction. The senior jounralist fled the country with his family for fear over their safety.

Ten individuals have been named as suspects over the case which is being heard at the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court.

Meanwhile, Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera has in writing to Acting IGP Chandana Wickramaratna on 11 September, questioned the CID’s delay in concluding the investigations into Noyahr’s abduction and assault along with several other high profile cases.

Several allies of the United National Front (UNF) have informed United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa that they will support him to form a broad alliance to contest the forthcoming presidential election.

It is learnt that these parties have agreed to support Premadasa’s candidacy even if he is not given the go ahead from the UNP.

A senior Premadasa loyalist said the UNF representatives have given this assurance to Premadasa during a meeting they have held on Wednesday (18).

Jayasuriya has been quoted as saying in the media that he had never asked to be nominated as the Presidential candidate but had only expressed his policy if he is to be President.

The Speaker said earlier this week issuing a statement that any prospect of him accepting a nomination to contest as a presidential candidate would be conditioned upon the support of all forces united behind the critical objective of abolishing the executive presidency, which has been the objective of civil society since 1995.

Jayasuriya noted that his mandate in such an event should include the strengthening of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

JVP Propaganda Secretary, MP Vijitha Herath has said the JVP would not form alliances with any political party, but any party willing to join the JVP was most welcome to join the National People’s Power (NPP) movement led by the JVP.

“We are open to discussion with the SLFP and any other party if they are willing to join us under the NPP,” Herath has said.

According to the MP, the National People’s Power movement presidential candidate MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the only candidate the JVP will support at the forthcoming polls.

Herath’s comment comes in the backdrop of comments being made by members from various political parties that they are in discussion with the JVP to form an alliance and get their support for the forthcoming presidential election.

Wickremesinghe made this observation during an event in Mirigama yesterday (20).

He said the issue of the Executive Presidency cannot be ignored.

The Prime Minister noted that he raised the matter at the Cabinet meeting and there were differences of opinion and that he is being questioned by several people on what stand is being taken with regards to the issue.

According to Wickremesinghe, the issue of the Executive Presidency needs to be discussed in the open and each political party will need to decide on its stand on abolishing the office.
He added that it would finally be the public that will decide the fate of the Executive Presidency.

The report has also accused over 50 officers of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lankan police of being involved in torture.

The new study by the ITJP focuses on the TID of the Sri Lankan police and has identified 58 alleged torturers, including those in command positions, named by the 73 victims interviewed. Among them are police officers identified in UN reports dating back more than a decade; one was even a UN peacekeeper.

“TID officials allegedly involved in torture were named by a UN expert in 2007, by a UN investigation in 2015, by Sri Lankan NGOs and human rights lawyers for decades and now in 2019 by the ITJP in court documents submitted in California in support of the case under the Torture Victims Prevention Act against former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa – but no action is ever taken. The alleged torturers continue to survive every regime change,” the report states

“The indifference to repeated allegations of police torture is shocking and makes a mockery of Sri Lanka’s stated commitment to security sector reform, let alone transitional justice,” the ITJP’s Executive Director, Yasmin Sooka has noted.

The new report by the ITJP details systematic brutal torture and sexual violence against men and women detained over the last decade by the TID, focusing on the TID office in Colombo and detention site in Boossa in Galle.

The report can be read with the 24 dossiers on individual policemen named by victims which forms part of a US court submission in the Gotabaya Rajapaksa case filed by Hausfeld law firm in the US.

“Torture is so endemic in the Terrorism Investigation Division that it is impossible for anyone working in this unit not to have been complicit,” Sooka has said. “Until the alleged perpetrators are prosecuted, members of the TID should be barred from international training programmes, UN peacekeeping and other forms of international assistance. Training programmes alone will not address the rot in this unit of the security forces.”

Detainees describe being chained together and bused to TID sites or abducted in white vans, stripped naked, subjected to anal examinations, interrogated in rooms equipped for torture with blood stained walls, forced to confess to things they hadn’t done and warned not to tell inspectors about the torture. The seventy three victims in the report, who include twenty-one civilians, describe being beaten, kicked, punched, whipped, suspended in stress positions, asphyxiated with plastic bags soaked in petrol and chilli, subjected to water torture, burned with cigarettes, branded with hot metal rods, and subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence. Some were held in multiple detention sites run by different security units for years; others abducted by the TID after being released from prison or the “rehabilitation” programme for ex combatants. At least twenty of the victims interviewed attempted suicide after the torture.

“We noticed the recent media reports about Aerospace Long-march International Trade Co. Ltd (ALIT)'s participation in the Lotus Tower project,” the company has said issuing the clarification.

Following is the statement issued by ALIT:

"ALIT and CEIEC formed a consortium in Aug. 2010 in order to pursue the Lotus Tower Project. The contract was signed in Jan. 2012.

In Aug. 2015, ALIT entrusted CEIEC to act solely on its behalf to fulfill the contract. Those are normal business operations and comply with international business practice.

According to the contract, TRCSL (Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka) paid USD 15,644,980 as advance payment to CEIEC's account in China Export-Import Bank of China on Oct. 9, 2012. This sum had been used for the project purpose solely.

The inauguration of the Lotus Tower project is not only a remarkable milestone of the project, but also a significant symbol of friendly cooperation between China and Sri Lanka. As a state-owned, responsible company, ALIT is operating in more than 40 countries around the world and has won high acclaims from our customers.

ALIT cherishes the friendly relations between China and Sri Lanka, and will continue to participate in the economic construction and development drive of Sri Lanka to help promote ‘the China-Sri Lanka All-round Cooperation Partnership of Sincere Mutual Support and Ever-lasting Friendship."

President Maithripala Sirisena has reportedly requested all Cabinet ministers to submit their views on the recommendations made by State Minister of Finance, Eran Wickramaratne on restructuring SriLankan Airlines on the basis of a public-private partnership.

The State Minister in his report to the ministers has noted that the financial position of the national carrier and pointed out that the amount owed by SriLankan to the state banks and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) stood at Rs.102.55 billion or US$ 582 million as at April 30, 2019, with an annual interest payable of US$ 62 million.

He has pointed out that the ballooning debt was a contingent liability on the Treasury impacting the country’s credit rating and that the debt component was reaching one per cent of the Gross Domestic Product -- an amount equivalent to Rs.7,300 for every citizen.

The State Minister has further noted that the national carrier required an additional sum of US$ 250 to 300 million in new capital to update the fleet, business practices, competition and tourism demand, but the Treasury was unable to provide such an amount.

Wickramaratne has added that SriLankan would have a cash deficit of US$ 874 million within the next five years but the new restructuring would enable the airline to break even within a few years.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has yesterday (20) informed the progress in their investigations into a complaint lodged over former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s dual citizenship to the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court.

The complaint was lodged against Rajapaksa over alleged irregularities involved in the manner in which he has obtained his new Sri Lankan passport and for engaging in presidential election campaign in 2005 while being a US citizen.

Wickremesinghe and the TNA held a discussion yesterday (17) evening on an invitation extended by the UNP leader.

During the meeting, Wickremesinghe has also told the parliamentary group of the TNA that he was ready to introduce a new constitution within a year based on the consensus reached at the Constitutional Assembly (CA).

The Prime Minister was accompanied by Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne at the meeting.

After the meeting, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran has told the media that the TNA had made significant compromises on its position to reach a consensus on constitution-making.

He has said the TNA would also agree to forge ahead based on a consensus reached to evolve a new constitution.

Meanwhile, TNA leader R. Sampanthan has told the UNP leadership that picking a presidential candidate for the UNP is a matter the UNP needs to resolve soon.

He has explained that once the UNP decides on its presidential candidate, the TNA will want to know what his plan is to address the Tamil issue and overall policies before making a decision.

The TNA has also said that it will hold discussions with all political parties contesting the forthcoming presidential election and decide who it will support.
The TNA has already held several rounds of discussions with presidential hopefuls and meetings have taken place on an unofficial level with the UNP presidential hopeful, party Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Leader and MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake.