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Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has called on the Cabinet of Ministers to immediately revoke any Cabinet decision on the retirement benefits of President Maithripala Sirisena.

The TISL statement was issued over a decision made by the Cabinet of Ministers, allowing the President to remain in his official residence at Mahagama Sekara Mawatha in Colombo after his retirement.

TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere has said a conservative estimate could place the benefit afforded to President Sirisena, as a result of retaining the official residence, at over Rs.360 million over a 20-year period.

“As this decision has been made by the cabinet of ministers led by President Sirisena the conflict of interest is deeply concerning and illustrates little consideration for the protection of public resources,” Obeyesekere pointed out.

TISL is firmly of the stance that decisions pertaining to such entitlements should only be taken at such time that the sitting President ceases to hold office.

Furthermore, the fact that the decision was made during an election period where the President has declared that he will remain impartial despite his party’s decision to support a candidate, also raises several red flags on electoral integrity and potential corruption under the Bribery Act, TISL has stated.

TISL believes that the timing of the decision when the President is still in office and is the Head of Cabinet raises serious questions regarding conflicts of interest. This is underscored by the decision of the Supreme Court in 2007 regarding the premature exercise of executive power under the Presidents Entitlements Act of 1986.

Whilst former Presidents and their widows/widowers are entitled to an official residence as per the provisions of the Presidents Entitlements Act 1986, TISL has drawn attention to a 2007 judgment of the Supreme Court.

In a fundamental rights application to the Supreme Court (SC FR503/2005) a three-judge bench ruled in favour of the petitioners, quashing the Cabinet decisions on grants and entitlements to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, whilst the President was in office.

In its judgement the court has noted, “The facts that have been clearly established in this case prove that the 1st respondent and the Cabinet of Ministers of which she was the head, secured for the 1st respondent benefits and advantages in the purported exercise of executive power in breach of the provisions of the President’s Entitlement Act No. 4 of 1986.”

SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa has pledged to continue the economic plan halted during the previous Rajapaksa regime.

He gave this assurance when he addressed a mass rally at the Ashoka grounds in Rambukkana organized by former Chief Minister Maheepala Herath on Thursday.

Several economic experts however, noted that Gotabaya is going to continue the previous economic plan marred by corruption, financial misappropriation and mal practices under the Rajapaksa era spearheaded by officials with allegations of corruption.

Hundreds of allegations have been leveled aganst the Rajapaksas including the Greek bond scam, Commonwealth games' money swindling, illicit land transactions, luxury tourist hotel deals, mega project scams and stock market pump and dump schemes among others, they claimed.

One can write a separate book on the ten year Rajapaksa era economic misdeeds, economists pointed out.

They added that if Gotabaya comes to power, he will be definitely reversing course on corruption, tamil persecution, and Sinhala ethnic triumphalism might finally be happening with a new government.

Since the Rajapaksa's defeat in the last presidential polls, family members and close associates of the former president have faced corruption allegations, including maintaining secret bank accounts overseas.

Some of them, including then Minister of Economic Development and Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger brother Basil, were arrested.

Former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa was also interrogated by the police. His sons meanwhile are said to be linked to the murder of a popular national rugby player. The Rajapaksas however, have denied the charges.
     
Accepting the misdeeds of the Rajapaksa regime and also putting the blame on others, Gotabaya further noted that all governments that came into power were accused of corruption charges but highlighted that the current government was accused the most in terms of allegations of corruption.

He further added that he would bring corruption to an end with the help of technology no matter the status of the corrupted individuals.

However, Gotabaya now has a responsibility to explain to the public on the manner in which he intends to end corruption using technology and what he is going to do in relation to his own corruption and the hundreds of corrupt practices of the Rajapaksa regime.

"Though Sri Lanka – Canada bilateral trade is modest, surging Lankan exports to Canada could turn it around. “Annual Canada-Sri Lanka trade values at present show an unexploited trade potential that needs to be explored,” said Minister of Industry, Commerce, Rishad Bathiudeen to High Commissioner of Canada to Sri Lanka David McKinnon while hosting him for a courtesy call recently.

Minister Bathiudeen and High Commissioner McKinnon discussed Sri Lanka and Canada’s shared desire to continue to expand bilateral trade and commercial ties. According to the Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka, the total Canada-Sri Lanka trade in 2018 stood at US $ 436 Mn, a near 10% increase from the previous year.

Sri Lankan garment exports to Canada are on the rise, and rubber and other by-products such as tyres, coconuts and sea food are also rapidly diversifying the export product mix.

 A variety of high-quality Canadian products, notably wheat and lentils, make their way to households across the country, and contribute to the diversification of imports to Sri Lanka.

Although modest, some notable Sri Lanka-Canada collaboration includes high-tech production facilities for garments, agriculture value addition such as plant extraction and essences, sea food processing, and ICT partnerships. Other Canadian trade connections to Sri Lanka include sophisticated building technologies, engineering, architecture, financial services, and clean technology.

Chairman of the Elections Commission (EC) Mahinda Deshapriya has said he will reveal the names of presidential candidates who have fielded “puppet” candidates in order to gain access to more facilities than they are entitled to during elections.

Deshapriya has told a press conference that applications sent by four candidates for the placement of officers had come from one single address and that one candidate had fielded five other candidates for his support - two others have fielded three each.

“We could have limited the ballot paper to 25 members if this did not happen,” the EC Chairman has explained.

“Some candidates sign agreements with other candidates and such candidates seek coverage from the media. If this situation continues for one more week, we will have to reveal the names of those candidates who support the fellow candidates,” he has noted. 

The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the Easter Sunday attacks is to hand over its final report on Wednesday (23) to parliament and it is learnt that the Committee has identified key officials who must be held accountable over the deadly attacks.

The PSC has also noted some strong recommendations.

The report has made recommendations related to both national security and reconciliation as well as communal harmony, it is learnt.

PSC member MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa has told The Sunday Morning that the PSC report has identified several officials who must be held responsible for the lapses in the national security mechanism.

“We have found several officials including politicians, who have to be held accountable for the failures in the security apparatus,” Dr. Jayatissa said.

He has further noted that the PSC was not in a position to recommend action against those found responsible for failing to prevent the attack.

“We have recognised that the national security system needs to be strengthened as well as the reconciliation process expedited,” he has said.

Dr. Jayatissa had added that with regard to reconciliation, it has been recommended that ethnic harmony, co-existence, and matters relating to reconciliation be incorporated and introduced from the school level.

The Speaker’s Office has stated that the government will present a vote on account to parliament next week to allocate government expenses for the first quarter of next year.

The vote on account to be presented by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Wednesday (23) to parliament for the period from January 1 to April 30 will seek approval for Rs. 1,474 billion.

The vote on account will also seek approval to limit obtaining loans to Rs. 721 billion during the first quarter of next year.

The debate on the vote on account will take place on October 23 from 10.30 am to 6.30 pm.

Sri Lanka has been removed from the “Grey List” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is the global policy setter on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).

The FATF has congratulated Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Tunisia for the significant progress made in addressing the strategic AML/CFT deficiencies identified earlier by the FATF and included in their respective action plans.

These jurisdictions will no longer be subject to the FATF’s monitoring under its on-going global AML/CFT compliance process, and will work with the FATF-Style Regional Body of which they are a member to continue to strengthen their AML/CFT regimes.

In October 2016, the FATF announced that Sri Lanka will be subjected to a review of the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the FATF to assess the progress of AML/CFT effectiveness in the country.

After several discussions and progress reports, the FATF indicated that Sri Lanka has not made sufficient progress in 4 areas, namely International Cooperation, Supervision, Legal Persons and Arrangements and Targeted Financial Sanctions on Proliferations (North Korea and Iran).

Since the listing in November 2017, the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka together with other stakeholders had taken a series of effective and tangible steps to implement the FATF Action Plan and Sri Lanka reported the progress achieved in the implementation of the Action Plan regularly to the FATF.

Chairman of the Avant Garde Maritime Services Ltd. (AGMS), Nissanka Yapa Senadhipathi has been taken into custody by CID sleuths in the early hours of Thursday (17) when he arrived at the Banadaranaike International Airport.

Senadhipathi had departed from Singapore on flight SQ 468 at around 11.35 pm yesterday.  

The Attorney General had directed the Acting IGP to arrest Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi and seven others and produce them in court in connection with the magisterial inquiry into the Avant Garde floating armoury case at the Galle Magistrate’s Court

The suspects are facing charges under the Firearms Ordinance and Explosives Act. These are in relation to 813 unlicensed automatic weapons and 200,935 live ammunition found aboard ship M.V. Avant Garde.

The others named in the letter sent to the Acting IGP are Major General (Rtd.) Waduge Palitha Piyasiri Fernando, Major General (Rtd.) Karunaratna Banda Adhikari Egodawele, Rtd. Commodore Vishvajith Nandana Diyabalanage, National Police Commission Secretary and Ministry of Defence former Senior Additional Secretary Saman Dissanayake, Rtd. Air Vice Marshall P.B. Premachandra, Ministry of Defence former Senior Additional Secretary D.M.S. Damayanthi Jayaratne and former chairman of Rakna Lanka Victor Samaraweera.

In addition to this, three of the suspects, namely Senadhipathi, Premachandra and Saman Dissanayake stand accused of falsifying evidence for which they face charges under the Penal Code.

The AG said that as the Supreme Court had rejected FR petitions filed by five of the accused, there are no hindrances to arresting them.

In relation to three others, namely Premachandra, Jayaratne and Samaraweera, the AG has instructed that their statements be recorded, named as suspects and produced before the relevant Magistrate.

The AG also instructed to name P.B. Premachandra, Damayanthi Jayaratne and Victor Samaraweera as suspects and to proceed according to the provisions of the Penal Code Ordinance, record their statements and produce them before court as suspects without delay.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLPP) has sought the support of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to secure the second preferential vote for SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

SLPP National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa had recently made the proposal to the JVP leadership during a telephone conversation.

The revelation about Basil’s request from the JVP was made by JVP MP Bimal Rathnayake during a public discussion.

However, Ratnayake noted that the party leaders had rejected the proposal, saying that they would only ask their supporters to vote for their presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

“Giving a second preference is a personal choice of the voter and it is their democratic right, we cannot tell the voters about a second preference,” the JVP leaders had told Basil, adding that the JVP members always voted for the symbol and did not pay attention to preferential votes.

JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti has confirmed to The Sunday Morning that Basil had made a proposal to secure a second preference vote for his brother Gotabaya.

However, Handunnetti has said the JVP would not support Rajapaksa at any cost.

“We had decided to field our own candidate as the public were fed up of the current administration and therefore, there is no reason to support Rajapaksa directly or indirectly,” Handunnetti has said.

However, SLPP Media Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella has said his party’s National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa had denied holding any such discussion with the JVP on the second preference vote.

New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa has said his opponents have finally accepted that Field Marshal, MP Sarath Fonseka was the real victor of the war.

Premadasa said at a rally in Dodangaslanda that his opponents have finally accepted that they have lied to the people on the war victory.

“The whole country found out the false claim made by my opponent on the war victory. Both my opponent and his leader had to accept that the Field Marshal was the real victor. It was clear that falsehood does not last long. Nature does not allow falsehood to dominate. The truth will prevail at this year’s presidential election,” Premadasa said.

Meanwhile, addressing a rally in Wariyapola,Premadasa said the truth will win the day.

“After ten years those who boasted have had to make a confession that he was not the real victor. He was not able to answer the questions raised by the journalists,” he said.

“I will also hold a press conference. I will participate in it alone. I don’t want anyone else to support me at the conference. I will show how I will face questions of journalists,” Premadasa further noted.

“My opponents claim they are patriotic. My opponents betrayed the forces. When a foreign journalist asked about the military operations he got frightened and said the army commander did everything. What a covered act. We will not betray the forces. However, Sajith Premadasa will face the international community on behalf of forces. This country needs iron leadership. I will provide such leadership to this country,” he added.

The Election Commission (EC) has reportedly expressed concerns on several issues with foreign election observers.

Election Commission member Ratnajeevan Hoole has told the media that he had met with preliminary team of observers from the Commonwealth and EU. During the discussion he had expressed certain concerns regarding greater security.

“Muslims I met in some areas in the North and East indicated to me that they would not step out to vote if there were disturbances. Thus the need for greater security in view of the incidents in April,” Hoole has said.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary, MP Dayasiri Jayasekara says the SLFP organisers who have extended their support to the United National Party (UNP) presidential candidate, Sajith Premadasa were sacked from the party.

Jayasekara has made this observation in response to Premadasa’s claim that more than 40 SLFPers had joined hands with his party.

According to Jayasekara, forming an organisation to protect the SLFP and allying themselves with the UNP could not be called as protecting the SLFP.

“The SLFP must be protected by its members while being in the SLFP. True SLFPers would protect the SLFP and its integrity while moving forward in this journey. Despite the obstacles we might face, we will stand united for the victory of Gotabaya Rajapaksa and move forward while protecting the dignity of the SLFP,” he has told the media.