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The German Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Joern Rohde, in twitter message today (23), revealed that many western diplomats had met with UPFA members for discussions.

"Why this unfair criticism at Canadian HC and members of the diplomatic Community? Last Tuesday around a dozen envoys including Canadian HC and myself met with 4 leading UFPA MPs/Ministers on their request. We respected their request for confidentiality,” the German envoy said.

This was in response to parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa's tweet with regard to the comments he made about western diplomats meeting with the UNP to discuss the current constitutional crisis.

The Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, David McKinnon, shot back at the young parliamentarian yesterday on twitter over a comment he made on the United National Party (UNP) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) meeting diplomats in Colombo to discuss the political crisis.

Namal Rajapaksa went on the back foot by stating that he was not criticizing the diplomatic community. 

The Sri Lankan rupee fell to an all-time low of 179.00 per dollar on Wednesday, a day after Moody’s downgraded the country’s credit rating, as a political crisis worsens a rout in the currency. Moody’s downgraded Sri Lanka on Tuesday for the first time since it started rating the country in 2010, blaming the political crisis for aggravating already problematic finances.

The downgrade coincided with a decision by the International Monetary Fund to delay discussions on its loan tranche to Sri Lanka. The political uncertainty remained the main concern of investors a day after President Maithripala Sirisena asked an all-party meeting to hold a third vote on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa after rejecting the first two motions passed by a majority in the parliament, deepening the country’s political crisis.

The central bank last week unexpectedly raised its key policy rates, in a move aimed at defending a faltering rupee as foreign capital outflows pick up amid an escalating political crisis and rising U.S. interest rates.

The currency ended at 178.70/179.20 per dollar on Wednesday, compared with 177.30/50 at previous close. It has weakened more than 3.3 percent since the political crisis began on Oct. 26 and more than 16.4 percent so far this year.

Foreigners bought a net 10.2 million rupees worth of stocks on Wednesday. But they have offloaded equities worth 7.7 billion rupees since the political crisis started on Oct. 26. The bond market saw outflows of about 22.9 billion rupees between Oct. 25 and Nov. 7, central bank data showed. This year, there have been 17.3 billion rupees of outflows from stocks and 112.8 billion rupees from government securities, bourse and central bank data showed.

The 5-year bond yields rose about 25 basis points on Wednesday, market sources said. The Colombo stock index ended up 0.04 percent at 5,950.19 on Wednesday. It declined 0.39 percent last week and has fallen 6.5 percent so far this year.

Stock market turnover was 594.1 million Sri Lankan rupees ($3.33 million) on Wednesday, less than this year’s daily average of 836.9 million rupees. (Reuters)

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya has withdrawn the petition submitted to the Court of Appeal against Bodu Bala Sena's Secretary, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara thero, today (23).

The Attorney General's petition challenged the decision taken by the High Court, which acquitted Gnanasara thero along with 12 other suspects, for forcibly entering a church (Malabe Calvary Christian Center) and causing damage to its property in 2008.

Former Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya, along with two other cricketers, has been accused of smuggling rotten betel nuts to India, as per a report in The Dainik Bhaskar. Two other cricketers have been said to be involved in the alleged tax-evasion fraudulent deal but their names are yet to be revealed.

Betel nut worth millions of rupees was seized in Nagpur by the directorate of revenue intelligence. As per the report, after Jayasuriya’s name was revealed, he was also called to Mumbai for questioning by the revenue intelligence team. After the probe, a letter was sent to the Sri Lanka government for a further inquiry. Two other cricketers are also likely to be called for the probe by December 2.

According to the Dainik Bhaskar report, Dilip Sivare, the deputy director of revenue intelligence, revealed that the betel nuts were brought from Indonesia to Sri Lanka from where it was brought to India. Dummy companies are said to have been formed in Sri Lanka for the same purpose to draw an illegal advantage out of the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area) Act that gives a tax holiday on certain consignments between neighbours Sri Lanka and India for goods produced indigenously by either and sold to the other. 

The cricketers are said to have used their stardom and popularity to get the trade and export licences from the Sri Lankan authorities to form the dummy companies in Sri Lanka as well as create fake documents certifying that the betel nuts were produced in Sri Lanka.

There is a 108% import duty if betel nut is imported directly from Indonesia. But the heavy import duty can be evaded if imports are done from Sri Lanka under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement. 

The businessmen from Nagpur make the most profit by importing betel nut. The businessmen in Sri Lanka sell the rotten betel nuts to their Indian counterparts in Nagpur at just 25% of its original price. In that case, betel nut worts Rs 100 crore is bought for Rs 25 crore by Indian businessmen - who then spuriously mix it with betel nut of good quality and supply to different parts of the country.

(TimesNow)

The Sri Lankan rupee hit a record low of 180.6606 against the US Dollar today. 

The rupee fell to an all-time low at 179.50 on the dollar, compared with Wednesday’s close at 178.70/179.20. 

Moody’s had downgraded Sri Lanka on Tuesday for the first time since it started rating the country in 2010, blaming the political crisis for aggravating already problematic finances.

State-owned Daily News carried an article today stating that president Sirisena had nothing to do with the transfer of CID IP Nishantha Silva, who was the lead investigator in many high-profile cases, including the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunga.

"The transfer of Criminal Investigation Department's OIC, IP Nishantha Silva was a transfer over which only the Inspector General has prerogative over and nothing to do with President Maithripala Sirisena", the Daily News said.

However, IGP Pujith Jayasundara wrote a letter to the secretary of the ministry of defence stating that he was instructed by the president to transfer IP Silva.

As per the orders and instructions given by His Excellency the President, IP Nishantha Silva is to be transferred from the CID to the Negombo Police Division with immediate effect as per service requirements, the IGP said in his letter.

The appointment of members to the selection committee was passed with 121 in-favor and none against in the 225 member parliament today. This is the third time the Maithri-Mahinda faction suffered defeat in Parliament. 

The illegal government had submitted seven names to the committee but speaker Karu Jayasurya agreed for five names in the 12 member committee as the meeting of party leaders held on Friday morning failed to reach a consensus on the issue. 

Speaker Jayasuriya named Lakshman Kiriella, Rauf Hakeem, Rishard Bathiudeen, Mano Ganeshan and Patali Champika Ranawaka (UNF) and Mavai Senathiraja (ITAK) and Vijtha Herath (JVP) as members.

Dinesh Gunewardene, Nimal Siripala De Silva, S B Dissanyake, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Wimal Weerawansa were named from the UPFA.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya will chair the committee as per standing orders.

The passing of two No Confidence Motions (NCM)s against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa have been recorded in the official record of Parliament’s proceedings – the Hansards of November 14 and November 16.

The Hansards for the two days record that "In terms of Standing Order No. 135 that Standing Order No. 27 is suspended for the day in order to move the No-Confidence Motion." 

Speaker Karu Jayasuirya is also on record saying the, “I am ordering that "Ayes" will have It. The (NC) Motion is carried."

On both days the NCMs were passed amidst an uproar from MPs supporting Mahinda Rajapaksa which led to clashes between MPs.

However, neither of the NMCs has been accepted as ‘duly’ passed by President Maithripala Sirisena who wants a vote by name for either side to show their majority.

(The Sunday Times)

Nalaka Godahewa, a controversial figure involved with various alleged malfeasance has been appointed as the chairman of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation.

Nalaka Godahewa was the former chairman at the SEC Sri Lanka. His appointment to the SEC at the time was considered controversial and heavily criticized then because of his association with companies whose stock prices made sudden and steep gains.

He was notoriously associated with the Krishh transaction where allegations were leveled that large amounts of monies were purportedly requested by members of the ruling Rajapaksa regime.

Godahewa has worked two stints at SLIC previously, once when SLIC was controlled by the Distilleries Group headed by businessman Harry Jayawardhena at the end of which period, his contract was not renewed.

He emerged again as the Managing Director at SLIC under the Rajapaksa regime and resigned a few months before the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka returned the ownership of SLIC to the treasury, holding that the privatization was flawed.

Godahewa was later appointed to head the SEC at the height of the controversial Pump and Dump scandal.

He is also associated with the sale of 29% of shares at Lanka Hospitals PLC by the Distilleries Group after SLIC was returned to the full ownership of the treasury.

After the fall of the Rajapaksa administration in 2015, Investigations revealed that Godahewa was involved in the misuse of SEC funds, where it transpired that funds approved by the SEC board for the purpose of promoting share ownership amongst youth was diverted to an event promoted by MP Namal Rajapaksa.

This resulted in Godahewa facing charges, being remanded and he is currently out on bail, pending litigation.

Godahewa’s appointment bears striking similarities to the appointment of Kapila Chandrasena to SriLankan Airlines which was brought to the attention of the appointing authorities who promptly withdrew the appointment in the face of public dismay.

(NewsFirst)

David McKinnon, the Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, replied to a comment made by Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa on twitter. 
Namal Rajapaksa said that the United National Party (UNP), Tamil National Alliance (TNA)  and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was meeting diplomats in Colombo to discuss the political crisis.

"Perhaps if more effort was given towards meeting with the people and communities of Sri Lanka and paying heed to their hope for elections, Sri Lanka can finally achieve its fullest potential", Namal tweeted.

In response, the Canadian envoy shot back by stating that he (Namal) should ask some of his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) colleagues on who they meet with.

US Senator for the district of Maryland, Chris Van Hollen, had written to president Maithripala Sirisena urging him to accept the results of the two no confidence motions (NCM) that were passed in parliament by a majority of members of the House.

As a long time friend of Sri Lanka who has worked hard to strengthen the bonds between , Hollen expressed his 'deep concern' with the decision taken by Sirisena to remove PM Wickremesinghe.

"The actions taken during the last few weeks, however, put at risk the rule of law and democracy in Sri Lanka", he added.

Senator Hollen also warned that the decisions taken by the executive over the last few weeks could severely threaten the strong bilateral relationship that exists between the two countries.

"The decision to oust the sitting prime minister, suspend parliament, attempt to hold snap elections, and reject the votes of Sri Lanka's democratically elected representatives could also threaten the progress made in strengthening our bilateral relationship," he said.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed concern about threats to press freedom and journalist safety in Sri Lanka as a result of the ongoing political crisis.

Responding especially to the attempted transfer of a senior police official who was responsible for investigating the assassination of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, as well as the high profile cases surrounding the targeting of other journalists, IFJ endorsed a statement by its Sri Lankan affiliate SLWJA who said:

“We believe that this sudden transfer was made to [hold] up the above mentioned courts cases, and under these circumstances, we are shocked as media freedom and safety of journalists are in danger.”

Also expressing concern about recent threats to journalists, the IFJ said:

“The IFJ is seriously concerned by the ongoing political crisis in Sri Lanka, and the threats and harassment of journalist union leaders for standing up for freedom of expression, press freedom and journalists’ rights. Expressing solidarity with its affiliate Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association and all other journalists in Sri Lanka, the IFJ urges the Sri Lankan government to uphold press freedom, editorial independence and journalists’ rights; ensure the safety of the journalists and union leaders, and those responsible for threats and harassment on them punished according to the law.”