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The Government has decided that the Secretaries to Ministries, Heads of Departments, Chairpersons, executive officers and Accountants of Government Institutions should take the responsibility of paying salaries to redundant workers they have employed in addition to the approved Cadre.
 
At the same time, the Cabinet has also decided that  making relevant statutory payments in time such as contributions to Employees Provident Fund and Employees Trust Fund of state corporations, statutory boards and government owned companies is also the responsibility of the heads of such institutions.
The Cabinet has taken these decisions when the Report of the Final Quarter of the State Sector Employees – 2017 was submitted by Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera   recently.
 
It is reported that there are over 7500 personnel employed in various government institutions above the Cadre positions approved by the Management Services Department of the Treasury.

It has been computed that there are currently 1,375,499 public servants employed in the entire state sector including government ministries, departments, provincial councils, and local government institutions as well as other public enterprises, government owned institutions and state banks at the end of 2017. During the  year 2017 alone, 23,224 persons have been recruited to state service. At the same time, 5,000 servants have retired from the services and another 246 servants have been dismissed on various disciplinary actions during the same time.

It was also revealed that there are a large number of vacancies at senior executive level positions of the state sector. The Director General of Management Services Department stated that the main reason for this situation is that there is a limited number of officers who have completed the required number of years in service to be eligible for promotions. 
 
There are 74,872 approved positions for development officers service in the state sector and, nearly 18,000 positions out of them are currently vacant. However, the Director General of the Management Service Department further said that it was observed during staff review meetings that development officers attached to certain institutions are not assigned on a particular subject or are not given a specific job of work. 

In addition, there are a lot of vacancies in the Engineering, Technical and Technological sectors of the government service but attracting candidates to fill such positions has become a difficult task as the private sector pays more than what is paid to such professionals in the public sector.
 
Cabinet approval has been granted to a proposal made by Finance and Media Minister, Mangala Samaraweera to hold those relevant Secretaries to Ministries, Heads of Departments, and the Accountants who pay the salaries and other allowances to the employees who have been appointed in their respective institutions over the  approved cadres by the Management Service Department.

Samaraweera also noted that there are many discrepancies between estimated costs and actual costs incurred during the execution phase of many government infrastructure projects where a large number of government contracts have been awarded over and above the engineers' original cost estimates. In another measure to curb corruption and wastage, Minister Samaraweera's proposal to establish a special Cost Estimate Review Committee to evaluate total cost overruns and contract cost variations of infrastructure development projects falling under Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committees (CAPCs) was also approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday (12).

The Appeal Court has extended the stay order issued preventing any action from being taken against former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa under the Public Property Act.

Rajapaksa had filed a writ petition with the Court of Appeal seeking an interim order preventing the police from arresting him in connection with the investigation into the misappropriation of public funds for the construction of the D.A. Rajapaksa museum under the Public Properties Act.

The 15% VAT that is charged from private hospitals will be removed with effect from next week, the Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera said.  He pointed out that this is part of the Yahapalana government’s plan for providing concessions for the public.

The Minister made these remarks at an event held in Matara yesterday to provide compensation to victims affected by the floods in 2017.

The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has given no prison terms to alleged financiers of the LTTE, the Swissinfo news reported on Thursday. It said the 13 accused were either given suspended custodial sentences or acquitted.

The court on Thursday said accusations of participation in and support of a criminal organisation did not stand and therefore, released all of the accused.

It noted that the hierarchical link between the LTTE and the  World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC) was not sufficiently established. The judges also felt there was not enough concrete proof to consider the LTTE as a criminal organisation.

While the federal prosecutor Juliette Noto had asked for prison terms of between 18 months and six years for the accused, the court did not oblige.

Eight of the thirteen on the docks were acquitted of all charges. The others were only found guilty of fraud. WTCC’s finance manager and one of the accused who arranged loans from Bank Now (owned by Credit Suisse) on false pretences got a 24-month suspended sentence. The president of WTCC got 21 months while the finance manager’s deputy got 20 months in suspended sentences.

The whole process is estimated to have cost close to 4 million Swiss francs (CHF) which the federal government will have to bear. In addition to this amount, compensation for those acquitted, as well as lawyers’ fees total to almost CHF5 million. The accused will have to pay part of their lawyers’ expenses provided they have the financial means to do so.

During the eight-week trial, which opened in January and closed in March, the federal prosecutor requested sentences of up to six-and-a-half years in prison. The proceedings cost CHF3.8 million.

The 13 defendants - 12 Tamils or Swiss citizens of Tamil origin plus one German - were accused of participating in or supporting a criminal organisation, fraud, forgery, money laundering and extortion.

During her indictment, Juliette Noto, a federal prosecutor, described a sophisticated system used by the WTCC to raise funds largely for armed struggle from the Tamil community in Switzerland. The Tamil community in Switzerland was systematically registered and its ability to pay assessed. Families who refused to pay were threatened, she said.

Noto cast the LTTE, who are represented in Switzerland by the WTCC, as a violent movement "whose effectiveness inspired Al-Qaeda".

Showing a picture of the WTCC leader behind a machine gun and images of child soldiers, she enumerated the attacks and crimes attributed to the Tamil Tigers. The prosecutor sought to demonstrate the informed involvement of the accused in supporting and funding the LTTE.

In their pleadings, the defence invoked the legitimacy of the Tigers' struggle against the Sri Lankan government's repression of the Tamil minority. They argued that the money collected in Switzerland by the accused for the WTCC was mainly used for humanitarian purposes. The defence also challenged the prosecution of the accused at a time when Tiger resistance was collapsing in Sri Lanka.

During the hearings, the accused spoke at length about the repression suffered in Sri Lanka and the atrocities committed by the security forces. They kept silent when asked about their specific involvement.

Source : Daily Mirror

The chief suspect of the assassination of Karandeniya Pradeshiya Sabha Deputy Chairman Somapala Amarakeerthi Donald Sampath Ranaweera was arrested in Kahawa today.

The Deputy Chairman was shot dead while returning home from a wedding at Uragasmanhandiya by two gunmen who arrived on a motorcycle at Uragasmanhandiya in Elpitiya on June 8.

Another suspect identified as Paththini Hakuru Asela Ranasinghe (24) of Pahalawela, North Magala, Uragasmanhandiya was arrested on June 9 by Karandeniya Police.

The last two remaining elephants of the Sinharaja forest reserve are to remain on the orders of President Maithripala Sirisena. The animals were to be moved to the Horowpothana elephant holding facility on the orders of the Minister of Wildlife, Sarath Fonseka after villagers had requested Deputy Minister of Wildlife, Palitha Thewarapperuma to remove the animals from the area. The decision by the Ministers was seen as a merely political decision taken without an understanding of the subject.

Environmentalists had vehemently opposed the move as the dry zone habitat was seen as unsuitable for the wet zone elephants while questions were also raised regarding the holding facility where many elephants have reportedly gone missing from.The move had also threatened the forest reserves UNESCO heritage status. 

The decision timely by the President came as wildlife officials were in the process of capturing elephants in order to remove them from the forest area. He has also instructed that the construction of the elephant fence to be expedited in order to protect villagers in the area.

The annual feast mass of St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade was held on June 13, 2018 with the participation of a large number of Catholic devotees across the island. The holy mass was presided over by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith the Archbishop of Colombo.

Naval personnel attached to the Western Naval Command made their presence at the holy mass and provided amenities for the successful conduct of the event.

Spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Dilan Perera stated that the SLFP will not nominate candidates for the upcoming provincial council elections. 

Speaking at a media conference held today (14), he stated that since the SLFP’s chances of winning the upcoming election is very slim, they will be looking to bring all anti-UNP forces together to make a broad coalition under which they will nominate candidates and contest.  

Meanwhile, political sources say that the provincial council elections are due to be held in December.

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the Tamil Nadu government’s request to release the seven prisoners convicted for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991.

Kovind conveyed to the State government that the “Centre doesn’t concur with its view” to release the prisoners. The President is bound by the advice of his Council of Ministers in such matters.

In the last four years, the State government has written twice to the Home Ministry to pardon the convicts and release them on humanitarian grounds.

“The President has rejected the Tamil Nadu government’s plea to free the prisoners on the advice of the Home Ministry. This has been conveyed to the State. The assassins of the former Prime Minister of India cannot walk free under any circumstances,” a top official told The Hindu.

On February 14, following the Supreme Court’s directions, the Home Ministry sought details on eight grounds from the State to “facilitate further” its request to release the convicts. It asked the State to furnish details such as the “physical and mental status of the convicts,” their “economic and social background” and the previous cases registered against them. The convicts are V. Sriharan alias Murugan, A.G. Perarivalan, T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, Ravichandran and Nalini.

On January 23, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court gave three months to the Home Ministry to decide on Tamil Nadu’s proposal to remit the sentences of the life-term convicts. The Centre moved court against the State’s proposal, which dates back to February 19, 2014, where it said the State had decided to remit their sentences as they had already served more than 20 years in prison.

Under Section 435 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the State government has to consult the Centre before releasing prisoners who were tried by the Central Bureau of Investigation or under a central legislation.

On March 2, 2016, the then T.N Chief Secretary K. Gnanadesikan sent another communication to the MHA that it had received petitions from the convicts with requests to release them since they have spent more than 20 years in prison. “The Government, after taking into consideration the petitions of the seven convicts, has decided to remit the sentences of life imprisonment as they have already served imprisonment for 24 years,” the letter by Gnanadesikan said in the letter.

The Supreme Court in December 2015 said the State government had no power to release the convicts without the Centre’s concurrence.

Source : The Hindu

Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa said that he did not hold any discussions with the SLFP’s Group of 16. Furthermore, he said that they are not ready to accept such groups.

Rajapaksa made theses remarks to media after attending function in Colombo today (14).

He went on to say that if there isn’t any legal impediment for Mahinda Rajapaksa to contest in the upcoming Presidential elections, he would be the candidate as that is the wish of the people.

However, if he’s unable to contest, we would support any candidate that is named by the former President, he added.

He also said that the people of this country will make a decision in the future regarding those who have placed themselves on both sides of the political divide.

The date of the Ramazan festival will be revealed after convening a meeting today, the Colombo Grand Mosque has announced. The holiday was not declared yesterday as the new moon was not sighted as expected. 

The popular Muslim holiday will most likely fall on Saturday sources said.

Newly published private travel diaries of Albert Einstein by the Princeton University Press, The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein: The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922-1923, have exposed Einstein's racist and xenophobic views.

Written between October 1922 and March 1923, the diaries track his experiences in Asia and the Middle East.

Einstein travelled from Spain to the Middle East and via Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, on to China and Japan. 

He describes his time in Colombo in Ceylon, writing of the people: "They live in great filth and considerable stench down on the ground, do little, and need little." 

The physicist describes arriving in Port Said in Egypt and facing "Levantines of every shade... as if spewed from hell" who come aboard their ship to sell their goods. 

But the famous physicist reserves his most cutting comments for Chinese people.

According to a piece in the Guardian about the diaries, he describes Chinese children as "spiritless and obtuse", and calls it "a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races".

In other entries he calls China "a peculiar herd-like nation," and "more like automatons than people", before claiming there is "little difference" between Chinese men and women, and questioning how the men are "incapable of defending themselves" from female "fatal attraction".

However, Einstein would later in life advocate for civil rights in the US, calling racism "a disease of white people".