The other side of the historical facts of “The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus- the Historical Facts by Dr. V.J.M de Silva ”

This is to state what is controversial  of the metaphysical implications of the historical facts as  V.J.M.de Silva  states in his article  in the Island of  24 March,2016.

I liked reading the article, because Dr. V.J.M. de Silva writes what he believes  to assure himself  of his faith, without  forgetting the controversial issues which an ordinary  Christian will not pay heed to lest he would be disappointed, “ ..blessed are those who have not seen, but yet believed.”

There is no problem accepting a historical Jesus. Crucifixion of Jesus is not a debated issue. But the problem is in accepting a God let alone a historical one. That is important as it is to that God in the Holy Bible  that the New Testament  turns to give Jesus a paternity.  Therefore more than the resurrection the selling of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver by his beloved disciple Judas Iscariot  is more relevant  as a corner of Christian faith.

If not for that betrayal, there would not have been  a resurrection.  It is to push their own point of view as historical and correct that  the Christian writers  take such  painful efforts to deny other probable historical facts as incorrect  insinuations against Christianity.

The disciples willingness to die  for the truth of resurrection cannot be adduced  as  historical proof  of the appearance of Jesus after Crucifixion, as we know that there are many who actually die  to prove their love for God. Could that be taken as proof of the “historical” existence of a loving God ?

At least one amoung the disciples did not believe in the truth of resurrection .  Disciple Thomas was an ordinary man  not naïve and easily tricked. When his friends said that Jesus had appeared to them he refused to believe, and the writer of the New Testament cleverly makes Jesus appear in to the room through the locked door to face the group of disciples,  to   tell Thomas that “ … blessed are those  who have not seen and yet have believed.”  That is what the writers of the New Testament want all faithful Christians to do-to believe without questioning what appears to be improbable.

More than  a historical Jesus, the question is why  it  was necessity for a  “Jesus”  to affirm Christian faith, when there was the  God Almighty , unless of course there  was a problem with the God of the  Bible, who was only the God of the Jews the Israelites.  The rest of the Europeans could not claim God as theirs or of everyone as  God had his chosen people and turned away from others.

Therefore, is it not correct to assume that to correct this anomaly the rest of the Europeans down from early Romans had to move away from the  Bible as the Old Testament, and accept the story of the New Testament giving the God of the Bible a son to create a whole  European Christian faith around him ? 

Even the empty grave cannot be made a historical issue without making it a part of the  miracle of resurrection. Because it is said that  “Christianity would never have got off the ground if Jesus’  corpse was still in the tomb.  All that the Roman and Jewish authorities had to do, was to go to the tomb and view the corpse and debunk the resurrection.” See how well the Greek writers of the New Testament had imagined  to meet every possible arguments against casting doubt about their story.

The Israelites do not accept that the God had a son, nor do the Muslims as a matter of fact accept Jesus as the  son of God.  There is so much to explain but my intention is not to prove one and disprove the other but  to  speak of the thoughts that arose in my mind as I read the Bible and the New Testament in search of an existing God. 

Early Greeks and Romans had no God,  Zeus was their God. But it was the later Roman Piso family that got  the New Testament written  in Greek,  trying to distance the God of the Bible and accept Jesus as their saviour to make it a spring board for a new Christian faith for non Israelite Europeans.  The New Testament was written 100 to 300 years after the death of Jesus.

That was convenient for conquering European nations, beginning with later Romans to take with them a new faith to replace those of the conquered people. Historical Jesus was a man born to a man and a woman-Joseph and Mary. Those days the men lived for a long time, and they may therefore have had strong spermatozoid.  Abraham was 100 when  Sarah conceived Isaac.  Mary was perhaps 12 or  13 when she gave birth to Jesus, and Joseph was 100 years.

There is therefore good reason to believe Joseph was the father of Jesus. The Roman writers of the New Testament had  to make Jesus the son of God and wrote passionately about an  immaculate conception. The New Testaments uses miracles - 37 of them  reported to have been performed by Jesus to make the faithful believe he was  the son of God. Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.  He turned water into wine  so on and so forth. There had to be miracles performed by Jesus to prove to the faithful he was the son of God. 

But God who created man in his own image never showed himself to man.  When Moses asked God to show himself to him, the God said no man can  see his  face and live.  When the Christians say they believe in God, what they say is they believe in the Prophets, because the God of the Bible did not speak to any one directly.  He spoke through his prophets. 

There were about 72 prophets in the Bible.  And it is only through them that God “spoke” to the faithful.   The God did not appear directly to the prophets either , but spoke to them only in  visions and in dreams.  Therefore the faithful have to believe the Prophets to believe that the God appeared to them in their visions or in their dreams.  If they do not believe the Prophets they cannot believe in a God.  Therefore what Christians believe are the Prophets.

It is to the credit of Dr. de Silva that  he  mentions, “….The metaphysical implications of these historical facts are no doubt controversial. Christians accept this as a miracle. Once God’s existence is accepted as a possibility, miracle cannot be dismissed out of hand; they become matters for investigation.” He writes to the  Christian faithful and not to convert or convince others of the truth about Christianity.

But  I disagree when he says that, “Ancient people rellied on verbal transmissions for passing along what happened, until it was written down. When there is a long interval between the occurrence of events and their recording, distortions  could easily occur. This cannot be said of the Christian gospels.”  This depends on how verbal  transmissions had been organised, there is atleast one  religion which  has its religious philosophies intact despite verbal transmission.

Then there is also the Swoon theory referred to by  Dr. de Silva, according to which, “ Jesus did not die on the cross, but was taken for dead, and later recovered. …….It was first propounded by the anti-Christian philosopher Celsus I the 2^nd Century AD….”

But one important fact about the New Testament and the life of Jesus have been carefully left out by our learned writer.  It is the missing years of Jesus. The New Testament  is completely silent on the 18 lost of years of Jesus or the so called hidden years of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  The ministry of Jesus lasted only for three years, that is  from his thirtieth year to the 33^rd.

What Dr. de Silva had left out  is perhaps historical evidence of Jesus of Nazareth spending his “ lost years in the New Testament” in a Hindu Temple  Jaganath in Puri and then in a Buddhist Monastery in  Himalayas in Ladakh, India where there is said to  be  written evidence in an ancient scroll “The life of Saint Issa, the Best of the Sons of Men”which  answers the questions on the missing years of,Jesus. This  ancient scroll  some say mysteriously disappeared later. Issa is how Jesus had been called in the Muslim and Hindu worlds.

This ancient scroll has even mentioned how Jesus had exhorted the Hindus to stop worshipping idols and give up the Caste system. Has that journey of Jesus to the East  been conveniently omitted from the New Testament ?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-davids/jesus-lost-years-may-fina_b_179513.html

Displaced Sinhala in Vavuniya-Bogaswewa, Kokilai and Kokkeliya villages need our help.

The Tamils opposed the resettlement of the Sinhala dispossessed of their land and property under terrorism. But about 2400 Sinhala families were settled in Bogaswewa-Kokilai and Kokkeliya  by the previous Government. 

In the name of reconciliation and to please the  West and the Tamil Diaspora the present Yahapalanaya government of President Maithripala Sirisena is all out resettling the Tamils and Muslims dispossessed of lands under terrorism, giving them lands, deeds, and houses in publicised ceremonies.

I77 acres of land liberated by the Naval force in Sampur is to be handed over to the Tamil at a ceremony by the Yahapalanaya President.  Yahapalanaya President also handed over land and deeds  at a ceremony to farmers displaced under Moragahakanda –Kalu Ganga Irrigation project.  There is also a proposals to build modern houses with Solar panel electricity and pipe water to the resettled Tamils in the North .

But the  Sinhala people  similarly dispossessed of their lands and property live in extreme living conditions in their villages in Vavuniya.  The roads to their villages have not even  been  tarred let alone being carpeted and people specially the children suffer from constant breathing of dust.  They live in sheds without any privacy. There is no fresh water or electricity.

During the previous government  the Army Camps looked after these people by providing them with water, food and sanitary facilities.   But with the coming of Yahapalanaya the  Sinhala families in these settlements in Vavuniya have been completely neglected. The Army Camp which sent a water bowser regularly  to provide water for them  has stopped that service as well since the change of government in January,2015.

These Sinhala families are constantly intimidated by the Tamils. TNA MPs chase away surveyors who come to measure lands for these families. There are no shops  in close vicinity to these Sinhala Villages.

The Tamils enjoy themselves living with the Sinhala in the south, but these  Sinhala people in Bogaswewa and other villages in Vavuniya are being threatened  and the Tamils and Muslims show hostility to them with the intention of  making them leave these villages.

These poor Sinhala people  meeting  with various other hostilities from the Tamils, put up with their discontentment as they  have no body to appeal to  or  from whom to seek protection.  There is no police station any where close by.  MP Swaminathan determined to send these people away from the area  has become a nuisance and a creator  of trouble for these Sinhala people, refusing them any assistance.

Many Sinhala villagers have already left the settlements.  When appeals are made on behalf of these people the yahapalanaya officials ask them to got to  Mahinda Rajapakse who settled them there.  

President Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickramasinghe are taking a more important interest in helping the resettled Tamils and Muslims providing them with carpeted roads , houses, clean water, medical facilities etc., but unfortunately these Sinhala settlers in  Bogaswewa, Kokilai in Vavuniya live in pitiable conditions, completely neglected and left to themselves without  any help.

For the 2400 Sinhala families only 360 houses have been built , others have been given one acre of land for each family, with a few zinc sheets to put up  sheds. They also suffer from kidney diseases.  The children  suffer from skin diseases and breathing difficulties.  There are no schools for the children. There are no Buddhist temples. 

These are important Sinhala settlements that would thwart any attempts of the Tamils to combine  North and East to make one Province. The Tamil Parliamentarians aware of this are therefore all out to make the living conditions of these people worse as possible to make them decide to leave the villages. Therefore it is imperative that patriotic Sri Lankans wake up to the necessity of helping to maintain these villages until the Government wakes up to serve these people not forgetting that they are also  the citizens of Sri Lanka.

It is important that the living conditions of these Sinhala people are improved  to encourage them to continue to live in these Sinhala settlements. They have about 5000 votes and they had voted for a Muslim candidate hoping he would help them to live peacefully  under better conditions.  But the Muslim Parliamentarian has not even shown himself after the election.

Some of the people who are fishermen are Catholics and even the Catholic Priests do not visit the Sinhala Catholic settlers. Bodu Bala Sena Movment is making an effort to help these Sinhala villagers without differentiating between the Buddhists and Catholics by visiting them with clothes, dry ration,  water, and medicine.  

No one else has shown any interest in these people. Not even the new minister Sarath Fonseka  the bugle player for the Yahapalanaya, making his duty as a parliamentary taking revenge from Mahindha and Gotabhaya Rajapakse, speak of the Sinhale people displaced during the terrorism.  He has a right to be concerned about them as he was then the Commander of the Army. 

Those of us who feel for these poor people could contribute to their well being through the Bodu Bala Sena Movement. A minimum of  70 US$  or 60 Euros is roughly about Rs. 10,000,00 and that will go a long way to ameliorate the living condition of these people.

Those who are willing to make a contribution could pay it to the following account:

Account No. 74948616 (swift code: BCEYLKCX), Bodu Bala Sena Subhasadana,  Bank of Ceylon, Thimbirigasyaya

Maithripala Sirisena should be removed from Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

 

C.W.W.Kannangara the father of the Free Education

President Maithripala Sirisena- the tourist and collector of handshakes is schedule to take his next flight to USA to shake President Barack Obama’s hands.  He is soundly placed as the President of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which he left in the night like a thief fearing to be caught in his midnight  meeting with destiny.

But question which remains unanswered is under what provisions of the Constitution of the SLFP Maithripala Sirisena  the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party for thirteen years from 2001 to 2014,  who walked away from the Party on the 21 November, 2014 to joint the UNP led opposition could be made the President of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party ?

 

Maithripala Sirisena to his shame did in 2014 exactly the opposite of what S.W.R.D.Bandaranayake did in 1951.

On the night of the 20 November,2014  when Maithripala Sirisena  left President Mahinda Rajapakse the then President of the SLFP after  sharing a meal of hoppers with him, Maithripala Sirisena forfeited all his rights as a member of the SLFP.  Therefore it was not Constitutionally correct for the SLFP Central Committee to have confirmed him as the President of SLFP after his election as the President.

Is it therefore  right that Maithripala Sirisena who betrayed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party is nevertheless the President of Sri Lanka Freedom Party today ?

A biased Central Committee of the SLFP expecting benefits by way of Ministerial posts had abused their power in confirming Maithripala Sirisena as the President of SLFP without conducting a proper disciplinary inquiry.

S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike left the UNP in 1951 because he recognised that the policies followed by the UNP  after the end of a long period of colonization  was not suitable for the revival  of the  national identity such as the Buddhist culture, the language, religion, even the national dress, and  a mixed agricultural economy which suffered  grievously under foreign rule. 

Therefore, SWRD wanted alternative political policies  to empower the five great forces of the country (pancha maha balavegaya) the Buddhist Monks, Teachers, physicians, farmers and workers, to develop the country bringing together the three main communities with their  different cultural identities under one flag and a language as any other Nation of the world.

He also understood that Sri Lanka being a developing country of the then called third world, had to have a government related to a socialist system, rather than  following the colonial rulers adopting their  capitalist system.

S.W.R.D Bandaranaike was not wrong, because he rejected the capitalist system and adopted a more acceptable socialist system and accepted to work with the progressive left forces.  The UNP system did not work as it does not fit into the make up of the people, their culture and belief systems. The rich English educated Colombians and their aristocratic relatives, rich Muslims and vellala Tamils elsewhere though few wanted to control the economy, and caused a social imbalance.

This tendency changed  with the coming into politics of respectfully remembered , CWW Kannanagara  a lawyer  with modest beginnings in Balapitiya as the  Minister of Education in the State Council.  He  introduced in 1945 the free education system which enabled young people from outside Colombo access to higher education increasing the number of the educated people in the country.

SWRD Bandaranaike’s SLFP  greatly benefitted from this educated class outside Colombo, the UNP pandering to the  English Educated failed to make a political impact on the  educated rural class.  Yet the Sri Lanka UNP Capitalism survived and survives  resorting to various undemocratic means  cultivating village thugs, build  dependent groups of people capable of getting votes to UNP  not necessarily with convincing arguments but through force, fear and intimidation.

While SLFP of SWRD Bandaranaike was to depend on a strengthened  and fortified pancha maha balawegaya, UNP suppresses, controls, and dominates the pancha maha bala vegaya. 

We see  how Ranil Wickramasinghe the UNP Prime Minister uses his office to control the Sangha, treat with contempt the Doctors (veda)on the ETCA issue, the teachers(guru)  are  denied their due rights, farmers(govi) are not allowed free fertiliser,  the workers(kamkaru) are threatened with unemployment. The Pancha Maha Balavegaya suffer, is weakened, and looked down upon  by Ranil Wickramasinghe. Maithripala Sirisena the President is reduced to a helpless spectator.

Hence the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the UNP are  two systems diametrically opposed to each other. Under such circumstances Maithripala Sirisena the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party cannot be pardoned for his betrayal of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party by offering  himself as the Common Opposition Candidate for the Presidential election of 2015. 

Sirisena Sacrificed nearly 25 years of his political life for a handful of dollars so to say.

Under the circumstances the Sri Lanka Freedom Party cannot continue to exist today as nothing has happened.  The Central Committee of the SLFP cannot be excused for having not expelled Maithripala Sirisena.  It is irregular that no disciplinary action had been instigated against Maithripala Sirisena to expel him from the Party. If it had been done the public is not aware of it.

The irregularity had happened because of the personal greed of the members of the SLFP to retain ministerial power. As it is, the Central Committee of the SLFP Conniving with Maithripala Sirisena now the elected President of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party  fathered by S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike betrayed by Maithripala Sirisena has ceased to exist. What exists to day as SLFP under Maithripala Sirisena is not what SWRD wanted SLFP to be.

Therefore, it is ridiculous that the General Secretary of the SLFP Duminda Dissanayaka makes a statement that he will take up with the SLFP Central Committee about  disciplinary action to be taken against the SLFP parliamentarians  who attended the joint opposition rally in support of the former President Mahinda Rajapakse.

Duminda Dissanayake should instead look into why a proper disciplinary investigation was not carried over Maithripala Sirisena’s leaving the SLFP to join the UNP led opposition to present himself as the Common Opposition Presidential Candidate.  The Constitution of the SLFP does not differentiate between a President or an ordinary member.  That is democracy.  If fear keeps the General Secretary and the CC of SLFP carrying out their duties under the party Constitution , it becomes  a dictatorship under the SLFP

The SLFP CC should not be a rubber stamp to exonerate a member who violates the Constitution. If a disciplinary action in terms of the SLFP Constitution has not been taken against Maithripala Sirisena it is time that such an inquiry is instigated now, without allowing the President Sirisena to make inept statements against other SLFP Members like Mahinda Rajapakse.

The General Secretary of SLFP Duminda Dissanayake had said that SLFP Central Committee will meet shortly to decide on the action to be taken against SLFP parliamentarians who participated in Thursday’s joint opposition rally at Hyde Park.  Duminda Dissanayake as the GS of SLFP should include in the Agenda for the CC meeting  the question of disciplinary action against Maithripala Sirisena as a member of the SLFP.

Maithripala Sirisena’s situation vis a vis the SLFP should be satisfactorily solved in transparency for the public to be aware of the correct procedure followed by the CC of the SLFP in taking disciplinary action against the  members of the SLFP.

When it comes to taking action for or against party members, President Maithripala  Sirisena (if he is  cleared by the CC and accepted as   member of SLFP) is not acting as the President of Sri Lanka, but as the President of SLFP.  These are two different roles.  In this respect Maithripala Sirisena has taken actions outside his authority both as the President of Sri Lanka and as the President of SLFP. These should be thoroughly investigated by the CC of the SLFP.

The actions taken by Maithripala Sirisena just before the general election of the 17 August, 2015, both as the President of the SLFP and as the President of Sri Lanka  are strongly condemned by a large majority of  the people.  As the President of Sri Lanka he should have been neutral, as once elected President he becomes the President of every one, and he cannot take sides to support any one or condemn another.

As the President of the SLFP he was taking arbitrary decisions  writing strong letters to an opposition candidate criticising him and refusing to make him the President if he wins the election.  He did not respect democratic  norms that should be followed.  He sacked the new General Secretaries of  the SLFP and UPFA  and appointed new Secretaries a just a few days before the election. He took these actions without consulting the Central Committee of the SLFP. By these acts he showed his unsuitability to be the President of a Sovereign State, dictatorial, without simple human respect to others.

A President should not be arrogant , and disrespectful to others even if they are his enemeies.

But unfortunately, all actions that he is taking now such as distributing land in the north, reducing the security forcers in the north, delaying the Local Government Elections, promising  devolving of power to provinces are made without thoughtful considerations of whether such actions are suitable to the country and what effect they will have in the future.

The SLFP Central Committee should have a disciplinary investigation against Chandrika Kumaratunga as well.  One member has no right to criticise or condemn another member of the Party. If she has any thing against a member of the party she should bring the matter before the CC.  Chandrika Kumaratunga is no credit to Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

A majority of  the supporters of Sri Lanka Freedom Party today is around Mahinda Rajapakse and under his leadership, but not around and under the leadership of Maithripala Sirisena even if the present Central Committee of the SLFP has endorsed Maithripala Sirisena as the President of the SLFP.

Even out of office Mahinda Rajapakse still remains the “ President”  of the ordinary Sinhala Buddhist people of Sri Lanka and those living in foreign countries.

Mahinda Rajapakse is still the President of Sri Lanka Freedom Party and not Maithripala Sirisena

President Maithri Pala Sirisena is not and cannot be the President of SLFP.  Mahinda Rajapakse is legally still the President of Sri Lan,ka Freedom Party.

To every one to whom it may concern,

I have not read the SLFP Constitution, but  yet it is not difficult to see as a Constitutional Lawyer that Maithripala Sirisena has no legal right to be the President of SLFP.  I say this because when he  walked into the UNP led  Common Front to become their common Presidential candidate, Maithripala Sirisena  forfeited his right as a member of the SLFP. 

Therefore the  SLFP constitution’s article that says any member of SLFP elected as  the President of Sri Lanka  becomes the President of the SLFP cannot be applied to Maithripala Sirisena, as he did not get the approval of the Central Committee of the SLFP to be the Common Presidential Candidate of  the opposition group of parties led by UNP. In leaving the SLFP to be a Presidential Candidate of other parties, he  lost his membership in the SLFP.

Mahinda Rajapakse who was the President of the SLFP has not right either to offer the office of President of SLFP to Sirisena as it should have been done by the SLFP Central Committee.

Therefore, for  all intents and purposes Mahinda Rajapakse is still the President of SLFP. Therefore all the appointments Maithripala Sirisena has made to SLFP and the UPFA  taking himself to be the  President of SLFP are ultra vires and therefore null and void.

Charles.S.Perera

Submission to Committee of Public Representations on the Constitution

Chairman,

The Committee of Public Representations on the Constitution(CPRC)

Secretarial Office,

Staple Street,

Colombo 2,

Dear Sir,

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS

I hesitated to write before on the wisdom of writing a new Constitution to Sri Lanka at the present moment, as I am not quite sure of the independence of the Committee of inquiry.

However, I send this letter to record my protest  on the proposal to write a new Constitution to Sri Lanka at the present time, as there are others who hold my point of view.

Further more I believe that the present constitution even with its Article on Executive President is  quite a satisfactory Constitution.  It would be more so after the removal of the 13^th Amendment.

A country should not write a New Constitution each time a new Government is formed by a new Political system coming into power.  None of the developed countries in the world resort to that sort of a radical change in a country’s Constitution  with a change of a  political system. 

It is my opinion that the 1978 Constitution  should be retained as the permanent Constitution of Sri Lanka, making changes to it whenever necessary, by Amendments.  

The 1978 Constitution had stood its ground until  2015, and it would serve its purpose for more years to come.  There was criticism in the use of the Constitutional procedure  for the impeachment of the Chief Justice in 2013. There was no error in the implementation of the Constitutional procedure for that impeachment.

It was   the wrong interpretation, for whatever reason , of the Article 107(3) of the Constitution given by the Supreme Court that raised the contention in the minds of some who were biased against the Previous President that the impeachment was not Constitutional.

However, if it is necessary to write a Constitution to Sri Lanka it should be done under a popular government of the people. The Yahapalanaya is a wrong word applied to the present Government.  It is for all intents and purposes a UNP Government  which is determined to carrying out UNP’s own programme  without consulting the Parliament or the people, with a false majority it claims to have.

I give below the reasons why a new Constitution to Sri Lanka should NOT be written  by the present Government  led by President Maithripala Sirisena:

1,This Government proposing to write a new Constitution to Sri Lanka is not a National Government as it claims, which according to me is  the modus operandi of the present Government to mislead the people of Sri Lanka.

2, There is no National Government in Sri Lanka,  as the SLFP and the UNP cannot form a National Government.

3, In 1951 Mr.S.W.R.D.Bandaranayake broke away from UNP as he did not agree with UNP’s capitalist policies and set up a political party of the Panch Maha Balavegaya opposed to the UNP System.  Therefore, at no point of time could these two parties-UNP and SLFP,  politically poles apart  form a National Government. 

Those  members of the SLFP including the President Maithripala Sirisena in joining hands with the UNP to form a pseudo National Government has turned their back to  SLFP Policies conceived by its organiser S.W.R.D.Bandaranaya, to become a part of the UNP System.

4, Therefore the Yahapalanaya Government for all intents and purposes is a UNP government and not at all a National Government. In that respect too this Government led by Maithripala Sirisena has no right to even conceive the idea of writing a Constitution to Sri Lanka.

5, No National Government could be formed in Sri Lanka with Ranil Wickramasinghe as the Prime Minister.  He has shown on several occasions, specially during his Premiership under President Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2002-2004, that he cannot work in cooperation with any one without imposing his own arbitrary  manner of decision taking. Signing of the CFA with the terrorist Prabhakaran was a great mistake made by Ranil Wickramasinghe which caused the lost of thousands of lives.

The Prime Minister  demonstrated his  penchant for  arbitrary decision taking  when he stated recently in Parliament  that he will sign the ETCA  with India in June this year even if there is opposition to it.   This government has lost the confidence of the people in its mishandling of several issues. 

This government  has even failed to  inform  the  people of the  Sea Bridge Tunnel  proposed to be constructed between India and Sri Lanka.  This government’s actions lack transparency.

The Prime Minister and the Finance Minister did not take the correct decision in the interest of the country when they sponsored the USA Resolution against Sri Lanka presented at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.  This government has also  taken the police powers into its own hands by appointing a FCID.

The Judges refuse bail to persons connected to the Previous President who had been arrested by  the FCID.  This shows that the Judiciary fears to take  independent decisions.

6, The Government led by Maithripala Sirisena has acted contrary to democratic norms appointing as the leader of the Opposition a political leader having lesser number of  parliamentary seats,  when there is another united group of opposition parties which has a much larger number of  parliamentary seats.  That has been done purely to win over the minorities onto its side, which shows the government’s bias in favour of the minorities.

7, This government has distanced Sri Lanka from its friends who helped in the progressive and rapid development of the country and taken it into the fold of the enemies of the Sovereign State of Sri Lanka. Therefore this government if it is given the responsibility to organise the writing of a new Constitution , will be influenced   by the enemies of Sri Lanka who helped the terrorists and prolonged terrorism.  The people of Sri Lanka has also the fear that this government may be fooled by the enemies of Sri Lanka to include clauses in to the Constitution  that may change the unitary status of Sri Lanka.

Under the above conditions the people of Sri Lanka has no confidence in this Government and therefore it is not appropriate a new Constitution to Sri Lanka is written under the aegis  of the present Government.

This government cannot be trusted for the  preparation of a Constitution to Sri Lanka in keeping with the historical cultural and religious values of Sri Lanka.

Furthermore,  it is no secret,  and no body can deny that it was the votes of the minorities that assured the  election of  the President Maithripala Sirisena, and the UNP at the  following general election of  August,17,2015.  Therefore, this government indebted to the minorities –Tamils and Muslims, will continue to take decisions in all maters including in writing the Constitution  to please the Tamil and Muslim minorities that voted them into power. Therefore,  allowing  this government to make preparations for the writing of a new Constitution to Sri Lanka will have dangerous consequences.

Since the coming into power of the President Maithripala Sirisena  on 9 January,2015 he had continued to act in breach of the Constitution of Sri Lanka .  Therefore this government led by Maithripala Sirisena has forfeited its  right to replace the present Constitution they deliberately breached  to serve their own political  purpose.

A Sovereign State is recognised from its majority, and the Constitution of  a Sovereign State should safeguard the country’s Culture- which is unique to it, its original religion, language and other national identities such as the National Anthem and the Nation Flag.  

This government of President Maithripala Sirisena has already mutilated the Sovereignty of Sri Lanka and therefore they cannot be entrusted with the writing of a new Constitution to Sri Lanka.

I therefore wish to express to the Committee,  my strong opposition, and my condemnation of  even  the proposal  by the Present Government of  President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe to write a New Constitution to Sri Lanka.

Yours Sincerely,

Charles.S.Perera

Ranil Wickramasinghe a circus clown in Parliament is not fit to be Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfUASsdwj34

Ranil Wickramasinghe miserably  failed as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka under President Chandrika Kumaratunga during  2002-2004,   handing over parts of the North to terrorists under a CFA which he had himself not understood. 

He showed his characteristic penchant to act if Sri Lanka is his heritage, and that he takes orders from no body. He  acts without foresight or without the wisdom of a man who is called upon  to  lead the government of  a nation. He not only failed as the Prime Minister  in 2002-2004, but also  put Sri Lanka in great danger of being divided forcibly by a group of ruthless terrorists,  with a terrorist leader  far more intelligent and capable than Ranil Wickramasinghe himself . 

With that experience no sensible person elected as the President of Sri Lanka should have made Ranil Wickramasinghe his Prime Minister.      

Today, Sri Lanka is economically and in all other respects in ruins.  The principal preoccupation of the Prime Minster Ranil Wickramasinghe, and his cabinet of UNP Ministers is hunting for thieves under the previous government of Mahinda Rajapakse.  Even that is a complete failure as they cannot catch real thieves and take in all and sundry with any connection to the previous government of the  President Mahinda Rajapakse  or his  family.

There had never been a government even in the African continent as inefficient and utterly corrupt as the government of the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe.  Under the previous government of Mahinda Rajapakse every week saw a new project declared open or  declaring open already constructed building , road, hotels, schools and so forth.  But under Ranil Wickramasinghe’s government we only hear, practically every day of arrests and accusations against persons for probable acts of corruption.

One is sick about Yahapalanaya, which is not yahapalanaya at all,  but ways and means  to destroy  Sri Lanka that was raised from ruins of thirty years of terrorism to be  a vastly developed and a progressively developing country, by  a visionary leader Mahinda Rajapakse.

That period of changes taking place in Sri Lanka in its march towards progress and development has been made to be forgotten by the Ranil Wickrmasinghe’s taking Sri Lanka in to the fold of USA and the former Colonialists, as a subordinate satellite state.

More than one years after 8^th January, 2015 since the unfortunate political change took place givng power to a decidedly destructive, undeserved  UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe Sri Lanka languishes in the shade of  gloomy storm clouds of  coming political , economic and social disaster,  like a ship without its motor tossed up in waves of uncertainty without  a destination  in view, to be wrecked and  sink deep into the sea..

UNP with its erratic capitalist and pro Western pseudo-democratic policies is without a capitalist class within  to promote Sri Lanka in to  any sort of development.  In the absence of a local capitalist class to promote its political system UNP has to look for the capitalist countries of the West for its  political system to exist. 

That is what UNP had been doing from its inception  without any success and continue to do today with Ranil Wickramasinghe as the UNP Prime Minister.   Ranil Wickramasinghe  has no political vision for the development of the country and turns to USA, India , Germany and UK for inspiration.  The systems are poles apart and Sri Lanka as a result  is being strangled into suffocation without an outlet for its potential development.

Capitalist system has failed every where in the world, with financial crisis after crisis, nevertheless, with the  rich getting richer and the poor remaining poor. In the latest Exposition of Motor Vehicle is Geneva five hundred latest models  of a car had  all been sold at a cost of 2.6 mllion dollars each even before the opening of the show. Yet the west says it is facing a financial crisis 

The rich countries of the West even with their continuous financial crisis  can fall back on  its basic capital earned by robbing the countries they colonised or conquered.

It is only when there is even a small change from hard core  capitalism that countries show progress.  Socialism is a natural system of management, where as capitalism is artificial.  Even in USA it is Democratic Party which  is politically different if not socialist,  and more progressive than the Republican Party which in recent times took USA to war with Iraq.

But Sri Lanka is a poor country, which   Ranil Wickramasinghe and his Foreign Minister buddy Mangala Samaraweera are trying to take it by the scruff of its neck to throw it  into the den of the monstrous Western capitalist regimes.  Sri Lanka will naturally be eaten up by these monsters and Ranil Wickramasinghe  would not rescue Sri Lanka from being mangled ad devoured by Western capitalism. 

Unfortunately the President Maithripala Sirisena, born an ungrateful man, and proved to be so chose the wrong man to be the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

Chandrika Kumaratunga had the guts to kick  Ranil Wickramasinghe out of power in 2004, but the President Maithripala Sirisena  weak and  dependent on Ranil Wickramasinghe dares not mind playing the second role to the Prime Minister. Maithripala Sirisena suffers the same ignominy Chandrika Kuamratunga suffered under Ranil  Wickramasinghe from 2002 to 2004.

Chandrika has been blinded by hatred and desire for vengeance, she seems to have forgotten the de facto position she was pushed into by Ranil Wickramasinghe  who was acting as the President , even going to meet President Bush in the White House.

Ranil Wickramasinghe does not maintain the dignity of his office  as a Prime Minister.  He behaves like a circus clown  in the Parliament calling its members  pimps, monkeys, gypsies, donkeys and beggars, laughing at the same time at his jokes moving backwards and forward  to see that his UNP cohorts are enjoying his joke.

Ranil Wickramasinghe  is unable to make a decent speech in parliament. He looses his temper and abuses the members of the parliament.  When the  President asked  Prime Mnister Ranil Wickramasinghe to remove the Governor of the Central Bank after the Bond Scam, he turned a deaf ear and transferred the Central Bank Employees who raised their voices against the bond scam.

Ranil Wickramasinghe  speaks of democracy, but he acts as a dictator.  When the ETCA agreement with India is being heavily criticised he  does not consent to discuss the agreement in parliament nor is he willing to present it for a public debate. He instead says that he will pass it by June, this year. He refused to discuss the ETCA agreement with the Medical Officers Association. 

Ranil Wickramasinghe’s government is facing a serious financial crisis , but his way out of it  is not consulting the Parliament to find a solution  together, but to immediately blame the former President Mahinda Rajapakse as the cause of the present financial problem, which is certainly not true, as it is his government that lost  2 billion Rupee in the Central Bank Bond Scam.

His continuous existence as the Prime Minister depends on to what extent he can blame the former government for every problem he faces.  He  refuses to understand that his problem arises from his hatred towards the former President Mahinda Rajapakse, his  continuous efforts to take revenge from him and his family.

These negative thoughts make him blind to finding correct solutions to the  problems which are of his own making. If he can clear his mind of the debris of hatred he may be able to see thing better,  and even consult the Previous President Mahinda Rajapakse to find a solution to present day problems.

He should not have antagonised China to please USA and India.  China is the only country which can help developing countries as they give unconditional loans along with technical aid.  USA or any other country of the West hasn’t got the  money to help developing countries, but instead they will get its multimillionaires, and companies to invest in acquiring  large extents of land to set up fruit farms and build their industrial plants to  control  developing countries economically, and politically.

Ranil Wickramasinghe takes decisions  without foresight to solve immediate problems, but does not consider future damage his  decision may cause to Sri Lanka. Ranil Wickramasinghe  expecting Saudi Arabian financial aid to overcome the present financial debacle of Sri Lanka allows Saudi Arabia  to set up Shariah Banks.

The activities of Ranil Wickramasinghe’s government are not transparent.  He does not allow public debate of his proposals that seriously affect the country.  According to statements made by some Indian Ministers  the Indian Government has already allocated funds and the construction work for  a bridge between India and Sri Lanka has  already begun at  Indian end, but Ranil Wickramasinghe  ignores concerns of the people of Sri Lanka with regard to the building of the bridge to connect South India and North of Sri Lanka.

It is because of the mistakes of Ranil Wickramasinghe’s UNP policies that Sri Lanka is facing problems which cannot be settled without selling Sri Lanka to the West.  The country had neither financial problems nor serious political problems under Mahinda Rajapakse.  But as the USA with its experts on regime change carefully studied  solution to  change Mahinda Rajapakse Government, every body fears to deny the falsity of accusations that led to regime change.

The solution they found was to accuse  Mahinda Rajapakse his Government  his family and all connected to Mahinda Rajapakse as thieves who had made money from all development projects, took bribes, earned commissions and stole gold,  killed journalists, and started a white van culture of kidnapping and killing opponents.

What has happened as a result is that every one is ready to accept that  argument without any  proof of the accusations. In a recent TV Debate a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank when he was asked, why the former Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse had managed to develop the country  without  encountering any financial problems for five years after the elimination of  terrorism, said that the figures quoted by the previous government were in correct.  He was obviously someone who was discontent that he could not replace the Governor of the Central Bank Mr. Cabral.

But reality , though the hard core UNP sympathisers and those who are prejudiced against Mahinda Rajapakse and his family for some reason or other , is that Mahind Rajapakse and his family had not been benefitting from the development of Sri Lanka.  There was no reason for him or his family to resort to misappropriation or stealing of funds as, as the President he was entitled to  a salary, allowances and other necessities that come along with his position  for him to and his family to live in comfort and in respect. 

Mahinda Rajapakse would have never resorted to any mean ways of earning as he knew that once he is out of office  his enemies will not leave any stone unturned to find material  to tarnish  his image.  That is what is happening now and his enemies have not found any thing  but nevertheless tarnishing  his image by finding fault with him for everything they have been unable to do, they continue to paint him as  dark as they can do.

But with all accusation the fact remains that Mahinda Rajapakse  is the only political leader of ourt time who developed Sri Lanka after eliminating a ruthless terrorism. As it is with Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickramasinghe at the helm  one can be assured that  nobody after Mahinda Rajapakse  will raise Sri Lanka to what it was  before 8^th January, 2015.

Ranil Wickramasinghe was so intent on  eliminating Rajapakses from politics that he even created his own FCID to investigate people he wanted.  He was all out to please the West to the extent that,  as he did in the case of signing the CFA with Terrorist Prabhakaran, Ranil to sponser the USA Resolution against Sri Lanka presented at Geneva UN Human Rights Counciil, without consulting the Parliament. He is high handed arrogant and unable to think of the possible consequences of his acts.

Ranil Wickramasinghe keeps every one under his control, even the Speaker of the House Karu Jayasuria cannot take an independent decision in the House.  The Speaker  does not call to order the Prime Minister when he does not use parliamentary language when referring to the Members of the Parliament.

Ranil Wickramasinghe’s appointment of Sampanthan as the leader of the Opposition was irregular, and far from  yahapalanaya government’s assertion of respect to democracy.  The Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe does not respect the culture  of Sri Lanka and its historical past. His allowing the National Anthem to be sung in two language is unconstitutional and disrespectful to Sri Lanka with  its Sinhala Buddhist sentiments infused into it.

Ranil Wickramasinghe is not suitable to be the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka because his short term decision are  a long term  danger to the Sovereignty of Sri Lanka.  Ranil Wickramasinghe is not a patriot like Mahinda Rajapakse. Ranil Wickramsinghe wants to rebuild Sri Lanka on the model of Sigapore, Malaysia and South Africa.

Mahinda Rajapakse wanted  develop and build Sri Lanka as Sri Lanka with its unique Sinhala Buddhist back ground.  He further wanted to maintain the unitary state of Sri Lanka and bring together the communities without giving into political pressure by  the Tamils and the Muslims. 

That was the reason  why Mahinda Rajapakse lost the Presidential election. Mahinda Rajapakse was  a Sinhala Buddhist patriot. The teachings of the Buddha emanated from the Temple Trees the then residence of the President of Sri Lanka. 

Under Ranil Wickramasinghe’s government the Buddhist monks  are arrested and detained in jail.

Ranil wickramasinghe insults Buddhism see Video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RddXfSU0aSE

Why Yoshitha ? Why not Ravi Karunanayake, Arjun Mahendran and Ranil Wickramasinghe?

Law does not differentiate a Prime Minister or a common man. If any one commits a verbal or physical act which is against the law then he could be arrested  and brought, before the law. In law there should be sufficient legally acceptable evidence a  probable cause for reasonable suspicion to arrest a person  and brought him  before a judge. It is the judge who decide  on the existence of a probable cause for arrest.

Otherwise any person could be accused on very flimsy evidence and brought before a court of law causing detriment to his character and abuse of law to satisfy personal grievances against a person.  This is exactly what has happened in the case of Yoshitha Rajapakse. 

In Sri Lanka today under the guise of good governance there is an absence of law.  The Government manipulates the law to punish those they fear would  turn against their political mismanagement. The Government which  is Ranil Wickramasinghe and Maithripla Sirisena gets rid of Attorney Generals or require  judges to retire not because they are inefficient but because they cannot be made to do what  Ranil and Sirisena want them to do.   There is a Committee under 19A for appointment of Judges but the Commistttee has to agree on the President’s choice. There ends the independence of  Constitutional Committees.

 Since the coming into power of Sirisena –Ranil duo nothing happens according to accepted norms of law and order.  Persons continue to be arrested by the sinister FCID of the Prime Minister,  and arrests are made without giving reasonable cause or  reasonable suspicions.

The graves are dug and bodies exhumed, without evidence of  reasonable suspicions.  Swimming pools which have been covered are uncovered to look for hidden treasures.  The grounds are dug up to search gold supposed to have been stolen by the former President Mahinda Rajapakse.   There is a deputy Minister whose duty,  it appears is to accuse the persons of previous government for hidden money in banks, shares in hotels, or  constructing Buddhist  meditation centres.

Is it not time that Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickramasinghe stop this paranoia and begin  to do some work for the country and ameliorate the condition of living of the people ? 

It does not help the country, people, or the government to make, catching thieves , bribe-takers, and arresting money launders, their whole occupation.  Enough is enough , it is time to get down to do some work and seriously think  of taking  action  to help the country and the people instead of selling the Sovereignty of Sri Lanka to the West, building bridges between south India and north of Sri Lanka, signing agreements  with India that are detrimental to  Sri Lanka and its people.

Yahapalanaya should take serious steps to separate the legislative, executive and the Judiciary.  As it is the Judiciary has become a Yahapalanaya family affair.  The Judges are frightened to antagonize the Ranil -Sirisena duo and make judgements to satisfy them. The Police takes orders from the Prime Minister and a Committee set up by him.

We see this Judicial fear in the Ravi Karuynanayake’s money laundering case involving 390 million rupees received from Raja Rajaratnam the American Tamil Millionaire who financed the Tamil terrorists.   The case was settled unders suspicious circumstances in a very short time  by the High Court Judge Iranganee Perera  who acquitted Ravi Karunanayake.  Strangely,  the Judge Iranganie Perera retired immediately after the case.  She was later appointed as the High Court Commissioner.  Ravi Karunanayake was acquitted on technical grounds. The court hearing of the  case left  much to be desired.

In the case of Yoshitha Rajapakse there is no evidence as to money laundering as in the case of Ravi Karunanayake. Yoshitha had proposed the setting up of a TV station reserved for sports.  Some persons and agencies had contributed by providing loans for its setting up. The agreements for the loans taken  had been  refused  to be  accepted by the FCID, which considers the loans as “black money.”  

In the case of Ravi Karunanayake there was certitude that the money in question had come from Raja Rajaratnam. But  the case took a different turn since the government had changed and Ravi Karunanayake  was appointed the Minister of Finance.

Incidentally, talking about  money laundering, the Government has not divulged to the public  the Belgian  who parked one billion dollars,  and another who parked a similar amount in the Sri Lanka Central Banka . In the absence of information, it is normal that one have doubts.

One also begins to questions why Sri Lanka Yahapalanaya leaders  have suddenly taken  a great interest in Singapore. 

They go to hospitals in Singapore, even Ranil Wickramasinghe visits Singapore unofficially quite  often . Yahapalanaya is even getting down specialists from Singapore to re-organise the  Sri Lanka Foreign Service. The Governor of the Sri Lanka Central Bank is a citizen of Singapore. Has  this great interest in Singapore on the part of the Yahapalanaya Government has anything  to do  with the billions of rupees involved in the Sri Lanka Central Bank Bond scam ? 

There is no information as to what happened to the two  billion rupees involved in the Sri Lanka Bond Scam.  The whole Bond Scam issue has been conveniently covered up.  The COPE report was never allowed to see the light of day.  Will the new COPE President Handunetti of JVP take it up ?

 2. 3 million dollars said to have been received by the CSN from a questionable foreign source  and the failure to give details of how Rs.234 million was obtained  were the reasons  on which Yoshitha Rajapakse has been arrested and refused bail . These amounts  are just peanuts compared to the money involved in the Central Bank Bond Scam.  Yet Ranil Wickramasinghe’s FCID  has not bothered to look for these bond scam rogues who are free  while Yoshitha Rajapakse has been arrested and  refused bail.

Is their law and order under Yahapalanaya Government which controls every thing ?  Accusations on which persons are arrested by the FCID are questionable, and no body in Sri Lanka is safe-today, as blame and guilt could easily be fabricated by the FCID established by the establishment to arrest any one it wants.

The  thieves and bribe takers , and money launders in Sri Lanka, according to the Yahapalanaya government of Maithripala and Ranil,  are those who are in some way  connected to  the former President Mahinda Rajapakse. 

In a recent Rupawahini TV Debate “Kauda Atta Kiyanne”, Attorney Mr. Thishara Dissanayake said, quoting a news paper that at a special committee meeting where the action against those arrested by FCID is discussed,  Minister Rajita Seanaratna had told the IGP who was present that even though there are accusations against the members of the  family of the former President Mahinda Rajapakse , no body has still been arrested, and he had  pointed his finger at the IGP and told him that he should get the FCID to arrest Yoshita Rajapakse.  If that is how Yoshitha Rajapakse came to be arrested then this government has become a police state- a dictatorship of Yahapalanaya .   The TV debate was on whether the CSN  where Yoshitha Rajapakse was the Organiser, was set up for the purpose of money laundering and not because of the necessity for a TV  Station exclusively for Sport.

Yoshitha Rajapakse had been arrested for political purposes and to get credit to the Yahapalanaya Government’s principle activity of  accusation and arrestation of persons of the family of the former President Mahinda Rajapakse.

The Yahapalanaya is an extreme rightist political party of Ranil Wickramasinghe a member of the Mount Pelerin Society.  He is very keen in abolishing the Executive Presidency,  as then he as the Prime Minsiter will have power  making the  President a political decoration. In fact Maithripala Sirisena has little power as it is the UNP led by Rani Wickramasinghe which takes political decisions.

Recently Ranil Wickramasinghe’s Foreign Minister  in a question and answer session after he made a speech to the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC on 25 February, 2016, phoo-poohed the  President Maithripala Sirisena’s statement that he would not allow foreign judges in a court established in Sri Lanka  to  try the war heroes,  as a personal opinion of the President.

“…..Samaraweera responding to a question from the audience said that Sri Lanka is still open for international actors including judges, forensic experts and other relevant professionals, as he thinks it is only fair that the victims of the war would want some form of guarantee.

He also said that the government is looking into all options and come up with a Special Court that is not only credible but also acceptable to all victims of the war, within the next five to six months.

However, when the person who posed a question raised the point that President Sirisena has clearly ruled out foreign involvement Samaraweera responded:

"What the President has expressed is his own opinion, and in Sri Lanka there are various thoughts on how this matter should be handled. Frankly, we too admit the need of international participation in the process, and even some nationalist parties in Parliament agree. There is general agreement across the board that a Special Court will have to be set up in Sri Lanka if the process is to have any credibility, as the Judiciary has lost its credibility over the past 10 years due to the politicization of the judicial process by the previous government.”

( https://www.ceylontoday.lk/142-119521-news-detail-president-outraged-at-mangala.html)

This is the Yahapalanaya that exists in Sri Lanka under Ranil Wickramasinghe. The President Maithripala Sirisena  is only a decoration, without a voice in Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy which has been  exclusively taken over by Ranil Wickramasinghe and his Foreign Minster Mangala Samaraweera.

This is the Yahapalanaya Government that says it got rid of the white van culture. Yahapalanaya has instead set up the FCID creating a Culture of fear of arrest by FCID where  any one may be  arrested at any time without reasonable cause merely for political reasons.

Yoshitha Rajapakse has been arrested under the Money Laundering Act, and the High Court judge has refused to grant bail. Was it that serious , considering the money laundering case against Ravi Karunanayake ?

 

Given below is the Colombo Telegraph report on Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayak’s Money Laundering case.

 

In this case Ravi Karunanayake was acquitted by the High Court Judge Iranganie Perera.  But what happened after  that case is  rather  curious. The Judge Perera retired after the case.  Now she has been appointed by this Yahapalanaya Government as High Courts Commissioner.  A promotion for judicial favours ? One wonders.

 

Charles.S. Perera

 

Finance Minister Ravi K’s Money Laundering Case Postponed

January 30, 2015 | Filed under: Colombo Telegraph,News,Popular Stories,STORIES | Posted by:COLOMBO_TELEGRAPH

The Colombo High Court yesterday postponed the case against Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake who has been charged with allegedly facilitating money laundering, for March 4.

The case as postponed by High Court Judge Devika de Livera Tennakoon when Defence Counsel Reinzie Arsekualaratne informed the judge that Minister Karunanayake was unable to be present before the Courts yesterday as he was due to present the 2015 interim budget before the parliament.

As there was no objection from the prosecution, the case was postponed to March 4.

The Attorney General indicted Nexia Corporation, Linton Sirisoma and Karunanayake for allegedly facilitating money laundering in violation of Central bank regulations and the Exchange Control Act by depositing Rs. 390 million in a Standard Chartered bank account, which had been later used to purchase shares of the Union Bank. The transfer had been made by Sri Lankan American billionaire and hedge fund dealer Raj Rajarathnam.

During the hearings it was alleged that Karunanayake was directly involved in the fraud and that he intervened to collect the funds once the money was deposited in Sri Lanka.

“Exchange Control is the function of the Central Bank. The Central Bank is governed by the Monetary Board. The Secretary/Finance (Treasury) is a member of the Monetary Board. The Minister of Finance is the Boss of the Secretary/Finance. How nice to have a person charged with Exchange Control crimes as Finance Minister” a good governance activist told Colombo Telegraph.

Responding to the question above a retired secretary to the finance ministry said; “The Exchange Control offence as far as I am aware from a reading of the newspapers is a technical offence, namely the failure to inform the Exchange Controller of an inward remittance of foreign exchange. Actually Exchange control is generally reserved for outward payments and not for inward remittances since the rationale for Exchange Control is to control outward payments which can worsen the balance of payments. After the Money Laundering Act was passed the rationale for reporting of inward remittances above the threshold fixed by the Controller is to control money laundering and terrorist financing. So if the case falls under one of these two there would be a serious situation even if the case is pending and not proved. But if the case is merely for the failure to report to the Controller I think it is a technical offence.”

“The remittance came through the banking system and all such remittances are reported by the banks to the Central Bank in any case. While a departmental inquiry under the Exchange Control Act may have been necessary I am not sure whether it warranted a criminal case to be instituted. Of course I don’t know all the facts and would not want to comment since the matter is sub judice.”

“The late N.U Jayawardene would lament that the biggest mistake he made in his public office was to pass the Exchange Control Act. Exchange Control was introduced by the British colonial ruler to prevent enemy forces undermining Sterling since the British Government was no in a position to convert the pound sterling during the war and even for several years afterwards. There was the Sterling Assets Agreements with the colonies.

“With the end of the war the Defence Regulations lapsed and with it Exchange Control. There was no rationale for retaining Exchange Control as the county did not face any balance of payments problems then. NUJ lamented because he reproduced the Exchange Control Defence Regulations which included inward as well as outward remittances. The new Minister should review this outdated law and amend it suitably if he wants to attract foreign investment to the country. Of course being heavily indebted to foreign bankers and to China the country now needs all inward remittances to be able to repay the foreign debt as it falls due.” he further said.