Rajapaksa backs his officials in ‘sil redi’ case

• Says they were simply following his orders as President 
• Insists ‘sil redi’ was not given with motive to gain votes 
• Points out TRC board approved fund transfer, due process followed 
• Verdict has “serious implications” for all state employees  

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday backed his previous secretary Lalith Weeratunga and ex-TRC head Anusha Pelpita saying they had carried out an order given by him and insisted that the verdict placed serious implications on public officials at all levels. 

Releasing a statement, he also said the board of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) had approved the order to release funds for ‘sil redi’ and therefore it could not be perceived as misuse of public funds. He also claimed that since the officials were carrying out an order given by Rajapaksa when he was president it could not be equated to vote-buying. 

“Under our constitution, the direction and control of the Government is the responsibility of the Cabinet of Ministers (including the President) and the public service is expected to work in good faith to achieve the policy objectives of the Government. Therefore public servants who carry out lawful instructions issued to them by the President and the Cabinet should be protected if there are no serious allegations of corruption against them,” his statement said, adding, “this has very serious implications for state employees at all levels.”

Drawing a parallel between the ‘sil redi’ donations and distribution of school uniforms, Rajapaksa argued that then the latter could also be seen as an effort to win votes.

“The mode of distribution did not enable the beneficiaries to be selected on political grounds. School uniforms are also distributed towards the end of the year and cannot be withheld even if an election was on. Nobody would suggest that the receipt of school uniforms during an election would influence the result of the election. The sil redi was also general state aid distributed across the board to Buddhist devotees just like the school uniforms. In fact the suppliers of school uniforms to the Government had been mobilised for the sil redi project as well. The sil redi was not meant just for adults of voting age.”

The statement also gave exhaustive details on the due process followed by Weeratunge and Pelpita in documenting the transaction. He also suggested that several employees of the Presidential Secretariat should have been allowed to give evidence.   

“Regrettably, the written evidence presented to courts in the form of Lalith Weeratunga’s minutes giving instructions to the Chief Accountant or the Senior Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Secretariat in relation to this project has not been considered in the judgment delivered by the High Court.”

“If this becomes a precedent, no State employee charged in a court of law will ever be able to prove his innocence. The unanimous approval of Anusha Pelpita’s board paper by the TRC board of directors on 15 December 2014 has also not been taken into account in a situation where the authority with exclusive power to utilise the funds of the TRC is the TRC board of directors. This will have serious implications for all private sector and state sector bodies that are run by boards of directors. The severe sentence imposed on Lalith Weeratunga and Anusha Pelpita is not because they enriched themselves through corrupt means but because they carried out the instructions of the head of state to distribute sil redi to temples in pursuance of the Government’s obligations under Article 9 of the Constitution to foster and protect Buddhism.”

‘Sil redi case’ was about misappropriating public funds and breaking election law: UNP MPs

• Marrikar stresses politicians should take responsibility for orders

By Chathuri Dissanayake 

A group of UNP parliamentarians yesterday sought to clarify the reasons behind the imprisonment of two former government employees amidst claims they were acting to protect Buddhism. 

“The issue is not because they distributed ‘sil redi’ but because they misappropriated public funds,” UNP MP S.M. Marrikar told reporters at a press conference held at the Government Information Department.

Dispelling claims that both Lalith Weeratunga, who was at the time serving as President’s Secretary, and former Telecom Regulations Chairman Anusha Palpita were acting for the betterment of Buddhism as argued by some groups, Marrikar pointed out that the duo were prosecuted for violating election law and misappropriating public funds. 

“This is an attempt to score points during the upcoming local government elections. They have no other option so they have now donned the patriotic cloak. This drama will be over soon when the local government elections are over,” he claimed. 

“The UNP will win a majority of the local governments in this election easily,” Marrikar predicted. 

Marrikkar also said that the case will help deter any public officials from being compelled to carry out any unlawful orders given by politicians.

The MP also plans to bring a private bill before Parliament to ensure that politicians take responsibility for instructions and orders given to be carried out by government servants. 

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday claimed that the two public officials were being punished for carrying out orders given by the Executive President of the country, stressing that the verdict has serious implications on public officials at all levels.  

However, MP Nalin Bandara, commenting on the statement, said Rajapaksa could have owned up to giving the directive during the time the case was heard in courts instead of waiting till the verdict was announced. 

Bandara urged Buddhist monks to not allow individuals to use the religion for private gains. Quoting Buddhist scripture, the MP said that even the Buddha has spoken against alms offered in the name of Buddhism with ill-gotten funds.

He also stressed that if they go on ‘pidusinga’ to collect funds to pay fines imposed by the court for this crime, then the monks will be compelled to follow suit for verdicts on murder cases and other misappropriation cases which are ongoing at present. 

“If they do this today for the sil redi case, which is about misappropriating funds and breaking election law, then they will have to do the same after the verdicts are given for the murders of Thajudeen, Lasantha and the MIG deal too,” Bandara said. 

Agreeing with him, Marikkar alleged that the effort by monks and factions supporting them was to cover up the sources of Rajapaksa’s ill-gotten funds with which they plan to pay the fines imposed by the Court.

AG noticed to state position on appeal against ‘Sil’ Cloth verdict on 20 September 

The Colombo High Court yesterday issued notice for Attorney General to appear before courts on September 20 to state his position on the appeal against ‘Sil’ Cloth verdict.

Attorney President’s Counsel Kalinga Indratissa representing the former Secretary to the former President Lalith Weeratunga and the former Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Anusha Palpita told the court that his clients have filed an appeal contesting the High Court verdict on the trial.

The Counsel requested the court to release the two defendants on bail until the appeal is heard and a ruling is given.

Colombo High Court Judge Gihan Kulatunga last week sentenced the two former senior government officials after they were found guilty of misappropriating state funds for the reelection campaign of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. They were each sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fined 2 million rupees each.

Considering the counsel’s request, Judge Gihan Kulatunga issued notice to Attorney General to appear before the court on 20th September to state his position on the defendants’ appeal.