Spotlight

Economy in the doldrums

It appears that the coming weeks and months, probably the years too are going to be remarkably critical for Sri Lanka. The gross official reserves seem to have fallen to dramatic levels during the last weeks and seemingly not many are in the know of the seriousness of the status of Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves.

 Also it is interesting to note that the situation is similar (or worse) to the one that prevailed during Sirima Bandaranaike’s regime. Of course at that time imports were few and far between and hence it is not even meaningful compared to today’s import-dependent economy with the one that prevailed at that time.

The recent approach of the government to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for a rescue package of US$ 1.9 billion is a clear indication of scraping the bottom. Interestingly the dupes in high positions in the government who chased the IMF out of Sri Lanka only a couple of years ago, never ever envisaged that they will be going on bended knees knocking on the doors of the IMF so soon.

Sri Lanka’s creditworthiness

Now that Sri Lanka’s creditworthiness is downgraded from bad to worse, obtaining a reasonable loan from any international giver would be out of the question.

Conceivably it’s not pertinent to blame only the Central Bank. Though it is supposed to give independent opinion/ advice on the economic situation, unfortunately it is headed by a political appointee whose only task seems to be justifying every stupid act of those at the helm of the government.

His knowledge of economics or rather lack of it was clearly demonstrated many a time in the recent past. In the latest ‘talks’ the Central Bank Governor had with the media it was very evident that he doesn’t know whether he was coming or going.

People who make money out of shady pyramid scams are not the best to run the epicentre of a country’s economy. Since its inception the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has been kept under the direction and guidance of capable, qualified, eminent, renowned and reputed economists of the country to provide economic advice to the government.

Highest inflation rate

Moreover, Sri Lanka has supposedly recorded the highest inflation rate in the South Asian region in 2008 and is not far from the top in the whole world. Prices of goods and services including essential supplies have risen dramatically in 2008 exemplifying that the Central Bank has lost its control completely.

In order to diverge the blame they went to the extent of changing the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI).

Furthermore, from the betel seller down the street to the top blue-chip business has plunged dramatically. Production plants are being shut down line by line. Employees are being retrenched by the hundreds and thousands. Local and foreign business firms doing contracts with the government bodies such as the Road Development Authority don’t get paid regularly and also the story is similar with the local bodies such as municipal councils, urban councils, pradeshiya sabhas and so on. Some local bodies too are considering trimming their work force as a first step.

Businesses in Panchikawatte

Motor parts businesses in Panchikawatte and elsewhere in the island are shuddering. Even the wayside boutique owners are grumbling. Almost all big and small businesses are struggling through the toughest tides they have ever experienced.

This phenomenon is rapidly engulfing both urban and rural areas pretty fast. There is an appalling deficiency of liquid cash in the market which has created utter pandemonium in the system.

The whole country is fast spinning into a totally insentient state of affairs. Of course it is not clear as to why the Central Bank Chief or any other authority doesn’t talk on the realities on the ground situation. All these things lead to believe that the Treasury has no funds to cater to budgeted projects and that has caused grave starvation of the business sector; the main cause being the horrific monetary management style of the government.

The world economic crunch

Of course with the added effect of the world economic crunch the situation has worsened but the grave trade and industry catastrophe Sri Lanka is heading towards is undoubtedly one of its own creation.

Though the Central Bank Governor and the government are riding on excuses such as the war and the world economic crisis the effect of these is a fraction of the moneys they busted in the last couple of years on futile ventures such as Mihin Air, oil hedging deal, purchase of jets at exorbitant prices etc.

For instance, if Mihin Air did not come into being the country would have had in its reserves over five times what they are now begging from the IMF. Amidst all these grave tribulations one minister close to the President attempted to purchase a five star hotel in Colombo at a ridiculously high price to locate the head office of one of the institutions under his purview.

Cabinet sanction

If not for the timely revelation in the media this deal would have got cabinet sanction. Of course the following week the man who exposed it in the media sacrificed his life to assassins on motorbikes.

Nevertheless, if and when the rescue package of US$ 1.9 billion from IMF is received, neither the government nor its supposed to be economic advisor the Central Bank could use it in the development process in order to reap some benefit. It is very unlikely that it will happen despite various claims of building reserves, but instead it will go in to day to day consumption.

This is no different to what happened when the government received several other loan packages from various consortiums and local and international lending bodies in the last couple of years. In many instances loans were taken to repay installments of previous loans.

All these shortsighted deeds on the part of the government and its Central Bank only leads one to believe that a hyperinflation situation is on the cards. It is time that all Sri Lankans should pray to alleviate the country from heading towards protests, remonstrations, violence, bloodshed and robberies like in some African countries going through similar circumstances. Also it is time that all citizens implore better brains to get involved in the process of governance.

Swindlers Unlimited strikes again

By Nirmala Kannangara

Quick on the heels of the Golden Key scam that left thousands of depositors virtually on the street, evidence has now emerged of how Ceylinco Developers Limited (CDL), yet another member of Ceylinco Consolidated has cheated thousands of their clients in the Millennium City housing complex project at Athurugiriya.

Initiated in 1999 as a Board of Investment (BOI) project, Millennium City, Athurugiriya, had promised many facilities to its residents to promote an affluent lifestyle. But the  residents now say that all these promises have turned out to be broken promises.

The Millennium City (MC) comprises 1575 houses in four categories — Paradis, Olympus, Tulip and Heartland. Although several free services to the residents including interior street lights, solid waste disposal, a proper road network, playground, pavilion, a lake, swimming pool, gymnasium, a club house, civil centre, shops and restaurants, commercial banks, pre-school and a day-care center, medical centre, post office/communication centre, bus terminal, public toilets and 24 hour centrally controlled security etc., had been promised at the time of purchase of these houses, only a few of these facilities have been provided according to the residents.

“We are ready to take legal action against CDL for their failure to provide us with what they promised initially and in the public interest we decided to expose the CDL gimmicks as we want people to be cautious of CDL in their future dealings,” claimed Paradise residents.

A BOI project

According to them, although Millennium City was a BOI project and had received tax concessions to import good quality material for construction, CDL has used low quality raw materials and had failed to pass on the BOI benefits to the residents.

 “If the BOI had waved duty in the importation of construction inputs, then there is a serious doubt as to whether they have cheated the BOI as well. Looking at the timber used for doors and windows, the floor and wall tiles and the other accessories one could easily say that CDL has not used the imported raw materials,” claimed residents.

Meanwhile when queried as to why CDL has not constructed the houses to  the promised standard, and failed to provide the facilities promised, Executive Director CDL, Sisira Weerabahu told The Sunday Leader that they had not cheated their clients and have fulfilled their promises.

 “Who says that we have cheated the residents? We have neither cheated them nor have we reduced the facilities that were promised,” claimed Weerabahu.

However The Sunday Leader is in possession of the letters sent by CDL to Millennium City residents that the services would be discontinued if payments were not made for the services provided.

A monthly fee

When asked as to why CDL has decided to charge a monthly fee to provide the services that they initially promised, Weerabahu said that CDL had not promised to provide the services free of charge.

However when told that their brochures, paper advertisements and TV commercials clearly indicated that all these extra facilities were to be  provided free of charge, Weerabahu said that it was only a sales gimmick to attract people.

Meanwhile The Sunday Leader learns that a confrontation is brewing up between the Paradis Residents Forum (PRF) (a committee formed to discuss the issues faced by the Paradis residents) and CDL on the issues faced by the residents.

 According to PRF members although the time has come for the members to get together to win their demands the forum president whose interests are well looked after by CDL is allegedly trying to side with the developers and not the membership.

Own forums

 It is also learnt that the residents of the other three housing categories – Olympus, Tulip and Heartland too have formed their own forums to take up their issues with the developers.

“President, PRF, Priya Umagiliya and several other members are working hand in glove with CDL, and are urging the membership to pay money for the services provided. How could he take a decision on his own? Is he with the members or with CDL?” queried the PRF members.

Meanwhile when asked as to what action the PRF would take against CDL for the proposed plan to discontinue the services, President PRF, Priya Umagiliya told The Sunday Leader that unless PRF takes over the management from CDL the residents could not expect the facilities given to them any longer.

However Umagiliya too agreed that CDL has failed to keep its promises and accused the developers of charging the residents for the services provided.

According to him there are no defects in houses as claimed by the PRF members and blamed the occupants for bad maintenance.

Minor defects

“Other than very minor defects which cannot be considered as CDL’s fault, mine is a perfect house. If the occupants do not maintain their houses properly its their fault and not the developers. We were not pressurised to buy these houses. It was our own decision. If so why didn’t the buyers fail to take expert advise before purchasing these houses without accusing the developers now,” asked Umagiliya.

Meanwhile The Sunday Leader spoke to a cross section of the PRF and according to them, they have spent more than Rs.5 million for a house in 1999 when the actual cost to get a house built with the best raw materials would have been half the amount paid to CDL.

“We knew that we could get a good house built for half of the price we spent for MC houses but since we were assured 24 hour security, free access to the swimming pool, club house, gymnasium, recreational facilities etc., we bought these houses. We were cheated very badly and we would take CDL to courts if they reduce the services or discontinue the facilities,” PRF members said.

Swimming pool

The Millennium City swimming pool, which was exclusively reserved only for the residents has now been given to some international schools and private entities for their use.

“Children from various international schools now use our swimming pool and the club house stripping us of our privacy,” Kosala Wijetunga told The Sunday Leader.

H.M.P. Bandara, Past President Paradis Forum (2005/06) and other residents such as Sudharma de Silva, Sripalee Gamage, Dr. H.D.P. Handapangoda, Srineil Jayewardene and Ashley Alwis told The Sunday Leader that they had lost confidence in CDL.

“Our houses are not built to a proper standard. There are defects in plumbing, the floor tiles, doors and windows and also in walls. Although this was brought to the notice of  CDL in writing they have failed to attend to them,” they added.

The residents also accused CDL of failing to provide other services including 24-hour security, removal of garbage, interior street lights, free access to the club house and  swimming pool etc; and said that the PRF membership had decided to discontinue the payments they have been making to CDL.

 “Although we pay assessment tax to the Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) we are still asked by CDL to pay money for our garbage removal. Failure to pay results in our garbage not being removed. Since Umagiliya is working hand in glove with CDL,  the developers have now taken a upper hand,” they alleged.  

Seneviratne speaks – the other side of Taru’s tale 

By R. Wijewardene 

Last week The Sunday Leader revealed that an ugly dispute lay behind the well-designed façades of the Taru Villas group of boutique hotels. 

Taru alleges that she was duped and bullied into ceding control of the company to businessman Asanga Seneviratne and she insists that the group’s flagship boutique property at Bentota — ‘Taprobana’ is being occupied illegally.

This week however Asanga Seneviratne responds. He claims that Taru’s allegations are nothing but a series of exaggerations, fabrications and outright lies, and maintains that as the owner of Taru Villas Pvt. Limited he has every right to continue to operate Taprobana and the other group properties.

“I bought my share of the company legitimately, legally and honestly,” asserts Seneviratne — who says he has been falsely and maliciously accused of squatting and evicting the Taprobana’s rightful owner from the property. There are two sides to every tale and this week The Sunday Leader features Seneviratne’s  side.  

No angel

Entering Taru’s offices you find there are two oversized angels at the door — design pieces as Taru seems to have gone back to basics returning to her roots as an interior designer. But while cherubs guard her office – Taru herself is no angel and this week she faces the allegation that the story she supplied to The Sunday Leader regarding the situation at Taprobana was a gross misrepresentation of the truth.

Q: It is alleged that you have a reputation for exaggeration  and that your story regarding Taprobana is a case in point — do you stand, entirely, by what you said last week? 

Taru: Of course.  I am doing this because I believe that my cause is righteous. I stand 100% by what I said. Ultimately I am doing this only because I have been put in an untenable position. I was contractually obliged to return Errol Cumaravel’s property to him on March 31 this year as per  the terms of my lease agreement but was  unable to do so as Taru Villas Pvt. Limited — owned by Seneviratne continues to occupy the property.

Q: Seneviratne says that he bought Taru Villa’s entirely legitimately and for a large sum of money?

Taru: I never claimed otherwise.  A certain sum was paid and I ceded control of the company. I am not a director, share holder, employee, consultant or in any way connected to Taru Villas Pvt. Limited.  

Q: But was Errol Cumaravel really thrown out of his property at Taprobana as you claimed?

Taru: He was threatened with eviction and not allowed to enter his home.  He has filed complaints demanding that I return vacant possession of Taprobana by 31st of March. I am effectively being accused of squatting on his land but I cannot return his property as Taru Villas Pvt. Limited, a company I have no connection with is currently occupying the premises.

Q: The lease you held on Taprobana expired on March 31, surely what happens at the property no longer concerns you?

Taru: As the lease holder I am obliged to return the property to Cumaravel – I am being prevented from doing this by Seneviratne – that’s what I am fighting for, for the right to abide by the contract I signed.

Q: How do you see this matter ultimately resolving itself?

Taru: This is a complicated issue  – but I believe in the righteousness of my cause  and that  the truth will out one day. If Cumaravel does reach a private agreement with Asanga I would welcome it.  Ultimately I want to move on and put this behind me but there must be justice.

Asanga Seneviratne responds:

For a man accused of squatting and forcibly wresting control of someone else’s business,   Asanga Seneviratne is disarmingly charming.  Relaxed and reasonably casual he gives the  impression of being a family man reasonably content with his lot in life. A hard-nosed and sharp businessman he maybe,  but making money is hardly a crime, and having been accused by Taru of various petty villainies  he seems genuinely keen  to present his side of the story;

Q: You’ve been accused of squatting, of wresting control of  a business from  a woman who was for a number of years a business partner and perhaps even a friend…?

Asanga: Really, I couldn’t care less what she says,  but some of these accusations…  well they are so utterly untrue that I felt it would be best to set the record straight.  Taru is a talented designer and I still believe that ours could have been a great partnership but ultimately things fell apart because  she seems to have some difficulty telling truth from fiction.

Q: So you think Taru’s version of the events at Taprobana is somewhat inaccurate?

Asanga: Somewhat inaccurate is a serious understatement. She accuses me of throwing Errol Cumaravel (the owner of Taprobana) out of his own property.  But that is simply untrue – Errol is in Taprobana right now — he was never thrown out.  He has been there for weeks with all his food and drinks on the house. 

Q: But according to Taru her lease expired on March 31 and Taru Villas Private Limited does not have a contract to operate the property? 

Asanga: Errol has agreed to lease me his property – Taru’s accusations are completely baseless.  I am the owner of Taru Villas Private Limited – and Taru was under a contractual obligation to hand over all the leases to the company.  The matter  no longer has anything to do with her.  I am the owner of Taru Villas Pvt. Limited and Errol Cumaravel, the owner of Taprobana, has agreed to lease his property to me – that’s really all there is to it.  

Q: Do you  regret how events at Taru Villas ultimately turned out?

Asanga: Well of course – it was not meant to end like this — our partnership was about creating beautiful spaces — places that really showcased the beauty of this island. I made every effort to work with her.  But at the end of the day the money I provided – the money that financed Taru Villas’ expansion was an investment in exchange for shares – it wasn’t charity.  To raise the capital for her projects Taru sold control of the business to me, she can’t deny that — but she was never prepared to accept it.  Still as a business we have to go forward and in fact we are still expanding – we have two acres of land on the beach, also at Bentota, we are developing and if you consider the original Taprobana stands on 70 perches you can imagine — we’ll be able to do something quite special with all this space.

Q: Is its business as usual at Taprobana?

Asanga: Of course.  It’s business as usual at Taprobana and at all our properties — anyone who thinks there is something underhand going on only  has to visit the properties —  the hospitality, the service, it’s completely genuine — no one has anything to hide.

The Inside Dirt

By The Shrew

Sri Lanka's 12th Air Force Commander Air Marshal Roshan Goonetilleke, son of former Air Marshal Harry Goonetilleke who was the fifth Commander of the SLAF has proved he is not a cut above the rest in lowering standards of educational criteria for cadet officers joining the SLAF in order to accommodate his 21 year-old-son Rehan Goonetilleke. 

The latter does not possess the necessary A/Level qualifications to sign up as a cadet pilot in the air force and so in January this year after the SLAF called for fresh cadet officers which specified A/Level's as a must to enter,  a subsequent advertisement placed only a few weeks later specified that only O/Level qualifications are required to join the SLAF as a cadet pilot.

Rehan Goonetilleke is to be inducted into the SLAF and is due over a period of time to receive a thorough grounding in flying both here and abroad.

Prior to signing up with the air force, the young Goonetilleke secured his Private Pilot License (PPL) from Skyline Aviation (Pvt) Ltd. two months ago.  A license, his father despite being Commander of the SLAF never paid for.

Course for free

A phone call to the company confirmed that it does not offer any flying courses for free.  However The Sunday Leader has confirmation that Rehan Goonetilleke was granted a PPL which costs 7000 US dollars (approx. Rs. 700,000), but his course fee was never paid.

This sad story of history repeating itself within the same family for the wrong reasons  does not end there. A high level source at the SLAF related  how many moons ago, Roshan Goonetilleke's late father Harry Goonetilleke during his tenure as SLAF Commander also changed the marking system in order to accommodate his son - Roshan.

Captain Chirananda Fernando who was at the time commanding officer of the flight training wing at China Bay was asked by Harry Goonetilleke to change the marking system in order to accommodate his son Roshan. The marking system at the time was a well established and formulated procedure laid down by the British as it took due consideration to theory and practicals, and did not need any amendments.

Captain Chira (as he is popularly known)  had refused but had said if the commander did so desire it he could effect such a change with a proper panel of officers or review board, from the next batch as Roshan Goonetilleke's batch had already started their training and exams and the marking was based on the old system.

Determined however to ensure that Roshan would get nominated as best flying cadet Harry Goonetilleke formed a panel of "YES" officers and effected the change, and thereby ensured that Roshan was made the best flying cadet under the new system whereas it would have been Lalith Wijetunge (now a SriLankan Airlines captain) had it been on the established marking system in place.

Disgusted

All this and more, compelled a disgusted Captain Chira to file his papers to leave the SLAF.  Harry Goonetilleke sat on the request for many moons. Thereafter Captain Chira met Captain Herby Wanigatunge who was close to President J.R. Jayewardene and he had taken Chira to meet JR.

Following this meeting, the very next day the President's Office had sent a letter to Air Marshal Harry Goonetilleke to approve the letter of request from Captain Chira and effect his release from the SLAF. Harry was also asked to submit an explanation as to why the request had not been "actioned" earlier but sat collecting dust.

Meanwhile more has followed at the SLAF by way of effecting change.  The Commander has now introduced a new recruitment and promotional criteria, which will effectively marginalise and discriminate hundreds of pilots who are currently part of the SLAF.

Under this new professional status, which will come into effect on June 30 this year, SLAF officers irrespective of the availability of vacancies, will not be provided an absolute guarantee for smooth passage from Wing Commander to Air Marshal.

All those aspiring to a successful career at the air force will  have to successfully navigate through the process spelt out in Air force Order - 753 to keep his/her career prospects alive.

The new order effectively differentiates career officers from non-career officers. In effect this means regular officers will be categorised into two categories namely, Command Professionals and Service Professionals.

Grading

Command Professionals will be those who opt to pursue a career in the air force until reaching the regulation retirement age or until, the expiry of the specified maximum period of service in particular substantive rank.

Service professionals will be those who have no desire to stay in the air force beyond the regular pensionable length of service (20 years for men - 15 for women) as described, while all officers of the Volunteer Air Force may be categorised as Service Professionals.   

Those who have been graded "Non-Career Officers" may at the discretion of the commander of the air force seek categorization as a Command Professional.  Service Professionals unlike their counterparts recruited as Command Professionals shall not be considered for promotion to any rank beyond Substantive Wing Commander.  That too is subject to provisions.  

No officer, who is above the rank of Temporary Wing Commander at the time of this order coming into effect and opts to become a Service Professional in accordance with the provision shall be considered for a further promotion.

Until now, officers of the regular air force until reaching the age of 55 would be promoted in the order of Squadron Leader, Wing Commander, Group Captain, Air Commodore and finally Air Vice Marshal.  One from among this group ultimately makes it to commander taking on the title of Air Marshal.

Service Professionals will be considered in the selection of officers to attend local and foreign career development courses of training and overseas visits offered by the air force only in the absence of suitable candidates from among the Command Professionals.

Cannot leave

In short, a Service Professional will not only have to forego a complete and sound training but also be prevented from leaving the service after 15 to 20 years depending on their gender unless granted permission to do so by the Commander.

Previously, senior officers of the ranks of Squadron Leader and Wing Commander were given advanced training and education at the Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) at Batalanda, Makola which was established in 1997 as the Army Command and Staff College.

Basic officer training is carried out at the Air Force Academy at the SLAF China Bay in Trincomalee. The academy offers a two-year programme of basic flight training and a variety of specialised courses. Pilot training is carried out at SLAF Anuradhapura by No. 1 Flying Training Wing using Cessna 150s for basic training and Nanchang CJ-6 (PT-6) aircraft for intermediate training.

Advanced jet training is carried out by the No. 14 Squadron in K-8 Karakorums based at SLAF Katunayake. Specialised training for different types of aircraft is carried out by the respective squadrons; this includes MiG-23UB, FT-7 and Kfir TC.2 used by the No. 5 Jet Squadron and No. 10 Fighter Squadron respectively, for this propose at SLAF Katunayake and for training for transports, Harbin Y-12s of the No. 8 Light Transport Squadron are used along with Bell 206s for helicopter training.

Training

Initial ground combat training for both officers and other ranks of both regular and volunteer forces are carried out separately at SLAF Diyatalawa in the garrison town of Diyatalawa. It also conducts advanced training for SLAF regiment officer cadets. Following training at SLAF Diyatalawa, general pilot branch officer cadets are sent to the Air Force Academy for flight training, and airmen and airwomen are sent to Advanced and Specialised Trade Training School for specialised training in different trades.

Air traffic controllers receive schooling at special facilities in Colombo as well as officer cadets from other branches. In addition, approximately 25 officers a year receive advanced training abroad, most commonly in Britain, India and, in recent years, at the United States Air Force Academy.

Wing Commander Ravi Jayasinghe, ADC to the Commander said Rehan Goonetilleke is still in the process of being interviewed. 

Commenting on the new Professional Status for SLAF officers Jayasinghe said that due to "the bulk" of officers now in the air force this was one way of dealing with the excess personnel.  "It is only applicable for commissioned officers" he said, insisting new recruits would all have to undergo "intensive training" for two years before being commissioned.

Commander uncontactable

Despite messages left with Air Marshal Roshan Goonetilleke's ADC and four attempts to reach him on his mobile phone the Air Force Chief could not be contacted for comment before this article went to print.