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People's
Bank claims Rs. 1.4 bn from SLIC
By
Faraz Shauketally
The
People's Bank has made a substantial claim on fellow
state owned Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation. The claim
for a staggering Rs 1.4 billion is for monies that have
been reported "lost" from their branches in the northern
areas.
It is
not clear how much of the premium was passed on to
re-insurers and the percentage that Sri Lanka Insurance
has kept "in-house"- but nevertheless this is a claim
for a substantial and significant loss.
Sources at SLIC confirmed the claim but were quick to
add that pro-active action by SLIC's investigators has
recovered a sum of approximately Rs. 600 million -
whilst also confirming that their investigations are far
from over. The same source said, "it's not a joke a
claim this size. Just because the claimant is a state
organ, we do not drop our procedures."
What
is most significant to note here is that People's Bank
has chosen the easy option: they have done very little
if anything, to attempt tracing and recovery of monies
lost. It could also be construed that the People's Bank
has cast aside the responsibilities imposed upon all
people in Sri Lanka by the Constitution of the Republic
- lucidly spelled out in Article 28 (D).
Article 28 (D) imposes a responsibility to ensure that
public property is not misused and wasted. This is the
same disregard the People's Bank displayed in the
"hedging" deals forgetting that both SLIC and the
People's Bank are state owned businesses and that the
monies claimed would end up from the same pot - that of
the Treasury.
The
monies recovered were in safes that were found in
various camps in the north - helping to vastly mitigate
the losses. SLIC is said to be foundering after the
Supreme Court ordered take over of the company by the
Treasury.
A
lethal combination of politically motivated decisions
with a Chairman openly and un-necessarily courting the
unions and a serious decline in productivity are said to
be the chief conspirators in SLIC's ever decreasing
market share of an otherwise lucrative business. Sources
at Sri Lanka Insurance have confirmed that the sales
figures reflect that only 70% of their stated target is
presently being met. In this backdrop the Chairman has
also increased the salaries of various grades by Rs
1,000 per month.
This
decline comes despite the President appointing a Board
which by and large - with perhaps a single exception -
is fully experienced and indeed capable of transacting
good governance at a corporate that is of significant
value to the progress and development of the Republic -
whether privately held or not.
The
paradox is that despite the flawed privatisation
process, the consortium controlled by business magnate
Harry Jayawardene had very much more success at running
SLIC than appears at the moment. These facts are certain
to cause palpitations at the Presidential Secretariat,
which had placed much hope in the success that they are
aware is possible at SLIC. It was the stated hope of the
President to showcase SLIC as a well run, managed and
successful venture which just so happened to be in the
control of the Treasury. The government is keen to prove
that commercial success is not the sole preserve of the
mercantile sector.
However the basic precepts required to deliver on these
shareholder expectations have been treated with a
flippancy that is shocking in the extreme. These
precepts include being passionately focused on cost,
performance and planned growth. It is ironic that the
Board, empowered fully by the Treasury the principal
shareholder, is muddle headed in its approach to its
stated target of being the dominant player in the
market.
(johnashkar@gmail.com)
CAASL mum on approval for latest
Sajin venture
By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
The
Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) is tight
lipped on whether former Mihin Lanka Chief Sajin Vaas
Gunawardena has received the necessary approval to
launch his planned domestic airline/aviation school.
Acting
Director General and CEO, CAASL Parakrama Dissanayake
was evasive and hesitated to respond to a query made by
The Sunday Leader if Vaas Gunawardena has received the
necessary approval from the Authority to commence
domestic flights.
Dissanayake first said that CAASL guidelines were
applicable to any one planning on commencing domestic
flights and that there was a procedure to be followed.
However, he did not respond to the repeated question
posed by The Sunday Leader if Vaas Gunawardena has
received CAASL approval to commence his project and said
that he could not respond "off hand."
When
asked if there was any other official at CAASL who could
respond to the query, Dissanayake said that he was the
official authorised to respond, but did not wish to
comment.
Vaas
Gunawardena requested for a loan from Lanka Orix Leasing
Company (LOLC) to purchase a Robinson R44 Raven
Helicopter.
The
purchase was made through a local company named Cosmos
Aviation (Pvt) Limited located at
Granier Road,
off Cotta Road, Borella.
The
Sunday Leader reliably learns that the helicopter
purchased by Vaas Gunawardena for his new project was
being assembled last week at the Deccan hanger at the
Ratmalana Airport.
Vaas
Gunawardene was not available for comment.
Meanwhile, the CAASL officials faced a controversy last
month when then CAASL Chairman, Lal Liyanarachchi
objected to the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) decision to
operate a domestic commercial airline without obtaining
an Air Operations Certificate (AOC), in total violation
of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)
procedures.
A few
weeks later, Liyanarachchi submitted his letter of
resignation.
Bending the law for the nephew
|
The Gazette Extraordinary
containing the Presidential Order |
By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
In a
move to ensure that his nephew holds government office,
President Mahinda Rajapakse has exempted a leading
Devale in Kataragama from the Buddhist Temporalities
Ordinance, which would usually bar such persons from
holding government positions.
President Mahinda Rajapakse through a Gazette
Extraordinary has exempted the Ruhunu Maha Kataragama
Devalaya of the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance to
permit Shasheendra Rajapakse to hold the office of Uva
Province Chief Minister while serving as the Basnayake
Nilame of the Kataragama Devalaya.
The
President through Gazette Extraordinary No. 1614/30 of
August 14, has ordered that the Ruhunu Maha Kataragama
Devalaya would be exempted from the operations of the
provisions of the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance.
Under
the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance, anyone holding
public office cannot serve in the religious institutions
covered by the Ordinance.
The
Sunday Leader learns that a person holding public office
could serve in a religious institution only if the chief
incumbent of the respective institution or the public
trustee has granted an exemption.
However, the Gazette issued on August 14, 2009 by the
President has prevented Shasheendra from requesting for
an exemption of the law from the chief incumbent or the
public trustee.
The
Gazette extraordinary states, "By virtue of the powers
vested in me by Section 3 of the Buddhist Temporalities
Ordinance (Chapter 318) as amended by Act, No. 3 of
1992, read with Article 44 (2) of the Constitution, I,
Mahinda Rajapakse, President of the Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka, do by this Order exempt the
Ruhunu Maha Kataragama Devalaya from the operation of
the provisions of paragraph (cc) of Section 14 of that
Ordinance."
Political interference and govt.
policies perpetuate poverty — ADB
By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
The
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has claimed that political
interference and the proliferation of government
institutions have undermined steps taken by the country
to alleviate poverty and even caused the perpetuation of
poverty.
The
ADB said that several Mahinda Chinthana programmes are
extremely vulnerable to political capture by local
elites and that the recent transformation of the
Ministry of Nation Building into a clearinghouse for all
development projects is likely to do more harm than
good.
The
ADB’s latest report on Poverty And Human Development In
Sri Lanka also stated that while endemic weaknesses in
Sri Lanka’s public administration system are likely to
impede the effective implementation of pro-poor
development policies and programmes, some programmes
also perpetuated poverty.
Referring to Mahinda Chinthana programmes, the Bank
states, “Certain structures and procedures of Gama
Neguma — the village reawakening programme — encourage
political capture.”
As for
institutional constraints, the ADB notes that the 56
ministries functioning in the country have considerable
overlaps in functions.
The
Bank highlighted that diverse institutions are involved
in doing the same thing, leading to overlap and
duplication of effort and lack of coordination.
According to the report, the inability to insulate
administrative decision making from political capture
works against the equitable provision of key services
“For
example, many rural schools lack teachers because
teachers who are posted to such areas use political
influen ce to change the appointment to a posting in a
less difficult area.”
The
Samurdhi programme, which mainly targets the poor, has
been slow in bringing in reforms, the Bank said.
However, the government in its agreement with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) on receiving the US$
2.6 billion stand by facility has undertaken to better
target payments and transfers to the poor.
Mission Chief for
Sri Lanka
of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, Brian Aitken
said that it is very important for the government’s
programme with the IMF support to protect social
spending, particularly on health, education and
transfers to the poor.
JVP bracing for action on behalf of
the working masses
By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
The
JVP has vowed to resort to trade union action if the
President failed to implement the demands submitted on
behalf of the working community, which were on earlier
occasions overlooked by the government due to the war.
The
JVP affiliated National Trade Union Center (NTUC) has in
writing forwarded nine demands to the President to be
implemented to address the issues faced by the working
masses.
JVP
Parliamentarian and NTUC Head, K.D. Lalkantha told The
Sunday Leader that the President had to now address the
issues faced by the working people in the country, as
the war that was used by the government to overlook all
other issues faced by the country has ended.
“The
President and the government used the war as an excuse
and did not grant the required salary increments to the
workers during the past few years. The people could not
agitate, as the war was the country’s priority at the
time. It is now over and the working people’s issues
have be dealt with directly,” Lalkantha said.
He
observed that the over 300 odd public, private and
estate sector trade unions attached to the NTUC would
meet after a week to decide the action to be taken if
the President failed to respond positively to the
demands.
Lalkantha said that the main demands of the nine
forwarded by the NTUC are — the increase of the public
sector workers’ salary by Rs. 5,000, adding the cost of
living allowance to the basic salary of the public
sector workers, payment of Rs. 180 for each increasing
index point of cost of living, increasing the daily wage
of estate workers to Rs. 500 and the increase of the
minimum wage paid to private sector employees.
He
said that government statistics have revealed that the
cost of living has increased between November last year
and July this year.
The
President granted a Rs. 1,000 monthly allowance to the
public sector workers five days before the July 10, 2008
strike organised by the NTUC and another Rs. 1,000 was
added to the monthly allowance through the 2009 budget
last November.
“The
public sector workers have received Rs. 2,000 added to
their monthly salaries. However, it is insufficient
given the increase in the cost of living,” he said.
Lalkantha also noted that the minimum salary of the
private sector employee was Rs. 3,000 less than that of
a public sector employee. “This disparity needs to be
addressed. The minimum salary of the private sector has
to be increased,” he said. As for the estate sector
workers, he said that the current daily wage of Rs. 200
needs to be increased to Rs. 500.
The
other demands made by the NTUC are the implementation of
the collective agreement reached between the estate
owners and the estate workers, re-granting of the
property loan and 10-month loans to the public sector
workers and the renewal of the workers’ agreements of
employees in state corporations, authorities and
statutory boards.
Govt. rejects controversial video
clip of ‘shootings’
By Raisa Wickrematunge
UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions, Philip Alston has urged the Sri
Lankan government to set up an independent probe into
the authenticity of a video clip aired in Britain
allegedly showing Sri Lankan troops executing prisoners.
A short video clip is causing an up-roar among Sri
Lanka’s diplomatic community. The controversial video
belongs to a group called Journalists for Democracy in
Sri Lanka. It was allegedly shot in January by a soldier
using a mobile phone. The distorted footage shows
soldiers shooting two naked, blindfolded and bound
civilians in the back of their heads. Although some
reports stated that both victims were male, it was later
said that one of them was in fact, female.
Channel 4 is the second largest British TV station.
Before airing the clip, they stressed that they could
not testify to its veracity.
Despite this statement, the clip caused a furor, with
Sri Lanka announcing that it would lodge a protest with
the UK for airing it. This could be due to the reported
fact that channels like CNN and Al Jazeera broadcast the
clip without mentioning Channel 4’s reservations about
its authenticity. Cabinet Spokesman Anura Priyadarshana
Yapa said that they would follow up on the matter
through diplomatic channels. "Certain elements in the
local and international scene do not want this to
happen. The Channel 4 episode is another attempt by
these elements to pull the rug from under the
government," Minister Yapa said.
The Sri Lankan High Commission in London released a
statement denying that the army had committed atrocities
against Tamil civilians. High Commissioner Justice Nihal
Jayasinghe called the clip an "unbelievable
fabrication," and questioned why this video took eight
months to surface if it really had been shot in January.
Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said
"This video is forged." He went on to say that just
because the shooters were in army uniforms and conversed
in Sinhala throughout the clip did not mean that they
were army men. "LTTE cadres are just as capable of
donning these uniforms and carrying out these acts,"
Nanayakkara said. He added that it was a possibility
that the clips were doctored and that investigations
were ongoing into the veracity of the video clip. The
identity of the two civilians who were shot, as well as
that of the shooters, was not known to Nanayakkara.
Nanayakkara also confirmed that LTTE cadres had
infiltrated the IDP camps in Vavuniya.
Minister of Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe spoke
on this issue at a seminar in Colombo, on August 28.
Samarasinghe said that there was "reliable information"
that LTTE cadres were present in Vavuniya, and added "we
have to take utmost care in permitting even limited
freedom of movement, as the risk exists of LTTE cadres
posing as civilian IDPs." Nanayakkara said that several
cadres had turned themselves in, while there were other
suspected cadres operating within the camps. Nanayakkara
said that in order to protect the safety of other IDPs,
any LTTE cadres would be taken into custody and produced
before the courts. However, Nanayakkara was quick to
reject the idea that the security risk former LTTE
cadres posed were the reason for the delay in resettling
the IDPs, although this was what was implied by
Samarasinghe’s talk at the seminar.
"The reason is that we are carrying out demining
operations and clearing the area before IDPs can be
settled," Nanayakkara said. He said that the situation
was under control.
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