“I Gave Ranil Wickremesinghe $ 460,000 In Donations” — Sweden-Based Sri Lankan Businessman

Ranil Wickremesinghe

By Faraz Shauketaly

As the battle in the United National Party (UNP) for a change of leadership intensified, allegations emerged that hundreds of millions of rupees have been ‘donated’ to Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe over the years. Wickremesinghe has kept silent on these allegations and has got away with not answering since there have not been concrete proof so far.

Now a Sri Lankan businessman living in Sweden, Sabir Hussein, has come out with documentary proof of funds transferred to the bank account of a company owned by Wickremesinghe confidant Malik Samarawickrema. He claims that he had funded Wickremesinghe to the tune of a staggering Rs. 48 million and in return Wickremesinghe offered him an exclusive countrywide gambling licence. In his stunning allegations, Sabir Hussein says Mailk Samarawickrema was the go-between in these financial transactions. As far as it is known, this huge amount of money from this single ‘donor’ was never credited to the UNP bank account.

Sabir Hussein says that he has been based in Europe for the past three decades and made his money on internet business, property and investments.
In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Leader, Hussein also claims that once Wickremesinghe became prime minister he went back on the offer and instead offered him a diplomatic posting.

Sabir Hussein

Q:  Mr. Hussein, did you make a transfer of foreign funds to Malik Samarawickrama intending those monies to be a donation to the UNP?
A: I most certainly did. It was part of a colossal donation to the UNP.

Q:  Would you tell us exactly how much you gave Mr. Wickremesinghe, Mr. Samarawickrama and or the UNP as a combined total?

A: Gentlemen are usually by nature, never in a hurry. It would be inappropriate to give these figures out, however let us be under no illusions: not everyone who gives donations gets invited to meet the leader and his principal confidant and chairman of the party. My grants were important, the timing was significant and my support of the party was manifestly in the interests of the UNP. Ranil and Malik did not deliver. I did.

Q: Mr. Hussein, you say the UNP is your party, you seem disillusioned with its leader and his confidant. In the interest of the renaissance of the UNP, would you not see the benefit of revealing the true amount you donated?

Malik Samarawickrema

A: You pose a serious and valid question that touches on the nerve of loyalty and discretion. I gave a little over US$ 460,000. That’s about 48 million in local money.

Q: That is colossal! Did it help the UNP?

A: The let down in terms of leadership and vision is far more significant than mere money. How much went to the party and how much went astray for whatever reason and however convoluted the reason, has today become burning issues at the UNP.

Q: What is your link to Penguin Sportswear?

A: I have no link whatsoever with Penguin Sportswear. This was a company controlled by Malik, as he told me and he specifically wanted a transfer made to that company’s account. He assured me that the party was again low on funds and asked me to make a further grant. As I was out of the country I asked my bank to transfer to the account that Malik gave me the details for – Penguin. How they accounted for that, how they transferred that to the UNP coffers or indeed whether Malik merely kept those funds is something that I can only speculate; however, Ranil thanked me for my support.

Q:   So why did you make a transfer to Penguin Sportswear?

A: It was part of donations  for the UNP. Malik was Chairman and this was his company he said and he would pass it on to the party. Since he was chairman, I did not give it much thought. I was surprised to be asked for that since when I was in Colombo weeks prior I had made a generous cash donation to the leader and Malik was present there too.

Q: Have you been  engaged in the garment industry in any shape or form at any point in your career?

A: I have never ever had any involvement in the garment business.

Q: Did you place any orders from the Penguin factories?

A: Certainly not. The only garment orders I have placed are with Armani for my suits!

Q: How can you be sure that these monies were to be sent to the UNP?

A: Well, one has to take their word: when I made cash donations they were always made to the leader and Malik was always present. So when I received requests for funding from Malik, I obliged as it had been clear that Malik was very much part of Ranil’s inner nexus. He was also the chairman of the party. He was also Ranil’s long time confidant. Does one question these people. Their general demeanour and behaviour made it obvious that these monies were for the party.

Q: How many times have you met with Mr. Wickremesinghe and Mr. Malik Samarawickrema?

A: Ranil I met around a dozen times including meetings when he was PM. Malik, many more than that.

Q: Have you ever fallen out with RW or MS?

A: I have not had a falling out as such. Rather I became more and more disillusioned with the two as they seemed to forget that they were the opposition and had a duty towards the people. Instead they were immersed in their own narrow agendas to the lasting detriment of this country. It is rich when Mr. Wickremesinghe speaks of transparency: he appears not to know the meaning of that word when it comes to keeping his word. Essentially he, together with Malik, took me on one hell of a trip. Tabloid journalists may say that they stuck two fingers up at me, having secured substantial donations from me.

Q: Why did you stop your contact with the UNP?

A: Basically it became apparent that they cannot do anything for this country even to provide effective opposition. Who wants to back losers without vision?

Q: Are your expectations dampened now that as you say, it appears that monies given to the party is not distinguishable with the private funds of Mr. Wickremesinghe and Mr. Samarawickrema?

A: One is always saddened when promises become worthless and when one simply does not keep to one’s word. After all, the greatest asset is the ability to keep to one’s word. When Ranil and Malik both did not keep to their word, to say that I was disillusioned is an understatement. It was as though this was their own party and they carried on in the manner they wished. It was time for me to move on to different pastures. Call me naive if you wish but when I gave those donations – many millions in excess of Mr. Samarawickrema’s selective memory – I did so thinking and believing this was for the greater good of Sri Lanka.

Q: What is your link to the UNP?

A: My link to the UNP is that it is ‘my party’ from quite a young age and I have followed that party. I remember the dark days of the Sirimavo years when we had to dig up the beloved quadrangle at S. Thomas’ to grow manioc. I am not sure that made a difference to the agricultural economy of Sri Lanka but it sure broke a lot of hearts at STC. So when I was in a position to, I decided that in the interests of promoting a strong economy Ranil Wickremesinghe said all the ‘right’ things and led me to believe that he was good for Sri Lanka per se.

In spite of differing political agendas any government in any part of the world looks at the economic situation first. The path to good governance cannot be tread upon without this basic essentiality. In that context there are people in Sri Lanka who do act in the national interest. No matter what is said, the people of this country believed Ranil in the run up to those parliamentary elections and he did win on that premise: the economic premise.

Unfortunately he remains un-electable and that is also to do with the fact that Ranil has lost touch with what the common man has to say and what worries the common man on the ground.

I venture to say that more than any constitutional matter like the appointments of various commissions, the people are more interested in their wallet especially in the mass of rurality. Ranil has surrounded himself with a small team of his men and now Ranil cannot see beyond them.  He has lost the Buddhist vote base in this country and he cannot be elected without a chunk of that. His biggest fault is himself: he cannot believe that others also know a thing or two which will help to uplift the opposition to a vibrant one.

Today Sri Lanka is a de-facto one party state for no fault of the government. Even though President Rajapaksa is good news for our country, I am sure he too wishes for an opposition that will keep his ministers on their toes. I read the other day that Minister Basil Rajapaksa said the very same thing about a vibrant opposition. The government can have anything they want but when it comes to delivering a vibrant opposition Mr. Wickremesinghe has defeated the government! There is no opposition to write home about!

Q: Who did you deal with at the UNP?

A: My dealings at the UNP were brokered by a currently serving parliamentarian and for the sake of courtesy I would not wish to involve that person. However my dealings with the UNP was at the very ‘top’ To be specific with Malik Samarawickrema and Ranil Wickremesinghe.
I met Mr. Wickremesinghe many times at his residence, his office, at Temple Trees and in parliament. The same with Malik though I have also met him on a number of occasions at the hotel I lived in during those years.

Q: What was the purpose of your support of the UNP? Did you expect something back in return?

A: As I said, the feeling was that even though President Kumaratunga was elected with a hugely popular mandate — I believe that her record of 63% still stands — the policies put forward by Ranil was good for the economy. As a patriotic citizen of this country — I am proud to say I am Sri Lankan and proud to be so — it was my realisation too that no matter what the politics were, the economy needed to be on a sound footing.

We needed a good medium and a long term vision and a desire to pursue the war and the economy was a dual track policy. Ranil dangled that carrot to the masses and that’s what encouraged people such as me to support the cause, not for the UNP but for the country. Yes I expected Sri Lanka to be transformed into an economic tiger like its South Asian neighbours. That is what I expected. Those expectations were because I firmly believe in the capitalist type of economy and as a true son of this soil, I wished for Sri Lanka only the best. If that is delivered, it is not only I who will benefit. The entire country will.

Q: What did you expect the UNP to do for you?

A: Personally I expected nothing from the UNP as such. If they delivered on the economy then all people would have been happy, me inclusive! My businesses could have made investments here and so on. So I did not expect anything specific but Mr Samarawickrema, in the presence of Ranil, told me that they would offer me a diplomatic posting. I was more amused than anything else thinking that this was what you may call ‘politicians flourish’ but they appeared quite serious and I would be lying if I said that I was unhappy with that suggestion. On a business front, Ranil mentioned to me at his home, that he “wished a company like Genting” would come to Sri Lanka. I assured him that if the policies were right I would deliver a Genting investment in Sri Lanka.

Ranil went on to say more: he told me that he considered all the casinos in Colombo nothing more than “tea shops” (he said thay kadays) and that all the notorious things happened from there. He assured me that he would give me an exclusive license to operate a super luxury entertainment resort that included a high-end luxury casino. This is part of what Genting offers and I assured him that I would deliver. It was not limited to any location, region or town. All he had to do was win!

Q: What did they deliver to you?

A: Lies, lies and damn lies. That is what Ranil and Malik delivered. As leader of the opposition, Ranil specifically spoke to me about exclusivity. The discussion on Genting was his idea, it was Ranil who spoke of exclusivity. Ranil and Malik together promised me a diplomatic posting. Malik was present as he was at almost all the meetings I had with Ranil.

To offer a corporate like Genting exclusivity would have been almost incumbent in order that they have a fighting chance of recovering what would have been a multi million dollar investment.

It was not a run of the mill project it would have transformed the entertainment and leisure landscape of this country. Sri Lanka’s facilities are not up to the international mark that would ensure the success of multi-million dollar leisure projects. So these have to be built up in tandem with different agencies, including the private sector. It was to be a long term investment which had enormous potential.

Soon after he became Prime Minister Ranil called me. He thanked me for the support I gave him and invited me to see him as Prime Minister at Temple Trees. I visited him there, to be thanked personally. Soon after the glass of water he ordered for me arrived, he told me, “Sabir you can go ahead with your entertainment project”.

I took his word yet again and went to Malaysia where I persuaded Dato Lim, the older son of the Genting founder, to visit Colombo.  We then met Prime Minister Ranil at his office in parliament, accompanied by Dato Lim, his secretary and a then junior minister, who I do not wish to name as he is a serving MP at the moment. Ranil dropped his bombshell and displayed his true character at this meeting.

He told Dato Lim and me that he could not give exclusivity but we would be one of many others. Dato Lim left Sri Lanka not very amused and I felt that Ranil had led me up the proverbial garden path and had lied to me. My disgust was such that I never contacted Ranil again and ignored the many attempts made by Malik to contact me. It was a tall order to start a gaming business from scratch in the South – which is what Prime Minister Ranil was now proposing — with the infrastructure being quite inadequate.

It had to be facilitated by granting our consortia encouragement by also permitting involvement in Colombo which Ranil was against. Malik and Ranil both blamed it on the monks. They had their support they said and did not want to upset them by allowing our presence in Colombo where others were also having a difficult relationship with the government of the day. They wanted to move everyone out of Colombo. Ranil never followed up on that but I see that the present government is encouraging that.

Q:What happened to your diplomatic posting?

A: To be fair, when a UNP stalwart heard of how I was misled, he took it upon himself to introduce me to an equally sympathetic person. He was a senior UNP Minister then and MP now and he looked into how I could be accommodated in some constructive way. I had discussions with them on this subject but President Kumaratunga dissolved parliament and sacked Ranil before their mission of conciliation could work.

Q: Do you see a role for the UNP in the foreseeable future?

A: I see a role for the UNP in this island. However, as long as Ranil leads the UNP, as long as he leans on advisers who are simply unprofessional and who engage in dangerous double games and display clear signs of being control freaks, my vision of the UNP role in Sri Lanka’s political field is very hazy indeed. The UNP needs inspired leadership – just like Mahinda does for the SLFP – and until then, I do not see much of a role for the UNP in Sri Lanka.

Q: Would you ever entertain Mr. Wickremesinghe and Mr.Samarawickrema to tea?

A: Tea is to be enjoyed as a refreshing drink. Over a chat reminiscing, planning or even just gazing amongst family and friends. Therefore it would be desirable for me to say that there is no way that I would share a cup of tea with Ranil or Malik. Over my dead body but otherwise no!