SPOTLIGHT

Damning new evidence against Thilanga Sumathipala

President BCCSL and Chairman SLT Thilanga Sumathipala

Dhammika Amarasinghe alias Perera

Bada Mahinda alias Mahinda Godage

By Frederica Jansz

 Indisputable evidence has now surfaced in the case against President, Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) and Chairman, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), Thilanga Sumathipala not only corroborating underworld figure Bada Mahinda’s confession but also establishing without any shadow of a doubt Sumathipala’s links to underworld leader Dhammika Amarasinghe.

Fresh evidence proves that Thilanga Sumathipala has even financed Dhammika’s visit under a false identity and passport to England in 1999 to witness the World Cup Cricket matches, using funds from the Cricket Board to do so.

During his previous tenure as President, BCCSL in early 1999, Sumathipala utilised a sum of Rs. 170,651.34 from the funds of the BCCSL to purchase travellers cheques for underworld kingpin, Dhammika Amarasinghe alias Perera under the name of Buddhika Priyashantha Godage, the brother of Bada Mahinda.

These monies Sumathipala used classifying such payment under his own name. A voucher bearing No. 55 to this effect was issued to purchase travellers cheques for one Buddhika Godage to fly to the UK to attend the 1999 ICC  Cricket World Cup matches.

Over the last three weeks, Sumathipala has carried out intense lobbying, meeting with government ministers including Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last Monday, insisting he is innocent of the damnable charges made against him by the underworld figure Bada Mahinda. The latter worked as a close associate of Dhammika and was witness to a series of crimes committed by this underworld gang.

Before we comment on Bada Mahinda’s confessions which are now being corroborated by police with other independent evidence, it is important to detail our investigation, which proves beyond all doubt that Thilanga Sumathipala indeed financed Dhammika Amarasinghe. Not by using his own personal funds, nay, but by using the monies of the Cricket Board for Dhammika to purchase travellers cheques in order to travel to the UK in 1999. 

Forged passport

That is not all. Sumathipala did so while aiding and abetting Dhammika to use a forged passport which Dhammika had secured from the Immigration and Emigration Department by using the name of Bada Mahinda’s younger brother, Buddhika Priyashantha Godage.

Therefore, when Sumathipala directed the Cricket Board to issue  travellers cheques in the name of Godage to the tune of Rs. 170, 651.34 for Dhammika’s travel, he knew it was done on the basis  of a forged identity and passport.

In December 1997, Dhammika Amarasinghe applied for a passport from the Immigration and Emigration Department. He made his application on December 28, 1997, by presenting an ID card, bearing no. 732161295V in the name of Buddhika Priyashantha Godage. Dhammika also gave a copy of Godage’s birth certificate claiming it to be his own.

Dhammika and Buddhika Godage bear a resemblance to each other, which is how probably the former got away with the scam. His application for a passport was certified by S. Palihawadana, Justice of the Peace at Jayanthipura in Battaramulla. Dhammika gave his address under the name of Buddhika Godage as residing at 431/1, Pitakotte in Kotte. Under the category of profession he stated that he is “unemployed.”

Dhammika however had to use his own passport size photograph for this purpose, though all other details indicated him to be Buddhika Godage. His signature on the application forms in his own handwriting will soon be verified for authenticity by sleuths attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). He signed the application forms in Sinhalese as B. Godage.

Dhammika paid a sum of Rs. 3000 to the Immigration and Emigration Department on December 28, 1997. He was issued a passport two days later on December 30, 1997 bearing number M1604462. It is this passport that Dhammika used in the name of Buddhika Priyashantha Godage to travel to the UK in 1999 in order to watch the Cricket World Cup matches.

After the BCCSL was dissolved, a committee was appointed to investigate into the queries raised by the auditors in the auditor’s accounts of the BCCSL. This committee’s report on page 16 states, “as per FC voucher No. 55 an amount of Rs. 170, 651.34 was paid for the travellers cheques of Mr. Buddhika Godage. But this payment was classified under the name of the then president of the BCCSL. We were unable to establish the identity of Mr. Buddhika Godage.”

This committee was appointed on February 21, 2000. It comprised of Chairman, Employees Trust Fund Board, G. Jinadasa, Chief Accountant, Finance and Planning Ministry, N. Warusawitharana, Deputy Director, Department of State Accounts from the Finance and Planning Ministry, D. Abeysuriya, and Chief Accountant, Samurdhi, Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry, A. V. H. Gunasekera.

When Thilanga Sumathipala used Rs. 170,000 of BCCSL funds to buy travellers cheques for Dhammika Amarasinghe in the name of Buddhika Godage to travel to the UK, Dhammika was a wanted man.

In 1999, police had substantive evidence which linked Dhammika to nearly two dozen murders. According to the recent confession made by Bada Mahinda, Dhammika around this time also murdered another underworld figure called Chutta, who was the killer of his brother Chinthaka. According to Mahinda, Dhammika got  Chutta’s head cut off and after killing him, shot at the dismembered head four or five times, burnt it  and then taking the gory body part in a vehicle, he deposited it at the same place his brother had been killed at Thotalanga.

Holiday to the UK

It is for this individual that Thilanga Sumathipala used finances of the BCCSL to send on a holiday to the UK in order to watch the 1999 World Cup Cricket tournament.

Why? Was Dhammika, a notorious killer, a childhood friend of Sumathipala or was he a member of the Cricket Board, may be an expert cricket commentator or even coach? Or was it to repay for favours done by a murderer?

Subsequently, on November 6, 2002, Dhammika applied once more for a new passport. This time too he used the name Buddhika Priyashantha Godage

His photograph varied as he had taken a close shaven hair cut but still sported a thin moustache and beard. He paid Rs. 5000 on November 6, last year in order to collect the passport the same day he made the application. He was issued a new passport bearing no. M2239491. He stated the identical details as in his previous application once more stating he was unemployed. His date of birth in both applications is that of Buddhika Godage, born on August 3, 1973.

His passport application last year was certified by H. G. Wijeyratne, Justice of the Peace at Vauxhall Street in Colombo 2. While we cannot yet prove that Thilanga Sumathipala directly assisted Dhammika in getting not one but two passports after submitting false information, we can however prove that Sumathipala undoubtedly was aware that Dhammika was using a forged passport at the time he facilitated his travel to the UK in 1999 to attend the ICC World Cup Cricket matches.

It is Sumathipala who classified a payment of over Rs. 170,000 in travellers cheques in the name of  Buddhika Godage, as President BCCSL, knowing it was underworld killer Dhammika’s forged identity to travel to UK. This is revealed  clearly from the  report of the committee appointed by the then secretary to the Samurdhi, Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry. Apart from the travellers cheques, it is also believed  Thilanga Sumathipala paid for  Dhammika’s airfare to and from the UK.

Letter of recommendation

The Sunday Leader reliably learns that the BCCSL issued a letter of recommendation, on the instructions of its President, Thilanga Sumathipala to the British High Commission (BHC) in 1999 for Buddhika Godage to be granted a visa. It was made out as was indeed the case that Dhammika,  using the forged identity of Godage, was part of the official BCCSL entourage. Sleuths from the CID are to make a formal request to the BHC to obtain the necessary records this week.

Now that we have established beyond any shadow of a doubt the link between the dreaded underworld figure Dhammika Amarasinghe and Thilanga Sumathipala we will in addition detail further evidence at our disposal.

First, it is important for the record to state here that the above evidence clearly corroborates statements made by Bada Mahinda, Dhammika’s former buddy and right hand man, that Thilanga Sumathipala indeed financed a trip to the UK in 1999 in order that the underworld kingpin Dhammika Amarasinghe may attend the World Cup Cricket tournament.

Second, is Bada Mahinda’s charge in his confession before the Gangodawila Magistrate that Dhammika telephoned someone he called “Thilanga boss” soon after the shoot out on Lasantha Wickrematunge’s home at Nugegoda in July 1998. Wickrematunge is Editor in Chief of The Sunday Leader. According to Bada Mahinda, Dhammika allegedly telephoned an individual from his mobile phone soon after the shooting and said, “Thilanga boss, vade hari.”

What needs to be established is who this “Thilanga boss” could be. Thilanga Sumathipala for his part has repeatedly professed his innocence in this entire saga, We have now however proved otherwise.

Before our first expose on this issue, we contacted Sumathipala in order to verify the information in our possession. When questioned Sumathipala categorically denied having any links with the underworld thug Dhammika Amarasinghe. He also denied that Dhammika had been in contact with him — even while the latter is in remand prison — by using a mobile telephone and calling Sumathipala on his own personal mobile phone bearing number 0777 76 55 44.

Sumathipala also said he had absolutely no involvement in the shoot out on Lasantha Wickrematunge’s home in July 1998. He went one step further by saying that he was among those who rushed to Wickrematunge’s house soon after the shooting. In this instance also Sumathipala uttered a falsehood, as he never visited the home of Wickrematunge on that day. He further denied any involvement in the assassination of former officer of the Presidential Security Division, Baddegana Sanjeewa, who was also an underworld figure.

Soon after we spoke with Sumathipala, he telephoned Lasantha Wickrematunge and pleaded his innocence asserting that all the allegations are completely false. He maintained to Wickrematunge too, that he has absolutely no links with Dhammika Amarasinghe.

His  denials  of links  to Dhammika therefore lack all credibility in the face of the evidence that has been detailed above.

He added that President Chandrika Kumaratunga is struggling to regain power and is engaged in a conspiracy to topple this government together with her former strongman of the PSD Nihal Karunaratne and the present Executive Director, Airport and Aviation Services, Gamini Abeyratne whom Sumathipala charged is playing a double game. Abeyratne is a strong UNP loyalist and close confidant of several senior UNPers.

Wickrematunge then told Sumathipala, “if as you say, you have had absolutely no relationship with Dhammika, how is it that a detailed bill taken from the mobile telephone used by Dhammika in prison reflects your personal mobile phone number?”

Sumathipala had then responded saying, “Yes, Dhammika has spoken to me from prison.” Sumathipala however pleaded saying, “Lasantha, I want you to believe and trust me that while I may have links with Dhammika I had nothing to do with the shoot out on your home — which is what Bada Mahinda has said. That is completely false.”

Wickrematunge had then told Sumathipala that there is sufficient evidence to indicate that Sumathipala was indeed involved in this incident. He explained that according to Bada Mahinda’s statements he has not only detailed accurately the approach roads the underworld gang used to reach Wickrematunge’s home that night, but has also detailed the entrance gate which at the time of the shooting had a grill in the middle.

One week after the shooting Wickrematunge changed this gate to one that had no grill at all. He told Sumathipala that he believed Bada Mahinda was speaking the truth as the man could not have five years later, remembered with such detail a gate which was changed within a week of the shooting, if indeed he had not been present at the time of the incident.

Bada Mahinda has also described a red colour Pajero jeep that Wickrematunge drove at the time and which was parked visibly inside his garage at the time of the shooting. This jeep too Wickrematunge subsequently sold.

Sumathipala had then conceded that maybe this gang did indeed carry out this shooting. But, he told Wickrematunge, “I want you to know that I had nothing to do with this incident.” He told Wickrematunge that while he may now have contact with Dhammika Amarasinghe at the time of the shooting on the Editor’s house in 1998, he did not know the underworld thug.

What must be pointed out at this stage is that less than a year later in May 1999, Sumathipala used Rs. 170,000 from the funds of the BCCSL to facilitate Dhammika Amarasinghe’s journey to the UK using his false passport in the name of Buddhika Godage. It is indeed hard to believe that Sumathipala had absolutely no acquaintance with Dhammika at the time of the shoot out at Wickrematunge’s home in July 1998. After all, barely 10 months later, Sumathipala paid for the underworld kingpin to travel to England to witness first hand, the Cricket World Cup matches. The cricket matches began in England on May 14, 1999 and concluded on June 20, 1999.

Conspiracy to kill

Wickrematunge meanwhile also confronted Sumathipala with the evidence that had surfaced linking his involvement with the assassination of Baddegana Sanjeewa. Sumathipala had then responded saying, “I will not lie to you — I was not involved in the murder of Baddegana Sanjeewa but I was present at some meetings where the murder was planned.” He added, “I want you to trust me and believe however that I had nothing to do with the shoot-out on your home.”

A short while later, Sumathipala once more telephoned Wickrematunge that same day September the 4th, and said that he had used “his channels” to contact Dhammika in prison and verify if indeed the latter had carried out the shooting on Wickrematunge’s home. According to Sumathipala, he had told Wickrematunge that Dhammika had admitted to having orchestrated and carried out the shooting. Sumathipala then said that at the time Dhammika Amarasinghe had been a cohort of former Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte.

Wickrematunge had asked Sumathipala if Dhammika has indicated he is willing to say as much in his statement to police implicating Anuruddha Ratwatte to which Sumathipala has replied, “yes — he will.”

Sumathipala in rising to the bait of this line of questioning  probably did not realise by so stating that he was  establishing beyond doubt his  influence  over Dhammika.

Sumathipala had further clarified that he contacted Dhammikka Amarasinghe after having first telephoned Wickrematunge on the 4th. His second phone call to Wickrematunge was  made  within a space of 20 minutes.

Details of this telephone conversation Lasantha Wickrematunge has made official by giving a statement to the CID, last Wednesday. (See box for excerpts)

With the inclusion and influx of money to cricket, corrupt men of Thilanga Sumathipala’s calibre who would otherwise never have been allowed to hold office within the august chambers of the BCCSL were however drawn onto its boards due to the amount of money cricketers and cricket generates today.

The money and power the president of the BCCSL wielded was music to Sumathipala’s ears. Such a fatal attraction unfortunately has proved disastrous to the credibility previously attached to this noble office. So much for Thilanga Sumathipala’s self professed love for the game of cricket.