EDITORIAL

Man On The Run

How the mighty are fallen. Bulletproof cars and all, Thilanga Sumathipala has become a fugitive from justice. Given that he has been allocated Ministerial Security Division (MSD) police bodyguards by none less than the IGP himself, it would appear that the police themselves are party to aiding a fugitive. Having chewed cucumber sandwiches with the highest and mightiest of the cricketing and communications worlds until just last week, our hero has now gone to ground, unable to face the grave charges that are to be brought against him. Aiding and abetting forgery and the uttering of a false passport, misappropriation of funds, and the list goes on, and there is more — much more — yet to come.

To Sumathipala’s shame, the case against him has reached a head while the England cricket team is in the country, together with the world’s sports media. The Attorney General has told the police that he is satisfied that there exists a prima facie case against the Chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket and Sri Lanka Telecom, and sadly for Sumathipala, the offences are such that he will not be eligible for bail. Earlier this week, Sumathipala made a desperate application to the Supreme Court, stating that his fundamental rights were about to be infringed. The court quite rightly flung his suit out on its ear. The bookmaker’s audacity seems to know no bounds. He has committed a string of outrageous offences and at long last, the law has caught up with him, albeit ever so slowly. He is about, at long last, to come face to face with justice. Having unsuccessfully tried every trick in the book, he has adopted the last resort of the villain: flight.

With pusillanimity wholly unbecoming his status, Telecommunications Minister Imthiaz Bakeer Markar has told this newspaper that he is not in a position to call for Sumathipala’s resignation because the latter was appointed by the Prime Minister. That is a double shame, for the Minister has been too afraid even to take the matter up with the Premier. He obviously believes the word ‘integrity’ has no place in a politician’s dictionary. As for Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, he cannot be unaware of the Attorney General’s findings, and it boggles the imagination to think that he continues to retain Sumathipala as Chairman of SLT, the nation’s largest corporate, despite the grave charges against him.

For his part, Sports Minister Johnston Fernando says that he will consider calling for the bookmaker’s resignation as Sri Lanka Cricket Chairman if the charges against him are proved. We all know the speed of Sri Lankan justice: that will be several years. Fernando’s hypocrisy is patently obvious when considering the fact that cricket boards were dismissed and interim committees appointed for far smaller offences which never even went upto court or received the stamp of the existence of a prima facie case by the Attorney General. Fernando himself on assuming office continued to run the Cricket Board under an interim committee for months without elections. The answer for his attitude may well be in the political influence peddling on behalf of Sumathipala carried out from a Ward Place residence which is the resting place of the Prime Minister’s Private Secretary.

Ironically and hypocritically, support for this bizarre view has come also from those icons of middle-class morality represented on the board of Sri Lanka Cricket, such as Trevor Rajaratnam. We would like to turn this question on its head and ask it of both Wickremesinghe and Rajaratnam. Mr. Prime Minister, if the Attorney General were (God forbid!) to determine that there is a prima facie criminal case, say for example, of bribery, against Bradman Weerakoon or Malik Samarawickrema, what would your reaction be? To ask them to carry on remorselessly until the wheels of justice ground their full circle, or to step aside until they were demonstrated to be either guilty or not guilty?

Ditto, Rajaratnam. If the cashier in your travel company were found with his hand in the till, would you continue to employ him in the same capacity until a case against him were proved? What hypocrisy! Tragically, what the actions of the government and the board of Sri Lanka Cricket are all underlining is that it is OK to be a crook and a criminal. And even when you get caught, it is perfectly alright to carry on as if nothing happened. The people after all, are fools; they have no inherent right to honesty in public office.

It is a shame on the entire UNF cabinet that they have chosen to seal their lips on this issue. They all cower before the financial might of a bookmaker, their spines turned to jelly. Is this the quality of governance for which the nation voted in December 2001? Indeed, the nation must wonder how many of Sumathipala’s friends in high office are silent simply because they are in his pocket: they have been paid off. Tragically, when it comes to morality in public office, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s UNF is not a tad better than Chandrika Kumaratunga’s PA. Kumaratunga at least, is a wolf in wolf’s clothing.

However much the UNF government might seek to brush Sumathipala under the carpet, their actions from this point onwards will be watched by the public with the utmost scrutiny and circumspection. By not demanding his resignation, the Prime Minister is fast emerging as the bookie-gangster’s greatest supporter, and that message cannot be lost on the police, whose job it now is to apprehend this man and produce him before courts. Given that the government is afraid to set the lead, is it surprising that the police have failed to find Sumathipala?

The depths to which public morality has sunk under the UNF cannot be lost on the electors. Corruption was a major issue in the ouster of the PA in 2001, and is looking like once more putting itself firmly at the centre of the UNF’s agenda. What message must go from all this to the LTTE, who no doubt observe these proceedings with great mirth? We complain about the Tigers having established a judicial system in the areas controlled by them, but what example can we ourselves offer? Friends of the government can, and have, got away with murder, while the full force of the law applies only to the lowly.

Well, Mr. Prime Minister, the nation is watching your government’s actions in this regard with squinted eyes and a set frown. Time is running short for a decision to be taken on Sumathipala. The UNF will be judged far more swiftly by the people than Sumathipala will ever be judged by the judiciary. The nation is watching you closely to see whether your promise to bring about a new Sri Lanka was a serious one, or just another voice in the PA’s legacy of violence and corruption.