Government's rank gamble with the family silver

Casino kingpin gets 500 perches of prime land in Fort for car park

President's buddy beats Harry J. for top deal

BOI Chief says land already allocated and can be further developed

Urban Development Minister in the dark

By Sonali Samarasinghe

Controversy surrounds a proposed multi storey car park where the government is accused of handing over prime land in the heart of Colombo to President Mahinda Rajapakse's close associate and Star Dust Casino owner Ravi Wijeratne.

The cabinet, sans any tender procedure and in violation of government regulations and best practices has now approved the release of the land for a four-five storey car park on an unsolicited proposal brought by Rank Entertainment Holdings Pvt. Ltd., a company owned by casino kingpin Wijeratne and involved in the gambling business. 

Black Jack and White Russian

Star Dust is an upmarket casino situated at No 9, 15th Lane, Galle Road, Colombo 3, where a large number of Thai, Russian and Sri Lankan hostesses are employed to serve the guests. Boasting of some 13 bedrooms, welcoming bar, cab services and fun and games, the official Star Dust website claims the group is the largest casino group in the country and promises a warm welcome in a relaxing atmosphere and staff to make sure either high rollers or good time seekers have everything they need.

Rank Entertainment Holdings Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated on July 22, 2004 and also has its registered office the same address as the Star Dust Casino. In fact a web search of  Rank Entertainment will immediately direct you to Star Dust Casino.

The subscribers to the company are Hewawasamge Ravindranath Sri Lal Wijeratne of  14/1, Gregory's Road, Colombo 7 also known as Ravi Wijeratne and Saman Pradeep Nishantha Kodituwakku of  9R, 2nd Stage, Grayline Park, Ekala, Ja ela.

Rank and file

Ravi Wijeratne resigned as a director of Rank Entertainment with effect from October 17, 2004 and Katapodi Arachchige Githanjali Tania de Silva of No. 9, 15th Lane, Colombo 3 (the same address as Star Dust Casino) was appointed on the same date. While some changes have occurred in the Form 48 since then, the final change as per the latest search carried out by this newspaper revealed that one Serini Dantika Devarajah had been appointed as an alternate director to Tania with effect from August 19, 2006.

Interestingly enough K.A.G.T. de Silva's address has been stated as 14/1, Gregory's Road, Colombo 7 in one place and the address of the Star Dust Casino under the name in another place.

According to Form 63 dealing with directors and shareholders as at December 31, 2005 are Ravi Wijeratne who has major shares of  810,001 in the company. Kodituwakku has one share and Tania de Silva has 90,000 shares.

Meanwhile, already the plum location has been eyed by none other than business tycoon Harry Jayawardena who had earlier tendered a proposal to buy the land at commercial rates to build a luxury hotel and office complex. The land value in the area is phenomenal and the multi billion rupee massive extent of land has been salivated over by many an investor including Harry Jayawardena and Aitken Spence but it is Wijeratne who has secured the deal to ostensibly put up a four storey car park.

Frantic calls

So much so after this newspaper commenced its inquiries and telephoned Ravi Wijeratne for his comments last Thursday, Wijeratne was to desperately call up several people including some businessmen asking them to intervene and have the article axed.

In a panic he called up former Airport Aviation Executive Director, Gamini Abeyratne and entreated him to call the Editor of this newspaper and stop the article as it would wipe out his prospects if the deal was exposed.       

The said land belonging to the Urban Development Authority is situated opposite Lake House and bordering D.R.Wijewardena Mawatha and Sir Chittampalam A. Gardiner Mawatha, Colombo 2 and is currently being used as an ad hoc car park.

Nonetheless, confusion it seems reigns even within the UDA as senior officials express alarm over the allocation of the prime land and the suggestion of a multi storey car park on it with one of the officials, UDA Deputy Director General Prasanna Silva even telling this newspaper he was totally ignorant of the project. He also denied any knowledge of either Ravi Wijeratne or his company Rank Entertainment Holdings Pvt. Ltd.

Land dispute

Minister Dinesh Gunawardena however speaking to The Sunday Leader admitted the proposal had in fact been approved by a cabinet sub committee and would now be looked at in terms of UDA regulations and restrictions. Asked if land had already been released to Wijeratne, Gunawardena insisted the UDA has only indicated that the land is available.

Interestingly however BOI Chairman and Director General, Professor Lakshman Watawala confirmed to The Sunday Leader that the land had in fact been released.

Meanwhile even as the consultative sub committee of cabinet approved the unsolicited proposal by Rajapakse's man, Wijeratne, given the chaos and contradictions surrounding the coveted block among government officials it is obvious the issue is the subject of much angst for both the BOI and the UDA.

The official Board of Investment approval for this project which was then sent to the cabinet sub committee, at article 3.12 states as follows:

"3.12 Rank Entertainment Holdings (Pvt) Ltd

Release of land to set up a multi storey car park at the premises bordering D.R.Wijewardene Mawatha and Sir Chittampalam A. Gardiner Mawatha, Colombo 2.

UDA and BOI to examine the vehicle Colombo traffic movement and make necessary forecast for the next 10 years and ensure that the designs and plans to be submitted by the developer conforms to construction of a minimum of 4-5 floors for parking of vehicles.

Decision

a. The BOI and UDA to ensure that vehicle parking for the next 10 years is addressed and provided for in the project proposal submitted by the investor company prior to the approval of the project and release of the land.

b.  The project to be implemented within three months of signing of the BOI  agreement and allocation of the land by the UDA.

Action by Maj. Gen. P. Dahanayake, Chairman, UDA

Prof. Lakshman R.Watawala, Chairman/Director General, BOI

Mr. Wasantha de Silva, Director, Rank Entertainment Holdings (P) Ltd."

Note that Minister Gunawardena confirmed to this newspaper that no detailed plans had yet been submitted even though the cabinet sub committee had approved the project while Professor Watawala told The Sunday Leader that not only had the Wijeratne proposal been approved but also that the land had been released.

Ravi Wijeratne himself confirmed to The Sunday Leader that his proposal had been approved.  

However the BOI approval itself clearly states that no land should be released nor approval for the project granted before stringent criteria including a forward thinking parking plan for the next 10 years is included in the proposal. Minister Gunawardena nonetheless confirmed that the UDA had not even approved the building plans as yet.

Showing off

The young Wijeratne is just another of those variously constituted close associates of President Rajapakse and has recently accompanied the Chief Executive on his numerous tours abroad. Last month the casino owner was an integral part of the jumbo Sri Lankan delegation to China where he had in fact helpfully telephoned a friend in Sri Lanka and offered to pass on the phone to Mahinda Rajapakse for a chat.

Earlier on September 5, 2006, it was again Ravi Wijeratne who was to telephone Gamini Abeyratne, who is also a close confidant of UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. Abeyratne from June up until October last year was living in self exile in Switzerland due to several threats on his life. On September 5, Abeyratne was to receive an SMS message from Ravi Wijeratne which read, 'call me immediately.'

Abeyratne called him back on his 077771000 number and Wijeratne revealed he was in London. Not a minute passed before President Rajapakse spoke to Abeyratne and inquired of him why he was hiding out in Switzerland. Mata hoongak prashna thiyanawa (I have several problems) Abeyratne had said. Rajapakse retorted that it was not Abeyratne but he (Rajapakse) who had the problems.

The President was to then inquire from Abeyratne whether it was Ranil who told him not to come back to Sri Lanka, and went on to advise Abeyratne that he should come back to the country and assured him that if he faced a problem he would take care of it. 

Immediately following Rajapakse's telephone conversation, Abeyratne was to report the matter to Wickremesinghe who was at the time attending a pirith ceremony at Sirikotha.

Ravi vs Sajin

Ravi Wijeratne like Sajin de Vass Gunawardena are both Rajapakse associates who with the President's blessings have wangled multi billion rupee projects on unsolicited proposals flouting all tender regulations and government procedure.

Sajin's Mihin Lanka budget airline has been nothing but another excuse to pull the wool over the public's eye in order to raid the Treasury. This newspaper has already published numerous articles backed by documentation on Vass Gunawardena's Mihin Air raid.

Meanwhile BOI Chairman Watawala told The Sunday Leader that the government wanted to put up a car park on the location and admitted Wijeratne's proposal was an unsolicited one and outside tender procedure. When it was put to the chairman that if the government was interested in a car park then tenders should have been called, Watawala surprisingly replied in the negative stating that normally in such cases the BOI would look into a proposal depending on the investment and other criteria and approve the project.

He explained that according to BOI procedure since this was a BOI project that was received, they sent the proposal to the UDA to first inquire if  land could be released for the purpose. Watawala told this newspaper the UDA had tentatively approved the release of the land subject to approval of the cabinet sub committee.

Watawala confirmed that this approval had now been obtained and the land had also been released by the UDA.

Q: The land has been released?

A: Yes yes

Asked how much Rank Entertainment would pay, Professor Watawala stated that nothing would be given free or cheap and the government valuer will first value the land.

Q: Haven't there been other proposals tendered, Harry Jayawardena..?

A: Yes there were some hotel projects but these were not permitted as the need was a parking facility near Fort.

Chairman Watawala also said the project will not be confined to parking but would include mixed development.

Q: Since Rank Entertainment is a casino business, would part of the development perhaps include a casino?

A: I don't know about casino owners,  so many people come with proposals but there will be mixed development such as offices and other things like restaurants. It is a mixed development as long as there is minimum investment. But the prime concern is to provide parking space and solve the parking problem in the Fort area.

Q: Are they allowed to develop on top of the multi storey car park?

A: Yes now they do that in places like Singapore..

Q: The UDA says they do not want the view distorted in that area...

A: The investor would have to abide by whatever UDA restrictions.  

However Minister of Urban Development Dinesh Gunawardena denied to The Sunday Leader that the said land had been officially released.   

Not initiated by UDA

The Minister explained that since this was a project initiated by the BOI the procedure was that it was submitted to the investment sub committee of cabinet by the BOI. The investment sub committee Gunawardena said had approved this on the recommendation of the BOI.

However Gunawardena said that as the land belongs to the UDA it would be only thereafter that the UDA will proceed to value the land and go through with accepted procedure adopted by the UDA since this project was not initiated by the UDA.

Q: Has the land been valued?

A: We will have to go through the procedure of sending it to the Chief Valuer and all that is after this approval letter comes, that is the normal procedure we follow since it has not been initiated by us.

The Minister also said that the BOI had inquired if the land was available.

Minister: "They have asked us. We have only said the land is available. Then it was taken up by the investment sub committee."

Q: But there were other proposals pertaining to the same land. Didn't the government assess all proposals in terms of revenue to the state?

A: There are various aspects that have to be considered especially in relation to this site. Various development proposals have been made. But some of them obstruct the view of this special place because we want to a have the view preserved. This is the only place where one can see right to the other end of the lake. So we want to preserve the maximum possible landscape and view that is available. We will do this in accordance with our planning procedures and guidelines

Q: You have given approval for four-five floors?

A: We have not given approval for any of the planning. We have only considered the planning. The committee has considered the proposal, then detailed plans have to be submitted. Anyone has to submit detailed plans and detailed proposals with architect designs and the UDA will have its own planning procedures and observations to make on them.

Ravi Wijeratne when contacted by The Sunday Leader confirmed that the proposal was approved two-three weeks go and that no valuation had been made on the land. Asked if he intended to develop over the car park he said he did not know as yet as permission had so far been obtained only for a car park.

However Watawala familiar no doubt with interference and influence emanating from the powers that be and knowing full well the curious wheeler dealings of the likes of the Wijeratnes and Sajin De Vass's of this nation admitted to this newspaper that mixed development was possible.

Earlier Watawala was to come under heavy flak and be torn apart at several COPE investigations after he approved Sajin's Mihin Air proposal in a matter of 24 hours.

It is in this scenario that Wijeratne's unsolicited proposal catapulted into approval stage no doubt with a push and a shove from his friend Mahinda Rajapakse.

Mind you in order to preserve the view, the government has rejected an application by Aitken Spence to put up a five star hotel and office complex and instead opted for a four storey car park by Wijeratne which project according to Watawala can be subsequently developed. That is the logic of this government with no one having a clue still as to the value of this prime block of land running into almost 500 perches though approval has already been given.