Navy Chief and Saliya in sonar tangle

Wasantha karannagoda, Mahinda Rajapakse, Chamal Rajapakse, and Saliya Wickremasooriya

Gota told SLPA and Navy to work together

Karannagoda tries to control TEC appointment

Saliya challenges navy on Oceanscan installation

CID looks into Rs 1m rental; ignores
Rs. 200m purchase

By Ranjith Jayasundera

Months of endless bickering and grandstanding between the Ports Authority and the Sri Lanka Navy has led to the security of Sri Lanka's harbours and ports being jeopardised once again, and a phenomenal amount of money being wasted by the government.

In the latest twist in the joint 'effort' by the navy and Ports Authority to protect the harbours from underwater intruders - and amidst murmurs amongst senior naval officers that the navy's new Rs 200 million sonar systems are not functioning - Navy Commander Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda has written to the Ports Authority and asked them not to make any scheduled payments without obtaining his prior approval.

This letter was dated July 28. On the same day, the Ports Ministry wrote to the Ports Authority Chairman, Saliya Wickremasooriya, requesting his "early attention and decision on the installation" of the competing sonar system, the Oceanscan X-type, that has been lying in storage in Colombo's harbour. The Ports Ministry file copy of the letter, which The Sunday Leader obtained, shows that it was only faxed to the Ports Authority and Oceanscan on August 15, more than three weeks after the date of the letter.

Twice the price

The Sunday Leader first broke the story of the shadiness in the sonar deal after the MV Invincible was sunk in Trincomalee Harbour. It was after this event that we discovered the navy's move to buy a product more than twice the price of its competitor, without having tested it in its installation environment.

To flashback, the competition was between two British defence companies, Oceanscan and Qinetiq, who offered sonar systems to detect divers trying to enter Colombo's harbour.

It is only when it came down to testing the two systems that a real controversy emerged: a side by side comparison of the two systems was never carried out. Qinetiq failed to install their system out at sea, impeded by stormy monsoon weather, and thus was granted permission by the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) to perform their trials inside the harbour, a genteel environment in which it would never be deployed.

Oceanscan initially refused to modify its tests to suit the failings of a competitor. The company cited the specifications given in Annex B of the 'Navy Sonar System Tender (revised)' which did not call for trials inside the harbour.

"We used these specifications to purpose build a system for Colombo," Oceanscan Sales Director, Manel Monteiro told The Sunday Leader. The specifications state that the system was required to give "full coverage at harbour entrances in Colombo, Galle, KKS and for the approaches to the naval harbour in Trincomalee."

Tailor made

Thus the Oceanscan X-Type was tailor-made for this environment, and was thus mounted on the harbour wall. "They also wanted the operator to be as close to the sonar as possible," he elaborated, "so we designed it on the breakwater so the operator would be very close by."

The Qinetiq system on the other hand was mounted out at sea, far from the operator, and using lengthy cables, which was also against the tender's requirement of "minimum use of under-water cables."

After months of going back and forth between the TEC and the two bidders, the committee suddenly closed up shop and wrote a recommendation favouring Qinetiq's Cerberus system for installation to protect the harbour entrances, despite the fact that the Qinetiq and the navy both failed to successfully install the sonar dome outside the harbour, and the fact that Qinetiq was refusing to perform such a test until their system was purchased.

Buy my six year old car. I know it didn't start the last time you tried to test drive it on the road, but hey, it works in the garage. You can test it on the road if you like, but only after you've paid me in full with an irrevocable letter of credit. That was Qinetiq's message to the government.

The TEC, however, amazingly, accepted their viewpoint. The committee in its final report dated September 3, 2007 went into a detailed explanation of why it is harder for a sonar system to operate inside a harbour than out at sea.

Incorrect conclusion

Without a scientist among them, the TEC came to this incorrect conclusion and further recommended Qinetiq over its competitor on the basis that Qinetiq's performance inside the harbour was better than Oceanscan's outside - in a much more hostile environment.

Most constant noise is easy to filter out of any system, as it can be predicted, but it is a far more daunting task to surpass the rapid and random changes that constantly occur within the sea. The TEC statement was factually incorrect, and its members were not qualified to make it.

The mysterious actions of the TEC make more sense when the nature of their appointment is taken into consideration. The procurement action started at a meeting chaired by Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse in March 2007. At the meeting was the Navy Commander, Ports Ministry Secretary and Ports Authority Chairman.

At that meeting, a decision was taken to speed up the procurement of a diver detection system for the Colombo harbour. Since the navy suffered from severe budget constraints, and the Ports Authority too had an interest in securing the harbour against attack, the Port Chairman Saliya Wickremasooriya agreed to provide the funding for a sonar system jointly selected by the Ports Authority and the navy.

Two potential contenders were identified, and then the fun began. Both parties (Qinetiq and Oceanscan) were informed that new trials would be conducted of their system, scheduled for June 2007. Both went about their work preparing for the trials.

TEC

The SLPA then wrote to the navy on the eve of the trials, on June 4, recommending four officials to the Technical Evaluation Committee. They were the harbour master, electrical chief engineer, chief IT manager and security manager of the Ports Authority.

There begun a battle of egos between Navy Commander, Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, and Ports Authority Chairman, Saliya Wickremasooriya. The Navy Commander wrote to Wickremasooriya on June 11 and made it clear that his turf was not to be trodden on.

"Responsibility pertaining to security of Colombo harbour is vested with the Commander of the Navy and as such selection of most efficient means, equipments and modes of implementation should be determined by him," the Admiral wrote (our emphasis).

"Therefore a performance evaluation committee has already been appointed by me" he continued, adding that he considered "nominating additional non-specialist members" to the committee "unnecessary." As a concession however, he allowed that the Ports Authority's Chief Electrical Engineer "could be included" but that the others would have to be observers and have no say in the procurement process.

Two days later, on June 13, Wickremasooriya shot back in writing to the Navy Commander. "The SLPA intends to procure at its own expense," he wrote, "a suitable underwater intruder detection system" for the Colombo harbour.

North entrance

As he told The Sunday Leader in June, Wickremasooriya explained to the Admiral in writing that he wanted to provide enough security measures to make the navy permit the Ports Authority to operate the north entrance of the harbour, which remains closed for fear of LTTE infiltration.

"The closure of the north entrance costs us eight days a month in lost time due to piloting delays," he explained, adding that this may eventually lead to the Colombo harbour losing its hub status.

Wickremasooriya then had the tactless gall to tell the Naval Commander that losing hub status for Colombo harbour "will have a considerably worse economic impact on the nation than any terrorist strike."

In response to Karannagoda's assertion that he gets to call the shots on who sits on procurement committees, the Port Chairman insisted that "the SLPA is bound to follow state procurement rules, all of which empower a committee rather than an individual with discretionary powers."

He also asked that the Ports Authority "have equal representation in any committee deliberating the use of SLPA resources," and explained why he nominated the members he did to the committee, because of their technical background with operations within the harbour.

Procurement committee

Wickremasooriya's letter also highlighted the fact that at the time the navy held the June 11 trials of Qinetiq's Cerberus system inside the harbour, no procurement committee had been officially appointed by any agency. It was only on June 15 that the National Procurement Agency (NPA) appointed the TEC, including three naval officers and the Ports Authority officer accepted by Admiral Karannagoda, Chief Engineer (Electrical) A.D.T. Gunasekera.

The NPA appointment letter actually listed Gunasekera as a navy officer, and made no mention of the Ports Authority at all. The Port Chairman then wrote on June 19 to NPA Chairman, Daya Liyanage, asking who was supposed to pay for this system once procured.

He stated that "if SLPA is expected to fund the project" that the authority's "financial regulations require" that the TEC be chaired by an SLPA officer, to run under a Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee (CANC) which in turn needed to be appointed by a Cabinet Memorandum.

The NPA Chairman wrote back telling Wickremasooriya that "as per the information available" the project was to be funded by the Defence Ministry, thus asking that he make all his requests through that Ministry and cutting the Ports Authority off from that point, of all activities relating to the procurement process.

Despite Wickremasooriya insisting to The Sunday Leader that the navy was being extremely cooperative on the issue, the documents in our possession prove that he himself believed otherwise. We also acquired a paper written by the Port Chairman to the SLPA management committee after he got wind of the TEC recommendation of Qinetiq.

'No confidence'

He himself wrote the story better than we ever could. He called the TEC decision to purchase the Qinetiq system "an illogical step" and said that "the SLPA no longer has any confidence in the fact that this procurement will either (a) address the real issue at hand, or (b) take place in a reasonable time frame."

When The Sunday Leader confronted Saliya Wickremasooriya with his own words last week, he insisted that to date he had "no significant issues" with the navy over the sonar purchase and denied the existence of any "battle" between the navy and Ports Authority. "We are both doing our jobs, and I think we're both doing them very well," he waffled.

Why Wickremasooriya is so terrified of the Navy Commander that he has to deny his own words is anyone's guess, especially given that he is slated to vacate his post soon on an instruction from the Ports Ministry. According to a senior Ministry official, "this Chairman spends two weeks in Colombo, and then flies away for two weeks on his other work, and thinks the port can run itself."

To that we can testify, as Wickremasooriya has spent more than a month overseas in the three months that The Sunday Leader has been investigating the sonar scandal. The ports official also said that Wickremasooriya was investigated by the CID on the direction of Ports Minister Chamal Rajapakse, for his decision to lease the Oceanscan sonar until the navy took a final decision on which company to go with.

Wickremasooriya did not deny that he was interrogated by the CID, but said that "the matter stopped a long time ago," after he had explained that his decisions were based on a lack of communication from the navy as to the progress of the tender.

Ridiculous

What is ridiculous is that the CID has focused its attention on why the Ports Authority signed a Rs. 1 million rent contract, and not on how the Navy Commander asserted total control over a tender process and lied about the credentials of one bidder in order to award the contract to one party for Rs 200 million.

In fact, once the contract was awarded by the navy, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse on April 15, instructed the Navy Commander to go ahead and buy the Qinetiq system at a total cost of Rs 206,027,476.36.

The Navy Commander then took matters into his own hands and asked the Ports Ministry to instruct the SLPA to transfer the lump sum of over Rs 206 million directly into the bank account of the Commander of the Navy's Account Number 000 704 1345, in an even more blatant violation of procurement procedures than those that had taken place earlier.

When the issue was raised at a meeting of the National Security Council, chaired by President Mahinda Rajapakse, the President took issue with the Port Chairman for not having adhered to the navy's request to have the money transferred directly to them.

Wickremasooriya then explained to the President that he had little idea of what he was paying for. He had no invoice, no specifications and no basis on which to transfer such a lump sum to the navy, for them to pay Qinetiq all at once.

Chastised Commander

The President, for once caught on to Karannagoda's folly, chastised the Navy Commander for his bullying approach and then instructed the Port Chairman to arrange payment directly to Qinetiq. Even here, Wickremasooriya violated and circumvented a plethora of SLPA financial regulations to open a letter of credit for the Qinetiq sonars.

Despite his denials to us that he was directly involved in the process, informed Ports Authority officials confirm that Saliya Wickremasooriya was fully aware that the price of the Qinetiq sonar had skyrocketed (up to GBP 375,000 per sonar head from GBP 290,000 in the original quote), that it had not been tested in its installation conditions, and that its specifications did not match the original navy tender specification.

Knowing this full well, Wickremasooriya coaxed the SLPA board into bowing before the Navy Commander and opening a letter of credit to Qinetiq with no questions asked, on May 9, 2008.

The rest is mostly history. The Sunday Leader has already reported on how the first Qinetiq sonar head arrived and was 'operating' in Colombo harbour with a flaw so serious that the Navy Commander himself requested that we do not print details of the flaw out of national security considerations.

The Navy Commander also lied, misquoting the British Defence Attach, Lt. Col. Anton Gash, as having told him that he has "never heard of Oceanscan," and was advocating Qinetiq on behalf of the British government. Lt. Col. Gash at that time told The Sunday Leader that the British government would equally support both parties.

Second sonar

Since this last instalment in the sonar saga, Qinetiq's second sonar head has arrived in Sri Lanka, and the navy attempted to install it in Trincomalee harbour. A successful installation in Trincomalee harbour may have led to the lifting of a crippling fishing ban that has affected local fishermen since the LTTE sunk the MV Invincible inside the harbour in May.

Yet the navy in July learned a bitter lesson for its folly. Qinetiq had refused from the outset to get involved in a sonar installation. After receiving the second dome from Qinetiq, the navy has been unable to even install it successfully leave alone conduct tests on its effectiveness, according to several senior naval officers and one TEC member, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The navy spokesman however officially said they had no knowledge whether the second sonar had even arrived.

It is after the failed installation came to light that the navy wrote to the Ports Authority asking that payments not be made without Admiral Karannagoda's approval, and the Ports Ministry asked Wickremasooriya to take a decision on installing the Oceanscan system.

When we last contacted the Ports Authority Chairman, he chose his words carefully. Asked about the waste of money he simply stated that the SLPA "had no feedback and thus absolutely no idea of the effectiveness of the money we have spent."

Not used

"If this system is as effective as the navy believes it is, how come the second head was not used to open the north entrance? I can say that the SLPA is confused. You are right, we have on one side been told to withhold payment to Qinetiq. But at the same time the navy is not allowing us to even install the Oceanscan rental system at the north entrance."

"For us, at the very outset, the goal was to get the north entrance open. This closure is crippling us, and causing huge losses. This is why we spent so much money at the navy's request. If we could open the gate, the benefits to the shipping industry would be phenomenal."

Whatever muscling was done by the Navy Commander, it is still the Ports Authority and Ports Ministry that got the country into this mess with the knowledge and involvement at various stages of the Defence Ministry and Ports Ministry.

Instead of running a 'witch hunt' against journalists who supposedly jeopardise national security with their articles revealing bumbling and incompetence within government ranks, the President and two of his brothers now have a perfect opportunity to see for themselves the consequences of letting their puppets and stooges run amok in the military and state institutions - and do something about it, in the name of 'national security.'

Now, dividing the Sinhalese on religious lines

The mob seeking entry to the AOG church premises and (inset) Gotabaya Rajapakse, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Rajiva Wijesingha and Robert Blake

By Sonali Samarasinghe

The attacks on churches and the breach of the fundamental freedom of religion as mobs continue to harass and threaten Christian worship has greatly concerned the diplomatic community.

Last week US Ambassador Robert Blake was to take the matter up both with the Minister for Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe and Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat Rajiva Wijesinha.

Certainly the government was worried. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse had told a UNP dissident government minister such attacks would cause ripples in the international community. Basil Rajapakse the more moderate of the Rajapakses had given a patient hearing to the victims and promised action.

But with the diplomatic community kept abreast of the details of all the attacks the anti Christian sentiment was to cause far more than a few ripples as predicted by Gotabaya.

Meeting

In fact even as the August 3 morning attack on the Kalutara church was in full force US Ambassador Robert Blake and visiting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher were meeting with a prominent representative of the Christian community.

No sooner than word of the attack trickled through on crackling telephone wires to this representative, Boucher himself was immediately made aware of the details. It was one of the reasons Blake would later take up the matter so urgently with government officials as well.

In fact it was the negative impact such attacks would have with the international community reflected so forcefully by diplomats speaking about these matters to ministers and also to Wijesinha that prompted the Secretary to the Human Rights Ministry and Peace Secretariat Chief to send a lengthy fax to the Leader newspaper on Wednesday morning.

Certainly much more than the principle it was negative international opinion that was to inform the government's concern.

Be that as it may the Kalutara Assembly of God Church continues to remain the flash point as the matter was taken up in court last week. The circumstances surrounding the initial attack late July and subsequent developments have already been made known to the Attorney General C.R De Silva. As this newspaper reported last week senior lawyers for the church, Denzil Gunaratne PC and Asoka Weerasuriya had made representations to the AG on the matter.

Dim view

And it was even as the Attorney General himself was taking a dim view of the attacks having told officials around him it was unacceptable for churches to be attacked this way and it was a matter to be taken very seriously that Rajiva Wijesinha felt it necessary to write to this newspaper a lengthy missive on the article published last week, Sunday 17.

Certainly it is a sensitive subject and one hopes that government officials can keep the matter above the pettiness of racism and religious extremism and on a plane which will not only promote reconciliation but also a change in attitude.

 This newspaper has received a large amount of correspondence on this subject both for and against and it is not practical for this newspaper to publish all this correspondence. It is in this context that we are unable to publish Rajiva Wijesinha's entire lengthy reply on the subject since we had already spoken to and published the comments of all the relevant parties to the incidents at the time of writing last week.

However we give pause here to publish a paragraph from Wijesinha's letter as it refers to action supposedly taken. Referring to this columnist he says, "The issues she raises are important, and she is right to claim that what seems increasing frequency (sic) requires concerted government action, to ensure the rule of law. Unfortunately she seems not to be aware that such action has been taken."

'Acted promptly'

"With regard to the incident at Kalutara for instance, which was the basis of the article, the police had acted promptly to prevent a breach of the peace. At the last of the meetings held last week, it was agreed that no more protests would be held until a meeting scheduled for Monday August 18 at which senior police officials and secretaries to two ministries, as well as local officials including the disaster management coordinator met the concerned parties. Unfortunately this agreement was breached, but the police presented a comprehensive report as to what had occurred on Sunday, August 17 which indicated that judicial action would be appropriate. The matter has now been placed before the courts, which have ordered the production before them of those alleged responsible."

A careful reading of last week's article would show that this newspaper did say that Basil Rajapakse had been asked to intervene in the matter, that meetings had been held, that the police had been involved and had in fact attempted to hold the mob back but was unable to do so.

Wijesinha would realise that even this newspaper would be unable to publish on August 17 details of a meeting that took place on August 18. He states as per the para quoted above that a meeting was held and suggests that 'this agreement was breached.' Unfortunately he seems not to be aware that this so called meeting of concerned parties in fact lacked one concerned party of vital importance - the victim AOG church representatives themselves.

Mob attack

He is correct in noting that something did occur on Sunday, August 17 (though fighting shy of elaborating what exactly took place) which indicated that judicial action would be appropriate. In fact despite the assurances given by both politicians, the government agent's office and the police even as readers and no doubt Rajiva Wijesinha was reading The Sunday Leader article, a mob entered the church. Police were unable to prevent them from breaking into the church premises on August 17 and stopping church activity. The Head Pastor of the Church Stanley Royston and his family remained indoors as his wife's car was stoned and its side mirrors smashed.

Mobs defaced the church building with cow dung and destroyed sections of a children's club behind the main church. They also damaged the church gate and pastor Royston's house gate. The police had not been able to quell the mob completely and had advised the Pastor to remain indoors while they tried to control the marauders.

Christian worshippers in the church and Pastor Royston and his family have been living in constant fear of their lives and their general security has been under threat. The AOG church representatives on being asked to be present at the GA's office on August 18 for a meeting declined the invitation on the basis that such a meeting would be useless given the upsetting events of Sunday, August 17.

Pastor Royston was to ask the Assistant Government Agent if he could assure his security if he were to attend the meeting but understandably given the enormity of this problem and the outside forces that drive the enmity, he was allegedly to have replied that he could not undertake such a responsibility.

Declined to sign

It is also correct that on August 21 the six monks allegedly responsible for the events of August 17 in the Kalutara Magistrate's Court were produced in court before the additional magistrate. The monks were enlarged on surety bail but they declined to sign. Court sources allege the monks were unwilling to sign.

Such a refusal would normally result in persons being remanded. If the monks were remanded it would cause anger and perhaps precipitate a national crisis. Sources in Kalutara also said had the monks been remanded following a refusal to sign it could have been used to whip up more anti Christian sentiment. But temple sources denied this vehemently.

However such an eventuality was averted as later the monks agreed to personal bail. Another crowd had attempted to make the incident a politically charged affair by surrounding the courts and chanting pirith alleged sources. As the monks arrived at the village temple later on Thursday evening at about 7.30-8 pm temple bells have peeled and fire crackers were set off as a celebration these sources claimed.

 Meanwhile the OIC of the Kalutara police who had taken up his post only last Thursday was to inform Pastor Royston of the AOG church that he too should present himself in court on August 26 when the case is called again. He was told to expect formal summons.

The AOG church it is learnt has retained the services of President's Counsel Denzil Gunaratne and senior lawyer Asoka Weerasuriya to appear on their behalf on Tuesday, August 26.

And there the matter rests uneasily for the moment.

Unwarranted criticism

A few insular but unwarranted criticisms seem to have been made by Wijesinha against this columnist and this newspaper. And lest Wijesinha thinks they were purposely left out we quote again;

"The same has occurred with regard to the incident at Malabe described in a previous article by your correspondent. Contrary to your correspondent's continuing suggestions that the authorities are biased against minorities in neither cases have the police recorded or produced evidence against the Christians involved."

We draw Wijesinha's attention to this columnist's assertions in the two articles one published on July 13, the other on August 17. We have said that it was in fact a government official Attorney General C.R.De Silva's intervention that the church was able to conduct its service on August 10 as the police had been vigilant and acted sternly despite a mob arriving in the church.

We have praised Mahinda Rajapakse's brother Basil as a moderate voice who had given the church a patient hearing and promised action. We have mentioned ministerial sources in government who were concerned but unfortunately they do not wish to be named. In our earlier article we have particularly mentioned the impartiality of the Talahena police as they defended the church pastor in the Talangama Calvary Church incident on July 6 where a mob led by some Buddhist monks stormed the church and destroyed its premises. We have also made particular mention of positive police action in both articles.

We have however listed out in a separate box in the August 17 article several concerns the Christians have on a trend that seems to be taking over this country based on a document prepared by certain Christian organisations.

It is perhaps prudent for persons such as Wijesinha not to reduce this issue to one of mere police partiality or a matter confined to a few individuals. This country has nurtured monsters before. If not, Wijesinha would not have to sit as Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process. There would be peace in this land.

Attack on freedom

The attack on churches must be looked at in the larger sense just as much as an attack on freedom of any religion or practice must be viewed in the same light. We are concerned with the liberty of the individual, the rights of a human being as enshrined in international law and in the constitution of this country.

Already we are fractured on ethnic lines. Myopic politicians with self serving agendas are now fracturing the Sinhala people on religious lines. While this may not be politically correct it shall be said so that the folly of those extremists like Champika Ranawaka and his ilk are exposed. The Sinhala Christians have always identified with the majority. They have always, as much as the next Sri Lankan put their country first. Now it seems, that just as the politicians of this country alienated the Burghers and the Tamils they are ready to alienate the Sinhala Christians.

These are exclusionary measures with the long term goal of making this country a mono ethnic, mono religious state. If the government, if individuals, if the media, if organisations, if temples, mosques and peace secretariats do not recognise this trend as the father of the monster that is now stalking this nation preparing her for a bloody engagement, then truly Sri Lanka is a lost land.

Abusing state property to 'serve' the people

twenty vehicles bearing identical garage numbers are being used for election related work (inset) Maithripala Sirisena, P. B. Jayasundera, Rajith Siyambalapitiya and S.M. Chandrasena

RDA fuel bills soar from Rs. 500,000
in April to Rs. 5.2 million in July

Nation Building Ministry foots circuit
bungalow bills of ministers

Bungalows air conditioned at state
expense to cool ministers

20 luxury govt. vehicles with garage
number plates in A'pura

By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema

The campaign for the North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council elections that concluded yesterday (23) saw the blatant violation of the country's election laws, especially those related to the misuse of public property.

The rampant misuse of state property by the government for the election campaigns in the two provinces was witnessed as never before and opposition parties allege that the authorities did not act upon the many complaints made on the issue by both the UNP and the JVP.

Unfortunately, it is the public that has to finally bear the cost of the misuse of public property during election time and all in the name of  serving the people.

As pointed out by an opposition party member, the government after allocating Rs. 400 million for the two elections, which is to be borne by the public has also resorted to liberally using public property creating an additional burden for the people to shoulder.

"It is the poor people that have to bear all these expenses. The money allocated by the government for the conduct of the elections is pocketed out by the public and the additional expenditure incurred by the ministries and other state institutions on election related expenses is also borne by the people," he said.

Abuse of state property

Documentary and photographic evidence has surfaced on the many cases of the misuse of state property by the government in the two provinces.

Although misuse of public property was reported from all four districts - Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kegalle and Ratnapura - the largest number of violations were reported from the Anuradhapura District in the North Central Province.

Several government ministers had booked four circuit bungalows of the Irrigation Department in the Anuradhapura District for 'official use' from July 8, till the end of August on state expense. The circuit bungalows that have been booked to be used during the election campaign are the Nachchaduwa, Rajangana, Huruluwewa and Padaviya bungalows.

The Sunday Leader has in its possession a copy of the letter sent to the Zonal Irrigation Director, Anuradhapura by Assistant Project Director, Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Ministry, W.S.U Prabath on June 30, wherein it has been requested for the irrigation circuit bungalow in Padaviya to be allocated to Minister Susantha Punchinilame from July 8 till August 31.

The letter while requesting for the bungalow to be allocated to Punchinilame for 'official use' during the period has also stated that the necessary bills be directed to the Nation Building Ministry for payment.

In another letter sent by the Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Ministry to Zonal Irrigation Director, Anuradhapura on July 1, Coordinating Secretary to the Ministry, U.G. Hettiarachchi has requested that the irrigation circuit bungalow in Huruluwewa be booked on behalf of Minister S.M. Chandrasena.

Hails from Anuradhapura

The circuit bungalow has been requested from July 3 till August 2 for the Minister's official use. Ironically the Minister hails from Anuradhapura.

The Sunday Leader learns that Port and Aviation Minister Chamal Rajapakse has booked the irrigation circuit bungalows in Nachchaduwa and Rajangana. Both bungalows have been requested till September 1.

Officials at the Anuradhapura Irrigation Office confirmed to The Sunday Leader that the circuit bungalows of the department in the district have been booked during the election period by several ministers. However, the officials refused to give the names of the ministers for whom the  bungalows had been booked.

JVP's Chief Ministerial candidate for the North Central Province, Wasantha Samarasinghe told The Sunday Leader that apart from the public funds officially allocated for the elections in the two provinces, the people also had to bear the additional expenses incurred by government ministries and other related institutions for election campaign work of the UPFA.

It is also learnt that the circuit bungalows of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminal Limited (CPSTL) among others in Anuradhapura have also been booked by government officials to be used during the campaign.

Most of the state institutions have also spent large sums of money during the election campaign for the benefit of the UPFA.

Payment vouchers

One such institution is the Road Development Authority (RDA).

The Sunday Leader is in possession of copies of payment vouchers passed by the RDA for the installation of two air conditioners to a circuit bungalow and to purchase a generator as well.

The RDA had on July 11 approved a payment  Rs. 172,500 to  SOAR Technology (Pvt) Limited, Welisara for the purchase of a generator for the circuit bungalow in Mihintale.  The minister who had booked the bungalow apparently wanted air conditioned comfort after a hard day's campaigning. 

On July 22, another payment Rs. 167,660  had been made to Abans Limited, No.28, New Town, Anuradhapura for the  purchase of two air conditioners for the deputy minister's office.

According to Samarasinghe, these payments were made by the RDA to upgrade the offices and the bungalow to accommodate the ministers during the election campaign.

Meanwhile, the large scale misuse of state vehicles during the election campaign has also been revealed.

Samarasinghe said that he had documentary evidence to prove the blatant misuse of public vehicles and the fact that state institutions have had to bear the cost of fuel pumped into some of the vehicles used for the government's election campaign.

Increased drastically

He said that he was in possession of the vouchers approved by certain state institutions to pay for fuel for vehicles used during the campaign.

He added that the fuel bill of the RDA that stood at Rs. 500,000 in April had increased drastically to Rs. 4,600,000 in June and Rs. 5,200,000 in July.

Meanwhile soon after the announcement of the polls in the two provinces, the government had initiated 'Lighting Rajarata' and 'Lighting Sabaragamuwa' projects to give electricity connections to the remote villages in the two provinces in order to win the villagers' support at the upcoming provincial council elections, sources claimed.

Sources attached to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) said that an electrical engineer supportive of the government and several electrical superintendents were transferred to Anuradhapura from Colombo to carry out the 'projects' in the North Central Province. Sources who wish to remain anonymous have also revealed the numbers of several vehicles belonging to state institutions that are being used for campaign work.

According to sources, more than 20 government vehicles bearing garage number plates "WCC 2008/2009"  were being used for election campaign work. These vehicles have become a serious threat to the CPC storage facility as any destructive force too could enter the premises with the same number plate, sources said.

It is learnt that vehicles belonging to the Indigenous Medicine Ministry bearing numbers KJ 9443, KH 4334 and KI 3443 and the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Ministry bearing numbers GC 0261, ME 1736, 57-8900, 252-4754 and JA 8149 and the Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Ministry bearing numbers KL 3773 and KL 302 and Petroleum Resources Ministry vehicles bearing numbers KE 1736 and KE 9544 and CPC vehicles bearing numbers 58-0379, PG 9417, 59-0829, 58-0381 and GD 9947 were being used for the government's election campaign in the North Central Province.

Misuse of public vehicles

Fuel for these official vehicles are pumped on vouchers issued by state authorities.

The misuse of public vehicles for election campaign work was also reported from the Polonnaruwa District.

It was reported that over 40 buses belonging to the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) were used to transport people to the UPFA rally held at Polonnaruwa on August 14.

JVP's Polonnaruwa District Leader, R.K. Indrananda in a letter to the Elections Commissioner has noted that the use of public property for election propaganda work is a serious violation of election laws and has said that 40 buses from the SLTB depot at Polonnaruwa were used to transport people from various parts of the island to the UPFA rally. He said the rally was held under the guise of a launch of a development programme, when in fact it was an election propaganda rally for the UPFA candidates.

He  added that posters and banners with the photographs of all UPFA candidates contesting the provincial council election from the North Central Province were pasted on the buses and vehicles belonging to ministries, departments and pradeshiya sabhas.

Indrananda told The Sunday Leader that he is in possession of videographic evidence to prove his allegations.

SLTB buses

He said that he had evidence to prove the registration numbers of about 37 buses. The registration numbers of several such buses are NA2343, NA3110, NA4463, NA3051, NA4737, NA1631, NA6007, NA2561, NA4465, NA-1511, NA-2342, NA4581, NA1144, NA1231, NA4157, NA2517, NA4580, NA1325, NA5234, NA4250, NA4232, NA4239, NA4222, NA4465, NA4538, 62-2296, 63-3649, 63-0123, 63-4579, 63-9343, 61-8855, 61-9343 and 62-9633.

Indrananda also charged that Minister Maithripala Sirisena during the election campaign in a letter signed by him to the contestants, ministers and electoral organisers of the Polonnaruwa District had highlighted several points in contravention of the election laws.

The letter sent by Sirisena, while stating that his office should be informed of any displaying of propaganda material by the opposition candidates that received more prominence than the ones put up by the UPFA for 'necessary action to be taken,' has further said that 350 projects based on the Rajarata Navodaya programme be launched in line with the Gama Neguma, Maga Neguma and Rata Neguma programmes. He has said these programmes be organised on a grand scale and be given maximum publicity.

In clear violation of election laws, Sirisena in the letter has also noted that the Samurdhi Development Officers and Agricultural Research Officers should visit every grama niladhari area and formulate a strategic plan to ensure the victory of the UPFA.

Meanwhile, the circuit bungalow in the Kaduruwela farm in Polonnaruwa has allegedly been taken over by force by thugs who had been taken to Polonnaruwa by the government for 'election campaign work.'

Holiday resorts

The Sunday Leader also learns that the Pulathisi Holiday Resort, Hathare Ela was booked by the Agriculture and Agrarian Services Ministry for a period of one month ending August 24, the day after the poll.

While the North Central Province dominated the list of violation of election laws, the Sabaragamuwa Province too has recorded several cases related to the misuse of public property.

The Sabaragamuwa Province has also recorded a large number of cases of misuse of state vehicles.

Opposition parties allege that vehicles belonging to the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council,  Finance, Labour, and Consumer Affairs Ministries were being used for election campaign work of the UPFA.

It has been alleged that vehicles from the provincial council were used for UPFA chief ministerial candidate Mahipala Herath's campaign; Finance Ministry vehicles were used by Deputy Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya's cousin, Harsha Siyambalapitiya's campaign; Labour Ministry vehicles for Minister Athauda Seneviratne's son Parakarama Seneviratne's campaign and Consumer Affairs Ministry vehicles for Minister Mithrapala's son, Dushmantha Mithrapala's campaign.

Also, allegations have been made that state offices were used to hold meetings of electoral organisers of the SLFP.

A letter sent by SLFP chief organiser for the Kalawana electorate, Janaka Wakkumbura has called all SLFP electoral organisers for a meeting on July 24 at the Kalawana zonal education office.

Health sector employees

Meanwhile, trade unions attached to the health sector alleged that over 15 employees attached to the Ratnapura General Hospital were assigned for election campaign work in the Sabaragamuwa Province and the hospital authorities failed to take disciplinary action against these employees for marking the attendance register without reporting for duty.

Even the Health Ministry Flying Squad, which was formed solely to nab errant health workers, had failed to nab the UPFA party supporters who were engaged in election campaign work during office hours.

No action

The unions claim that although the matter was intimated to the Director General of Health Services no action has been taken on the matter.

JVP's Kegalle District Leader at the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council elections alleged that Herath even resorted to promising jobs to unemployed graduates in order to get their support to canvass for votes during the election. "Unemployed graduates have been asked to sign up with him for a period of 26 days for canvassing and they are even expected to sign in and out every day," he said.

He also said that these members were involved in misusing public property on a large scale in the Kegalle District.

According to opposition parties these are just a few instances where the government misused public property during the election campaigns of the North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces. However, the main grievance of the opposition parties was the failure of the authorities to take action against the many complaints lodged against the misuse of public property.

The UNP and the JVP has jointly called on the government to establish the Constitutional Council in line with the 17th Amendment to the Constitution that gives provision to the formation of the independent commissions. The two opposition parties claim that until and unless the independent commissions are established, the country would be unable to witness a free and fair election.

If the government, especially President Mahinda Rajapakse, fails to abide by the constitution and appoint the independent commissions, the final outcome they say would be for the people to take the law in to their hands.