By Michael Hardy
The Sunday Leader has uncovered shocking new evidence of how expatriate-owned real estate brokers help foreigners buy valuable property on the island without paying the mandatory 100 percent transfer tax that was enacted in 2005. Over the past decade, foreigners have bought up massive swaths of Sri Lankan beachfront property, displacing local inhabitants [...]
By Frederica Jansz
A high profile investigation into the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge and the attacks on Editors Upali Tennekoon, Keith Noyahr and Namal Perera is underway as senior sleuths attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) sift through a smattering of leads which may eventually pinpoint who were responsible [...]
By Michael Hardy
On December 26, 2004, former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl watched the tsunami waves roll in from the third floor balcony of his hotel in Thalpe, outside of Galle, where he was vacationing. Stranded in the hotel, the main road impassable, Kohl had to be rescued by a Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter, which [...]
A Massive Rice Import Fraud Perpetrated By Minister Bandula Gunawardena
By R. Wijewardene
Rice, its consumption and cultivation, lies at the heart of this country’s civilisation.
The staple of almost every meal consumed on this island, rice is easily the country’s most essential commodity, and for most Sri Lankans it is as much a necessity of life as [...]
Telecom Regulatory Commission compels SLT to acquire a firm controlled by the President’s nephew
By R. Wijewardene
That this country is riddled with corruption is not an open secret, it is a basic fact of life.
The instances of ministerial corruption, fraud, nepotism and venality documented by this newspaper alone are almost innumerable.
ut while there is little [...]
R. Wijewardene
The Kelaniya right bank water treatment plant is yet another of the government’s mega projects. Costing a staggering Rs. 8 billion and funded by Danish aid, the enormous water tank complex being erected at Pitiwela will eventually treat and supply water to the densely populated residential areas north of Colombo.
The project is vital [...]
By R. Abeywickrema
The partying has shifted to Kandy. Just the week before, the joint opposition launched its bid for the presidency in the hill capital, with a massive show of strength. Common candidate Sarath Fonseka’s inaugural rally took even seasoned campaigners by surprise, due to the sheer spontaneity of the crowds that flowed in to [...]
By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
Photos by Thusitha Kumara
The fortunes of the First Family and immediate family members continue to grow with one of the Presidential siblings setting his eyes upon becoming an estate owner in the Kurunegala District.
A younger sibling of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is currently on the look out to purchase coconut estates in the [...]
Text and Photos by Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
The construction of mansions worth millions of rupees has become a hallmark of the current administration with its members, from the Head of State to politicians affiliated to the government, not wasting any time in ensuring they acquire all possible luxuries within a short period of time.
The latest member [...]
By R. Wijewardene
One of Sri Lanka’s hidden treasures has always been its currency. Not because the rapidly falling rupee has any real value as an investment, but because Sri Lanka’s various bills – the luminous 10 rupee note, the Sigiriya emblazoned hundred with their intricate motifs represent some of the most attractive legal tender [...]
