News

The Finance Ministry has been directed to streamline services of the Customs management and staff while improving productivity and modernisation of standard operating procedures.

 A letter sent by Presidential Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera to the ministry emphasised the urgent need of commitment of all Custom employees to make a positive paradigm change in the department before the end of the first quarter this year.

The directive has come from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa informing that if they fail to comply, then he (President) would take alternate measures to restructure the organisation.

Dr. Jayasundera further pointed out that according to views and observations of various eminent persons in the import and export sector as well as comments of policy planners and audit inspections, no one can be satisfied with the present unpleasant situation of the department.

“It is really frustrating and not pleasurable,” he has stated in a strongly worded letter adding that no one can tolerate such a deplorable situation.

Various allegations have been leveled against Customs over alleged fraudulent transactions in import and export trade as well as private bonded warehouse dealings by businessmen in connivance with Custom officers.

The MTV network’s Batticaloa district correspondent has lodged a complaint with the Karadiyanaru police after being threatened by a landlord who has leased out his land for the construction of Telecom mast.

Kuhadasan Subojan was video graphing a protest by locals in the Eravur town in the Batticaloa district who were protesting against the erection of a mast by Indian Telecom giant ‘AirTel’.

The protesters say they are worried about the environment and health concerns.

 A police complaint has been registered by the journalist and an investigation has been initiated according to sources from there.

Attacks on journalists have largely gone underreported in Sri Lanka. The Diplomat magazine noted that the future for the country’s media looks bleak. They further stated that Sri Lanka is one of the world’s most difficult countries for journalists.

Issuing a not-so-veiled threat against Fernando, President Rajapaksa warned that Buddhist monks were always telling him to stop being “President Gotabaya” and assume the role of “Defence Secretary”.

“"Remember when Prabhakaran started his tricks and attacked me at the Pittala Junction? I finished that job by killing him and sprawling him out like a dog and bringing him across the Nandikadal Lagoon – I can be that person too," he said at an event in Ampara.

10th January 2021

Mr. C.D. Wickremeratne,
Inspector General of Police,
Police Headquarters,
Colombo 01

Dear Mr. Wickremaratne,

Yesterday, I saw video footage of President Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa delivering remarks at an event in Uhuna, Ampara. In his remarks, the President refers to me by name and addresses speeches made by me in Parliament in which I referred to his first name, Nandasena. The President stated that he has a peaceful side and a dark side, and that he is perfectly capable of returning to his dark roots from his tenure as Secretary of Defence.

As you can see from the annexed video clip and transcript, the President fails to differentiate between a seditious, genocidal terrorist tyrant and a legislator exercising his fundamental right to freedom of speech in Parliament. He must be reminded that I have never engaged with terrorists. I have never bribed terrorists to prevent the Tamil people from voting. I have not embraced Karuna Amman, who has butchered more police officers than any man who ever lived. Above all, I am, and have always been, a citizen of Sri Lanka and no other country.

The President clearly insinuates that he is capable of having me “killed like a dog” if I continue saying things that displease him. So long as he continues to fail in his duties, I must do my own duty by continuing to say things that displease him, whatever the risk to my life. Therefore, I must bring this matter to your urgent attention. Given the serious nature of the threat made by President Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the security forces and Minister of Defence, I have no reason to doubt him when he implies that he is capable of doing me harm.

But I am stunned that the President is so agitated simply because I mentioned his first name. Presidents have long been called by their names or initials. No one has been threatened with death for using the names “JRJ”, “Premadasa”, “DB”, “Chandrika”, “Mahinda” or “Sirisena”. Unless the President proves otherwise, I find it difficult to believe that members of the Buddhist clergy have truly advised him to resort to violence. My understanding as a Catholic is that Buddhism shuns violence and espouses peace.

I am painfully aware that many journalists, activists and Members of Parliament who criticized the President when he was Defence Secretary have since either disappeared or been assassinated. In many of these cases, the attacks were preceded by implied threats or frivolous litigation initiated by politicians and officials including Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Indeed, it is ironic that the President turned his guns on me exactly 12 years after Lasantha Wickrematunge, one such man who fearlessly expressed his thoughts and opinions, was assassinated.

I ask that you kindly arrange without delay, to provide me with adequate security against this grave threat to my life and to my duty to speak freely on behalf of the 2.8 million voters who supported the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. It is my fundamental right to say what I wish without fear of being summarily executed like a terrorist.

Mr. Wickremaratne, I must remind you that you are the Inspector-General of Police for the Republic of Sri Lanka, not the personal servant of Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Protecting the life and liberty of Members of Parliament discharging their duties is not a personal favour I am asking of you, but an exercise of your solemn duty to defend the Constitution of the Republic, which you are sworn to do. As a career police officer, I trust that you do not want to be remembered as the IGP who oversaw the first assassination of a Sri Lankan Parliamentarian since the end of the civil war.

For the record, this is the first time I have ever received a credible death threat. I am used to democratic politics, where politicians engage each other and debate their ideas and opinions. This is my first experience of a political opponent trying to terrorize me into silence using fear and the threat of violence. Since I refuse to be silenced, if I am killed, I must assume it will be at the behest of the only man who has ever threatened to kill me.

In the hope that it will result in additional pressure on Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa to desist from the criminal course of action he appears to be contemplating, I am copying this letter to the Speaker of Parliament, the Attorney General, heads of foreign missions in Colombo and the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, and on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions.

Yours faithfully,

Harin Fernando MP

The duty on bottled toddy that stood at Rs 50 a litre will be reduced to Rs 25 from Friday (08), according to a written directive issued by Rajapaksa, who is also finance minister.

The Prime Minister has also allowed extending the opening duration of toddy taverns by two hours with effect from Friday, News First reported.

Taverns can now remain open from 10 am to 2 pm, and 5 pm to 9 pm. The previous times were from 11 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 8 pm.

Premier Rajapaksa has also increased the amount of toddy permitted to be sold to a person, from 1.5 to three litres, amending a law dating back to 1985.

Accordingly, a pass would be required when transporting more than three litres of toddy in the country.

Multinationals and local companies are to be given state lands for mega agriculture projects with tax concessions thrown in under a controversial deal involving forest lands, which unlike forest reserves, are not protected.

The government is planning to hand over thousands of acres of forest lands to five multinational companies after abolishing the circular No. 5/2001, limiting arbitrary allocation of ‘other’ (unreserved) forest lands, environmentalists and local communities say.

According to the circular, any allocation of forest lands for development activities requires the approval of a special review board which has not been followed since the circular is invalid.

Official sources said arrangements are underway to amend the various land acts and ordinances to legally clear two million acres of forest land under the cover of granting one acre each of freehold title to around 1.2 million villagers, most of them farmers.

The balance 800,000 acres of forest land has been identified for mega modern agri- production projects of multinational and local companies, the sources revealed, adding that this segment has drawn opposition.

Meanwhile a national agricultural plan is to be devised soon with the aim of expediting agricultural modernisation as far as technically feasible industrial modes in food crop production, a top Agriculture Ministry official told the Business Times.

Agricultural products and processing will be provided concessions up to a maximum of 10 years under the Strategic Development Law.

Under the budget proposals 2021, individuals and companies engaged in farming, including agriculture, will be exempted from taxes for the next five years.

Investments exceeding USD 10 million in the areas of agricultural products, and processing will be provided with concessions up to a maximum of 10 years under the Strategic Development Law

The approval of the Cabinet of Ministers has already been given to amend the Land Development Ordinance to change the methods of preparing a new grant and revising available conditions.

This new amendment will fulfill all the objectives of the State Lands (Special Provisions) Bill of the previous regime where all government lands which were leasehold interest are to be given as outright grants to the poor.

This bill was not passed in parliament as it had been rejected by various sections of the people and the then opposition during the previous regime.

But its contents including the setting up of a land bank with digital data of all lands are to be implemented under the new amendments to the Land Development Ordinance by the present regime.

A Land Data Infrastructure (LDI) and Land Information Service System (LISS) in Sri Lanka will be established through a South Korean grant of USD 60.33 million under a technical assistance programme.

“If implemented, the project will enable the Government to integrate the land parcel fabrics into LDI and LISS and enhance the ability to manage the city administration using land information service systems for 24 municipalities,” the official said.

The directive had been issued by prime minister and finance minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on December 31 last year, state documents showed

Earlier, the waiver had been granted to vehicles less than 1800 cc, diesel vehicles less than 2300 cc, and electric vehicles less than 200 kW.

Rates of the luxury tax, imposed in 2019, range between 60 and 120% if the vehicle cost exceeds the tax-free threshold.

Sri Lanka has temporarily suspended vehicle imports, according to its COVID-19 economic revival plan, citing it as a move to curb foreign currency outflows.

Colombo District SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) MP Madura Vithanage said that he wouldn’t take the duty free vehicle permit he was entitled to.

The former Kotte Mayor said that he had informed the relevant ministry of his decision.

He admitted that it wouldn’t be fair on their part to receive such a privilege as the country was struggling on the economic front.

Attorney-at-law Nagananda Kodituwakku asked whether members of parliament were entitled to such generous grants.

Kodituwakku noted that it would be a massive challenge for the new government to scrap the duty-free vehicle permit scheme.

The San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability filed the complaint on behalf of Ahimsa Wickrematunge, the daughter of Lasantha Wickrematunge, who was allegedly killed by a military-linked hit squad while driving to work on Jan. 8, 2009.

Wickrematunge, editor of the now-defunct Sunday Leader newspaper, was a strong critic of current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was a powerful defense official at the time. Rajapaksa’s older brother, current Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, was president at the time.

Wickrematunge’s assassination came to symbolize alleged Government abuses and impunity during the country’s civil war. It featured prominently in an investigation conducted by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2015.

The complaint says Wickrematunge was killed a few days before he was to testify in a defamation case filed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa over an article implicating him in a corruption scandal involving the purchase of fighter planes.

At the time Sri Lankan forces were fighting the final months of the decades-long civil war with ethnic Tamil rebels.

Both Government forces and the defeated rebels have been accused of grave human rights abuses.

Foreign Ministry Secretary Admiral Jayanath Colambage said he had not seen the complaint, and given its sensitive nature was unable to comment without ascertaining the view of the political leadership.

On the day of his killing, Wickrematunge was followed by men on motorbikes, and when he stopped at a busy intersection they smashed his car window and punched a hole in his head with a sharp instrument.

The complaint says law enforcement agencies either failed to conduct a credible investigation or actively interfered with attempts to conduct one.

Despite repeated denials by the state authorities regarding the deaths of 11 prison inmates, autopsy reports have revealed that all eleven of them who were killed in the Mahara Prison riot in November 2020 had died from gunshot injuries.