News

Actress Deepani Silva was arrested in connection to an accident which took place in Bandaragama today morning. According to Police, the accident had occurred around 6.45 am in the Kindelpitiya junction on the Bandaragama Kesbewa road when a three-wheeler travelling towards Kesbewa collided head-on with a car travelling in the opposite direction. 

Coincidently the car was driven by popular actress and activist Deepani Silva at the time. While the three-wheeler driver escaped with minor injuries however his 10-year-old daughter is said to have suffered serious injuries in the accident. 

“The Bandaragama Police has arrested the actress and she is to be produced before the Panadura Magistrates court today,” Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara said.

Many HNB customers of the Northern Province Hatton National Bank are preparing to protest against HNB for interdicting two employees who had participated in the Mulliwaikkal Memorial in memory of those who were killed during the war nine years ago, it is reported.

The Assistant Manager of the HNB Killinochchi Branch and another newly recruited employee had been interdicted for having organised a commemoration ceremony within the KIllinochchi HNB branch premises and lighting lamps in memory of the dead.

The bank administration had justified their decision claiming that it was one that was taken on behalf of the ‘Pride of Sri Lankans’.

Issuing a statement regarding the matter, HNB noted that, "HNB takes very seriously any sentiment or act that is in violation of, or poses a threat to the morale of citizens of Sri Lanka. As a Bank that stands for all Sri Lankans, our goals, interests and initiatives are all aligned to the vision and greater good of our Country."

"We regret an unauthorized incident that took place recently in one of our branches, which does not reflect the values of the Bank. The matter has been investigated and necessary action taken," the statement further stated.
 
''A company that disregards human emotions''

The people of the North who were enraged by the action taken against two of their employees who had commemorated the thousands killed during the destructive war, had written many letters seeking the suspension of their bank accounts with the bank, Radio Gagana reported.
One letter written to the Jaffna HNB Manager noted, “I have no desire to conduct transactions with a bank that does not respect human emotions”.

Northern Provincial Council member M.K. Sivajilingam said that this boycott will affect other HNB branches as well and not only the North.
"HNB takes very seriously any sentiment or act that is in violation of, or poses a threat to the morale of citizens of Sri Lanka. As a Bank that stands for all Sri Lankans, our goals, interests and initiatives are all aligned to the vision and greater good of our Country."
 
"We regret an unauthorized incident that took place recently in one of our branches, which does not reflect the values of the Bank. The matter has been investigated and necessary action taken." He said, “When the whole North is mourning the loss of their loved ones, it is not ethical for the bank to take such revengeful action.”

He pointed out that even the prominent Ministers within the government have accepted the Tamil people’s right to commemorate the loss of their loved ones at the Mulliwaikkal ceremony.
 
Pressure to immediately reinstate the two interdicted employees:

The Killinochchi Citizens Club noted that the action taken by HNB to interdict two of their employees for holding a commemoration ceremony to mourn the Tamils killed during the war, has violated the trust placed in the bank by the Tamil people. Therefore, they demanded that  the two interdicted employees be reinstated immediately.

“Perhaps relatives of some of the bank employees could also have been killed during the unfortunate incident on May 18,” the Secretary of the Killinochchi Citizens Club Aingararasa Jeewanayagam told Radio Gagana.

“The state and private institutions in the entire North and East shared their grief with the Tamil people without any discrimination. But this interdiction by HNB is a very insensitive act.”

The Head of the Jaffna University Law Faculty Kumaravadivel Gurubaran, condemning the interdiction said it was an act of “Racism of the Sinhala Buddhist businesses”.

HNB was adjudged the best bank of the year in 2017 by ‘The Banker’ magazine, while its current Chairmanship is held by President's Counsel (PC) Rienzi Arsakularatne.

The Rajapaksa faction has flatly refused Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s challenge for a debate on Sri Lanka’s debt, with Joint Opposition front liners confirming that the former President is not willing to participate in the debate.

Speaking at a press briefing over the weekend, JO MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage had said that former President Rajapaksa would not face the Finance Minister on the question of the country’s debt and added that Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa also did not have time to engage in the debate. 

The Sunday Observer had reported that when contacted MP Namal Rajapaksa had said the Minister should be engaged in steering the economy during the bad weather prevailing over the country and not entangle himself in “unnecessary debates”.

“Before he challenges someone to a debate he should deliver on what he promised,” Namal Rajapaksa was quoted as saying. 

Minister Samaraweera meanwhile has slammed the refusal of his challenge, saying the former President was dodging the issue because he did not possess the knowledge to engage in such a debate.

Last week, the Finance Ministry went to pains to point out that out of Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt of Rs 4,285 billion (Rs. 4.28 trillion), the current Government was only responsible for foreign borrowings to the tune of Rs. 570 billion. The rest of the debt servicing by the Treasury is related to borrowings during the tenure of the Rajapaksa regime, the Finance Ministry said.

Source : Sunday Observer

Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit has revealed how criminals fixed two Test matches - the highest level of international cricket - and were planning to fix a third.

The two fixed matches were Sri Lanka versus India in July last year and Sri Lanka versus Australia in August 2016. Both matches were played at Galle International Stadium in Sri Lanka.

In secretly filmed meetings, the match-fixers also said that they were planning to fix England's game against Sri Lanka, also at Galle, in November this year.

The world cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), has launched an investigation into Al Jazeera's findings.

Robin Morris, a match-fixer from Mumbai, told undercover reporters that he bribed the groundsman at Galle to doctor the pitch to ensure guaranteed outcomes. The match-fixers then made large sums of money from betting.

In Al Jazeera's documentary, Cricket's Match-Fixers, the groundsman, Tharanga Indika, assistant manager at the Galle stadium, says he can make pitches to favour either bowlers or batsmen.

"If you want a pitch for spin bowling or pace bowling or batting, it can be done."

At a meeting in a hotel in Galle, Morris gestures towards Indika, and says: "What happens is he, we, can make a pitch to do whatever we want it do to."

"Because he's the main curator. He is the assistant manager and curator of the Galle stadium."

For the Australia match, Indika says he made a pitch for bowlers. "In that five-day match, we prepared the wicket poorly without using a roller. In that way, we made a spinning wicket."

The "bowling pitch" ensured that the game would not last for the full five days and so the game would not end in a draw.

Batsmen were out quickly and the match was over in less than two and a half days. A Test match can last for up to five days. Knowing that batsmen would struggle, the match-fixers made money by betting that the game would not end in a draw.

A Test match can end in a draw only if no side has won when the teams have played for the full five days 

Concerns were raised about the condition of the pitch at the time but the International Cricket Council, which had an inspector at the match, took no action.

Indika told our undercover team that for the India match at Galle he made a pitch for batsmen. "India was set for a batting wicket."

"We pressed the wicket thoroughly with a roller and then, we put water on it to make it even harder," he says in the documentary. The batting pitch ensured a high score in the first innings so the criminals could bet on a first innings total higher than the bookmakers' prediction.

In the event, India scored a massive 600 runs in their first innings and the match-fixers made a large profit. Morris, a former professional cricketer, offers an undercover reporter a deal for future fixes.

"I have the information. I will give it to you. And you can bet good money, big time." The match-fixer says he wants no money up front but wants 30 percent of the reporter's winnings. 

At the meeting in Galle, the reporter asks the match-fixer when the next pitch-fix will be carried out at the stadium. Morris replies: "England v Sri Lanka." England are due to play Sri Lanka at Galle in November 2018.

The reporter asks Indika if he could ensure that the match would be over within four days.

Indika replies, laughing: "I can do it in two and a half!"

Morris denies any wrongdoing and says Al Jazeera had invited him to audition for a role in a movie "for public entertainment only".

Indika denies any involvement in pitch-fixing and says any conversations he had with Al Jazeera journalists was just to be courteous to foreign tourists. There is no suggestion that any of the players involved in these Test matches had any knowledge of the pitch-fixing.

The ICC said it "will take the contents of the programme and any allegations it may make very seriously". It said it was "working with anti-corruption colleagues from member countries based on the limited information we have received".

The ICC declined to comment on why it had not taken action when initial concerns were raised about the Galle pitch for the Australia match in 2016.

Source : Al Jazeera

Sri Lanka Mirror reports that Presidential advisors are now focusing on the possibility of holding a general election, prior to the Presidential poll in 2020. 

The website also claims that the opinions of legal experts will be sought regarding the matter shortly. 

The matter has come before the political arena through a social media post put up by Senior coordinating officer of the President, Attorney at Law Shiral Lakthilaka. 

In his post, Shiral has said: “The next presidential election is to be held no later than November 2019 and not by August 2020 according to article 1 (3) of the constitution". 

Shiral Lakithilaka’s FB post

Many opinions are now being expressed for and against his post while an extensive conversation on the issue is currently ongoing in social media with several academics also voicing their opinions in this regard.

The wife of Australian businessman Brian Shaddick, the third witness in the alleged financial fraud case filed against the two accused, including Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader MP Udaya Gammanpila on Friday informed the Colombo High Court that she had never put her signature executing a Power of Attorney to Gammanpila, for the selling of shares belonging to the Digital Nominees Company.

Witness Janet Elizabeth Shaddick, (69), was present before Colombo High Court A.A.R. Heiyanthuduwa in connection with an indictment filed against MP Udaya Gammanpila and Sydney Jayasinghe for allegedly misappropriating Rs.21 million following their alleged fraudulent share transaction that took place in 2000. In reply to a question raised by Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris regarding a power of attorney, the witness said her signature had been allegedly used.

“I was shocked to see this document because there are a number of forged things. Whoever put the signature was not known to me. It looks like this Power of Attorney was given by us for Gammanpila’s benefit. It is a silly act. I have not given such authority to Gammanpila,’ Shaddick said.

Meanwhile, after perusing the document in question, the witness said the handwriting in the document that looks like it was written by Gammanpila. When asked as to how she came to such a conclusion, the witness said she was familiar with Gammanpila’s handwriting since he had earlier sent a fax message with his handwriting.

‘Sydney Jayasinghe and Gammanpila were employees of our company. I was enthusiastic to learn about Buddhism. I wanted to ask Sydney Jayasinghe about the wife of The Buddha. He said he was a Christian and asked that this question be referred to Gammanpila.

“Udaya Gammanpila was an office boy of our company. He was employed under the recommendation of Sydney Jayasinghe. Gammanpila had sent me a fax message in his handwriting regarding the wife of The Buddha. So, I can recognize his handwriting which were written in block capital letters,” the witness said.

Meanwhile, the witness further said she was informed by his husband that Udaya Gammanpila and another person named Jagath had told him that there is a conspiracy to assassinate him by the youngest son of Sydney Jayasinghe. Thereafter, he did not come back to Sri Lanka until 2015,” the witness further added.

The witness was cross examined by Defence Counsel Nalinda Indatissa.

The Attorney General (AG) alleged that MP Udaya Gammanpila has cheated Rs.20 million and misappropriated another Rs. 21 million along with Sydney Jayasinghe, the second accused when selling shares of Digital Nominees to a businessman called Dhammika Perera.

The AG further charged that the alleged business transaction had taken place using a fraudulent Power of Attorney to sell shares belonging to Australian businessman Brian Shadick.

The AG has listed 20 persons as the witnesses in the case and named 16 documents as production items of the case. MP Gammanpila was arrested in this regard on June 18, 2016.

Source : Daily News

The body of the police constable, Dassanayaka Pathirannahalage Dilan Sampath who was reported missing while trying to rescue those affected by floods in the area was recovered today (27), by the Navy at Galmuruwa,Madampe.
 
The Navy found the body 200m away from the place he went missing.
 
The police constable went missing on May 25, after he had rescued a family from flood waters, in the Gal Wala Road area in Galmuruwa-Madampe.
 
The 29 year old PC is said to be a resident of Giriulla and was serving as a police constable (88587) attached to the Madampe police at the time of his death. 
 
Meanwhile Police spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara said Inspector General of Police, Pujith Jayasundara has promoted the heroic cop posthumously to the rank of Sergeant.

Hundreds of Army troops across the flood-affected districts of Kegalle, Kalutara, Polonnaruwa, Kandy, Galle, Ratnapura, Gampaha, Puttalam, Matara, Kurunegala, Badulla, Colombo and elsewhere continue their rescue and relief operations in close coordination with Disaster Management Centre, District and Divisional Secretariats.19 members of the 9 Gemunu Watch troops of the 582 Brigade under the 58 Division on information that a feeble old woman living near a landslide prone house in the general hilly area of Yatagampitiya in Bulatsinhala, rushed there braving knee deep flood waters and rescued her before she was brought down to the safe area on a wheelchair to be sheltered in the Yatagampitiya Primary School on Friday (25). 

Troops of the same Brigade assisted Bulatsinhala Divisional Secretariat Office to pack up dry ration stocks, made available by Cargills (Pvt) Ltd for free distribution around 7.00 pm on Thursday (24).

On the directions of the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, all Security Force Headquarters, Divisions and Brigades across the island began to rush troops to island-wide vulnerable areas to provide relief and engage in rescue operations, if necessary in the wake of worsening weather conditions due to heavy rains that commenced around 20 May 2018 while mobilizing another group of soldiers to be alert to the worsening weather conditions.

Similarly, 1200 troops belonging to 24 regiments of the Army were meanwhile kept on standby to meet with any eventualities as rainy weather began to worsen in the past couple of hours.

Troops while attending to the priorities supported distribution of cooked meals, evacuation of victims from locations under water, stacking of sand bags to avoid bank splitting, immediate repair works, etc in worst-affected areas as situations warranted.

Source : Army Media

It is reported that Malaysian business tycoon Sudhir Jayaram is set to arrive in the island today to conduct discussions with Central Bank officials and several Ministers. He is said to be acting as an intermediary to purchase EAP group of companies which also owns Swarnavahini television channel. 

Releasing a statement recently the Central Bank said it has decided to allow the sale of ETI and its subsidiary companies along with its investment properties for around USD 75 Million considering the financial difficulties being faced by ETI and its possible negative impacts on the financial market. 

They have also announced that the sale must fall in accordance to local laws and regulations. 

Accordingly sources say the buyer has already paid in USD 32 Million as confirmed by the Central Bank. However up to date the Central Bank has refused to reveal the name of the buyer stating that it could affect the deal if done so prior to its completion. 
'Despite a local businessman had made a higher bid EAP has been sold to Lycamobile' - Wimal Weerawansa  

Meanwhile, during the course of the proposed Appropriation Bill, Wimal Weerawansa, MP during the debate, said that all companies belonging to the group has been sold to Lyca Mobile Company even though a local businessman has placed a higher bid to purchase them.

He also alleged that Lyca has LTTE connections claiming that it is a known fact internationally. 

He also accused former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Mano Thittawela from being behing this deal. 

The MP also claimed laws were bent to allow the deal while a special cabinet approval also pushed it through.

With torrential rains showing no signs of slowing down, most parts of the island are still being battered by heavy rains. Widespread floods experienced during the past few days have greatly affected the day to day lives of the people in almost two thirds of the country.

The onset of the Southwest monsoon has seen an unprecedented record of rainfall in the country. Floods, landslides, heavy winds and lightning related incidents have so far claimed 13 lives.

The government has mobilized the tri forces in strength to carry out rescue and relief operations. As of today, more than 820 tri forces troops have been mobilized for flood related relief operations in Gampaha, Colombo, Matara, Kalutara, Kegalle, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Galle, and Kurunegala areas. In addition 63 boats, armoured carriers, busses and trucks of the Army and Navy have also been put to use for this purpose.

7300 troops of the Sri Lanka Army, Navy and Air Force are on standby to be deployed in areas that are vulnerable, the Ministry of Defence said.

Sri Lanka's cricket board has invited retired judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Justice Rohini Marasinghe to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations of match fixing against Panadura CC and Kalutara PCC.
 
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the retired judge Marasinghe will evaluate the reports of the inquiries conducted by the SLC appointed Panel of Inquiry led by Asela Rekawa Attorney-at-Law and that of the Ministry of Sports conducted Palitha Kumarasinghe PC.
 
She will also conduct her own inquiry and pronounce a final judgment as well as recommendations for punitive action against those found guilty.
 
Justice Rohini Marasinghe was a sitting judge on the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and has served as a judge of the Court of Appeal and also the Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

Source : Colombo Page