Corruption

Allegations of extortion and other illegal activities by Minister Mervyn Silva are being probed by Criminal Investigation Department detectives on a directive by Police Chief N.K.Illangakoon. The probe follows a petition handed over to the Ministry of Defence by UPFA members of the Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha .A copy of the petition has also been given […]

 Minister Mervyn Silva says police are investigating as to how an identity card he has issued to Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha member Hasitha Madawala has come to be in the possession of a drug dealer. Speaking to the media in Colombo yesterday (Jan. 10), the minister said the drug dealer in question has been arrested with two […]

The SLFP disciplinary committee has asked the Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha members to hand over documents to prove the allegations of corruption leveled against Public Relations and Public Affairs Minister Mervyn Silva. The governing UPFA members of the Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha yesterday evening met with SLFP Secretary Minister Maithripala Sirisena, UPFA Secretary Minister Susil Premajayantha and SLFP […]

 Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP) has called on the government to submit the audit reports of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) to parliament. UNP parliamentarian and Economist Dr. Harsha de Silva said in a statement that the audited reports of the EPF for 2010 have not been submitted to parliament.He notes that […]

 The year 2012 had the worst dawn, ever since independence. Four abductions reported, one after another, during the first four days of the year, with 03 found dead and dumped on waysides. A much flaunted Defence Secretary who prides in talking tough on the LTTE and devolution, remains icy cold on all these abductions, murders […]

Tisaranee Gunasekara –  “Look over the edge of the abyss, and consider how close we are to losing what we have created here. Ask yourselves if the time has not arrived for us to come to our senses, to break out of our paralysis, to demand for ourselves, finally, the lives that we deserve to […]

Norman Palihawadena – The UPFA group of the Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha yesterday urged the government to oust Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva from the Kelaniya electorate.  Addressing the media at Kelaniya PS, its Chairman, Prasanna Ranaweera appealed to the government to liberate Kelaniya from the clutches of Minister Silva the way it had finished off […]

Just few months ago, in response to a public outcry for more accountability and transparency in the use of public funds, the State Council, which is the Cabinet in the Chinese government, directed 98 public institutions including ministries to make public their budgets and expenditure on official receptions, official overseas visits and public vehicles. Why […]

Malaka Rodrigo – The past year, 2011, was declared International Year of Forests by the United Nations. The message was sent out to all countries. Sadly, this message has not been taken seriously in Sri Lanka. Last year was not a good year for forests here, and the year ended with the news that yet […]

Member and founder Secretary General of Peace Secretariat for Muslims (PSM), A. Javid Yusuf has charged that various financial and other irregularities have taken place at the Secretariat, and alleged that its Board of Directors has done little to rectify them.In a letter to its President Shibly Aziz, he has questioned the expenditure of Rs […]

The government has not taken any action so far though the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has found damning evidence of financial irregularities in institutions totalling over Rs 500 billion, state sources said. The COPE report revealed financial irregularities in 229 government institutions. Chairman of COPE and Minister D.E.W Gunasekara who was asked as to […]

(Tisaranee Gunasekara)  In October this year, President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka used his constitutional powers to grant a special pardon to a politician convicted of misusing public funds. The Appeal Court and the Supreme Court had upheld the conviction of Kesara Senanayake, a former mayor of Kandy. Rajapaksa’s timely pardon saved him from a […]

(Lakna Paranamanna) The 2011 A/L results fiasco has violated the credibility and high standards maintained during the examination throughout the years, university academics said expressing their grave concern over the controversy. Expressing their concern over the complications and errors reported concerning the A/L results, Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) President Dr. Ranjith Nirmal Dewasiri […]

(Sumanasiri Liyanage) Is the GCE Advanced Level results fiasco the latest of the government’s spiraling mismanagement of education? I received an official text message on Sunday afternoon informing that the GCE A/L results were available on the web. Although I do not have anyone known to me who sat for the GCE A/L examination this […]

GCE Advanced Level examination results bungling should not be allowed to go off easily but the government must consider paying compensation for the affected candidates, demand the Movement for People’s Struggle.Operational Coordinator of the MPS, Duminda Nagamuwa addressing a media conference held at Hotel Nippon in Colombo yesterday said that the government must cancel the […]

Frankie TaggarMore than one in three south Asians say they were forced to bribe officials in the last year, mainly for services they were legally entitled to, an international anti-graft watchdog said on Thursday.  A survey released by Berlin-based Transparency International in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu showed bribery has become so endemic that the region […]

A certain deputy minister who represents the Gampaha District takes a bribe of Rs.3.5 million from anyone putting up a filling station in the district, Parliament was informed today. Western Provincial Council Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has made a written complaint to President Mahinda Rajapaksa in this regard. A copy of the letter was tabled […]

A sum of Rs. 1057173093/= from the President’s fund that has been established to donate to various public welfare including surgery for heart patients has been misappropriated. This is revealed in the report for 2009 released by the Auditor General. The information required for auditing has been made available to the Auditor General on 28.12.2010 […]

 ”Take some examples from the COPE report. They range from mega losses like Mihinair (Rs. 13,000 million in three years) to the chairman of Paranthan Chemical Company, a state enterprise, registering a lorry which belongs to the state under his name and then hiring it from him. It ranges from Sri Lanka Cricket spending Rs. […]

Former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka and Presidential Advisor Ashoka de Silva says that the country’s development rate has dropped by 2 percent due to the increase in corruption. De Silva has said that corruption costs Rs. 100 billion to the country, which in turn affects the poverty levels. He has made these observations at […]

ANDUN A. JAYASEKERAThe Justice Ministry is in a quandary as to how to reclaim millions of rupees worth of movable and immovable properties from several retired High Court Judges who continue to use these properties illegally even after several years of retirement, a senior ministry official said yesterday. Justice Ministry Secretary Suhada Gamlath said the […]

Shamindra FerdinandoCOPE Chief Minister Dew Gunasekera believes that Sri Lanka Cricket is the most corrupt institution in the country.  Responding to a query by The Island, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka alleged that SLC was in a crisis today due to corruption. There couldn’t be any other reason, the outspoken […]

“The Committee (COPE) reports to the Parliament and the recommendations contained in their reports are deemed to be directives to the respective Corporations or Statutory Boards for due compliance.”(Official web site of parliament) In Sri Lanka, where politicians are the most stupidly superstitious, number “13”, which is not used in any hotel for any room or […]

Barely an hour after a Sri Lankan Airlines A-340 airbus dropped its wheels on the Robert L Bradshaw International Airport in the Carribean island of St Kitts, an entourage of 160 checked into their rooms at the four-star Marriot Resort and Royal Beach Casino. The journey from Colombo, with a stop-over in London for re-fuelling […]

‘Mihin Lanka’ airlines that gobbled Rs.5930 million within a period of five years incurred a loss of Rs.6816 within the same period. This is revealed in an answer by the Minister of Civil Aviation Priyankara Jayaratna to a question posed by the Leader of the group of JVP Parliamentarians Anura Dissanayake in Parliament yesterday (9th).Another […]

UNP Kurunegala District parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara speaking to the Daily Mirror online today said that the stock market is run by a mafia with black money. “The stock exchange is completely dominated by a few people who are investing their illegal money into the system and at the end of it all they make their […]

 (Srilankamirror) – The Sevanagala Sugar factory, owned by Daya Group of Companies, has been illegally taken over and occupied by thugs employed by Coconut Development Minister Jagath Pushpakumara, said the Group’s media unit in a statement. The Group said in the statement, this illegal and forced takeover has taken place amidst a government move to table […]

ESPNcricinfo staffThree of Sri Lanka’s international venues, including the newly built stadiums in Pallekele and Hambantota, have been handed over to the military indefinitely because Sri Lanka Cricket is unable to afford the maintenance costs.The R Premadasa stadium in Colombo – redeveloped for the World Cup earlier this year – is being taken by the […]

(LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state entities have been badly hit by the appointment of unqualified persons to top positions and while annual accounts were not available for some, a media report said.   “The appointment of unqualified people to top management posts on political grounds and the lack of financial and administrative disciplines had ruined many […]

The UNP yesterday lashed out at the government for a controversial move to rush through a Bill titled ‘Revival of Underperforming Enterprises and Underutilized Assets’.The UNP has alleged that the Rajapaksa administration is playing politics with the national economy.In a letter to Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga has warned that some provisions […]