Those who supported Yahapalanaya were optimistic although many initial appointments within the government, government offices and independent organizations were itself questionable at the outset. Appointment of the Prime Minister itself was against the constitution despite the fact that it was a clear election promise. Appointing Ravi Karunayaka as the Finance Minister raised eye brows of many concerned parties as he was accused of aiding and abating a money laundering case where a court action was on progress for several years in which he was the main respondent.
Among many such appointments were the removal of the previous Chief Justice Mohan Peiris and appointing Justice Sripawan as the chief justice. There is absolutely no argument over the qualification eligibility or suitability of Mr. Sripawan as the chief justice but the fact that the questionable process and events unfolded relating to how ex CJ was removed from position.
What Mahinda did to remove Shirani Bandaranayake from Cheif Justice position was one major reason why people started to doubt if he was suitable to run this country any longer as it was pretty clear the impeachment was based on personal vendetta and hate. A revenge for not following his directions and needs all the time. This incident duly attracted the attention of international rights groups who vehemently condemned Rajapaksha's actions to remove CJ forcefully using a tweaked parliamentary select committee. We need to understand that fact that even Shirani Bandaranaike like her predecessor Sarath N Silva was natural supporters of Mahinda Rjapaksha at the time of their appointments and thereafter until both broke up their relationship with Mahinda Rajapaksha for reasons mostly known to them.
Obviously Mahinda Rajapaksha's next automatic choice for the job was Mohan Peiris, a close ally of Rajapaksha who later became his overseas travel companion. So it is fair to assume that he did the job exactly the way Mahinda Rajapaksha wanted to do. Just like Sarath N Silva did and later confessed publicly of not doing his job properly.
Now the question however is what could have been the practice used to replace the former CJ who's appointment was in question. The answer to this however may vary to one another, but everyone with an independent mindset would agree that what took place in replacing Mohan Peris was not different to the methods Mahinda used to replace people he didn't want in the job. At least he twisted the system without bypassing it.
Then came the appointment of the Central Bank governor Arjun Mahendran, a close friend of Ranil Wickramasingha and Ravi karunanayake who is a Singaporean citizen. It is a mandatory requirement that a position such as governor of the central bank must be be held by a Sri Lankan citizen, not a foreign national who has no loyalty to Sri Lanka whatsoever according to the oath he took when becoming a Singaporean citizen. Time proved how costly that appointment was for the people of this country.
All of the above were immediate appointments after the change in January 2015. However, worst episode of shocking appointments came just after the general elections in August where corrupted, shamed and defeated politicians who had no mandate were appointed to ministerial posts by the president Maithreepaala Sirisena totally destroying people's hope for a new political culture in Sri lanka. Under the circumstances hundreds of appointments to diplomatic missions and government offices didn't matter. People seldom had time to discuss them as most of such placement were swept under the carpet except a few, such as Ravi Karunanayaka;s brother in law's appointment as Sales Manager to Sri Lankan Airline's UK office, Kumarasingha Sirisena's appointment as SLT chairman and Arjuna Ranathunga appointing his brother as the chairman of ports authority.
This perfectly sets the basis for us to understand how Ravi Karunanayaka got himself evicted from all the charges relating to the famous money laundering case where he was directly involved in clearing Raj Rajaratnam's (Famous insider dealer and a big time LTTE funder who is currently service 11 year Jail term in Unites States) undisclosed investment through a local bank bypassing exchange control regulations and other financial reporting requirements. This is yet another classic example to understand independent judiciary or rule of law in this country will never be a reality until politicians stop appointing officials to the judiciary or until they are empowered in other means to act independently without any political pressure or the fear of loosing their positions.
Its only days after the new Yahapalana government was elected, that the court decided to evict Ravi Karunanayaka from all charges on technical grounds stating that the Attorney General's department could appeal if required or submit a fresh application to this effect. Coincidentally, that was the last decision handed down by the judge Irangani Perera before her retirement. Nevertheless, attorney general department did not appeal or submitted a new indictment. Obviously it was never going to happen as Attorney General department is also under a government minister who can directly influence any decision taken by the AG.
In trying to understand the sequence of events relating to Ravi Karunanaya's money laundering case, we submit here a piece written by H.L.D.Mahindapala which gives a detailed explanation of same that will help you connect the dots.
Extract !
The attention of the readers is drawn to the following two edited news items to indicate the early trends of this path-breaking political journey. Please note the date “January 29” which is most relevant to both news items.
News Item 1: The Daily Mirror (January 13, 2015) : “The Mini-Budget of the new Government’s 100-day programme will be presented in Parliament on January 29 with a relief package for the people as promised in the run-up to the presidential election, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said today.
“After assuming duties at his office at the Government Treasury complex yesterday, the minister said the mini budget would also contain proposals to reduce prices on 10 essential commodities including fuel.
“The people gave a mandate to this government to bring about a palpable change in the system of governance and for a stable economic which was drifting aimlessly. ….
The minister said the Maithripala administration was not looking at minimising corruption but at eliminating it fully.
“Therefore, acts such bribery, obtaining huge commissions between 20% and 50% and other forms of corruption will not be tolerated under any circumstance. Corrupt officials will be severely dealt with irrespective of their political affiliation and status. Officials need not be subservient to anyone under this administration,” he said.
“We criticised the Rajapaksa regime while in the opposition and now it is our turn to practice what we preached,” the minister said.
News Item 2: Ceylon Today (November 14, 2014): “It was alleged in the Colombo High Court yesterday (13) that United National Party (UNP) MP Ravi Karunanayake had actively facilitated the transfer of Rs 390 million to Sri Lanka,…
by infamous Sri Lankan American and former hedge fund manager and billionaire, Raj Rajaratnam. It was alleged that Karunanayake was directly involved in this fraud and the exchange controller had questioned him on three occasions about it.
The former Additional Exchange Controller revealed that three million US dollars were received by a local private bank and Ravi Karunanayake intervened to collect the funds.
This came to light during cross examination of the former Central Bank Additional Exchange Controller, Kumara Perera, by Senior State Counsel Dileepa Peiris.
The case was taken up before the Colombo High Court Judge Devika Livera De Tennekoon.
The case was postponed until 29 January 2015, on which date the accused were ordered to be present in Court.
As stated earlier, what is important is the date, January 29, 2015. Obviously, the Finance Minister, Karunanayake, can’t be present in Parliament to present his mini-budget on January 29 and simultaneously be at the High Court to face the charges against him.
The fixing of one date for two events raises a few questions:
Q 1: Why was January 29 fixed as the date to present the mini-budget in Parliament when Karunanayake knew that he was due to appear in Court to face charges on that very day?
Q2: What is so special about January 29? Why not January 28? Or 30?
Q 3: Is this a ruse to get a postponement of the trial?
Q4: Is the inevitable postponement a sign of things to come?
Q5: Is this a crafty tactic to interfere with the course of justice?
Q6: Will there be attempts to cover-up the case?
Q7: As some of the key departments handling this case (example: Exchange Control) come under the Finance Ministry will there be pressure brought to manipulate/cook the evidence in courts? Remember, some of the files related to the administration of the CWE under Karunanayake went up in smoke?
Q8: Is this going to be the first of many cases that are likely to recur in due course to undermine the independence of the judiciary?
Q9: More importantly, why was Karunanayake facing serious financial irregularities in the High Court appointed as Finance Minister of the promised “ideal country” of My-3-pala-naya?
Q10: In appointing Karunanayake as Finance Minister – the epicenter of corruption and mismanagement – was due consideration given to his known record in the private and public sectors?
Q11: As one of the Vice-Presidents of IDU can Ranil Wickremesinghe justify his nomination of Karunanayake to be the finance minister by giving another example of an accused facing serious financial irregularities in courts appointed as finance minister?
Q12: Last but not the least, why did President Maithripala Sirisena appoint Karunanayake as his finance minister when it was public knowledge that he was facing charges in courts? Is this a good start for his six-year journey to build the “ideal country”?
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