Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali Sabry contributing to a political programme aired on Hiru TV disclosed that the move of Sri Lanka resorting to debt default was advised to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and him as the then Minister of Finance by ‘glorified advisors’ who are Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Shantha Devarajan and new Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe. Sabry stressed that he takes the full responsibility of the decision to debt default.
His comments come in following criticism raised by a number of economic analysts, politicians and civil activists, who argued that the move would be extremely unlawful, irresponsible and even treasonous, had the decision to debt default been made without consulting the Monetary Board, the Attorney General, the Cabinet and Parliament, nor receiving any approval of the said bodies.
The parties that should be held accountable for this move are persons of foreign citizenship, the analysts argue, reminding that Gotabaya Rajapaksa is a US citizen, Dr. Coomaraswamy is a UK citizen, Devarajan a US citizen and Dr. Weerasinghe, an Australian citizen, in what they suggest as Sri Lanka being navigated into the depths of hell on the wishes of four foreign citizens.
Therefore, as to how such a treasonous move was made should be probed into and the reasonable doubt whether their conduct backed by Sabry was a behind-the-curtain operation by a foreign power shall also be looked upon, the analysts added.
The three-member Permanent High Court today (11) dropped ten charges against persons accused of involvement in a Bond issuance leading to controversy in 2015.
Accordingly, ten charges against Arjun Aloysius, Arjuna Mahendran, Geoffrey Aloysius and Kasun Palisena were dropped in connection with the case alleging that they had acted in a fraudulent manner in the issuance of bonds on February 27, 2015. That being said, the defendants have been acquitted of all charges from 05 to 14 in the lawsuit consisting of 14 charges total.
Lawyers appearing for the defendants of the CBSL Bond Case said they will lodge objections in the next Court session regarding the charges numbered from 01 to 04.
The event which was made public as the ‘Great Bond Scam,’ or the ‘Bond Fraud in Broad Daylight’ leading to a massive controversy on and off the political arena during the period of the Good Governance regime seven years ago, accordingly, has now taken rather a twisted turn, unravelling evidence to suggest that the entire saga was but an emotional political propaganda project lacking any legal basis implemented to attack certain parties.
President issues instructions to streamline the process of responding to letters, e-mails, phone calls addressed to government institutions.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued instructions to streamline the process of responding to letters, emails and phone calls addressed to government institutions.
The president has focussed his attention on streamlining and expediting the process of responding to letters, emails and phone calls by the public instead of them having to waste their time, effort and money by having to come to these institutions personally to attend to their requirements.
Accordingly, a special letter signed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government, including provisions in replying to letters, e-mails and telephone calls addressed to government institutions, has been sent to all ministry secretaries, provincial chief secretaries and Heads of departments.
Priority should be given to general letters from the public to government institutions, and in case final replies cannot be sent immediately, an interim reply stating that the letter has been received should be sent within one week and a final reply should be sent within four (04) weeks.
In addition, for all official letters, the direct telephone number, fax number and e-mail address of the staff officer in charge of the subject should be mentioned below the signature of the relevant letter when sending reply letters.
Emails sent to public email addresses of relevant offices should be checked daily and a specific officer should be assigned for the purpose. Emails to staff officers’ email addresses should also be checked daily.
Efforts should be made to respond to emails the same day and if the relevant officer cannot answer them on the same day, they should send a reply stating that the letter was received and the time required to respond to it. In the same way, arrangements should be made to provide answers to the inquiry within a reasonable time/ before the notified date.
All phone calls to the office should be answered and if there are organizations/departments that receive many phone calls, a specific officer should be assigned to respond to those calls.
The relevant officer appointed to respond to these calls should make a note of the caller’s name, the purpose of the call and contact details on which a response could be forwarded.
In instances where an immediate response cannot be given, the relevant staff officers/officers in charge should take steps to respond to the caller’s query within a reasonable time frame.
The Court of Appeal today (11) ordered that Saruwa Liyanage alias ‘Saruwa Sunil,’ the ex Chairman of Akuressa Pradeshiya Sabha who was convicted for molesting a minor and sentenced to 15 years in prison, be acquitted from all charges.
Liyanage was accused of being a sex offender on a minor in 2012 and on January 17, 2020, the Colombo High Court declared that the ex Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman was guilty, sentencing him to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 25,000 and a compensation of Rs. 250,000.
In resentment to the High Court verdict, Liyanage petitioned for the Appeal Court claiming that the verdict was declared solely based on a video footage submitted to the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) by the aggrieved girl. The convict demanded that he be acquitted in the event that the plaintiff failed to produce any other evidence substantiating the allegations raised through the video footage.
Declaring the verdict today, the Court of Appeal Bench comprising Justices P. Kumaran Ratnam and Sampath Abeykoon pronounced that Liyanage was acquitted and all charges against him were dropped.
Indictments were issued to three persons including Ruling Party MP Johnston Fernando by the Colombo High Court today (11) in connection with the allegation of incurring a loss of over Rs. 5.9 million to the Government of Sri Lanka by deploying SATHOSA workers for political affairs during his tenure as the Trade Minister in 2010 Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.
The case was taken up before High Court Judge Amal Ranaraja today, and the indictments were handed over to former Minister Fernando, former Chairman of SATHOSA Eraj Fernando and Mohammed Zakhir, one of SATHOSA’s directors.
The suspects were released on a cash bail of Rs. 50,000 and two personal bail of Rs. 500,000 each and their overseas travels were banned.
The case is set to be taken up again on November 29, 2022.
Cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said that the Cabinet of Ministers had granted approval for a proposal to downgrade Sri Lanka’s status from a middle-income country to a ‘low-income country.
He said that the downgrading will eventually be carried out by international rating agencies.The move comes after Sri Lanka suffered its worst economic crisis in history.
The downgrading will help Sri Lanka have more access to international financial assistance.
State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe and the Central Bank Governor had talks with the First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF Gita Gopinath in Washington.
The discussions focused on the challenges facing Sri Lanka and the steps being taken to address them.
“Had a productive discussion with First Deputy Managing Director of IMF Gita Gopinath @GitaGopinath along with @CBSL Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe on economic reforms adopted to resolve challenges the country is experiencing and way forward with the assistance of IMF,” the State Minister tweeted.
Gita Gopinath tweeted saying she had an excellent discussion with Minister Shehan Semasinghe and the Governor on the extreme challenges the country faces and the concrete steps being taken to tackle them
Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus held discussions regarding the matters related to the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution from a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) perspective recently (06) in Parliament.
The discussion was held at a meeting of the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus chaired by MP (Dr.) Sudarshani Fernandopulle.
Whilst highlighting the Salient features of the Bill, the Caucus was of the view that no Amendment has awarded any gender quota (in the form of a reserved seats or otherwise) to ensure female representation in the Constitutional Council and that the Bill does not expressly contain any substantial provisions aimed at ensuring Gender Equality or social Inclusion.
Accordingly, the Caucus was of the view that the Bill should be revised incorporating a gender quota in the Constitution allowing women to be included in decision-making entities including the Commissions and the Constitutional Council. It was also recommended to suggest a quota for a woman parliamentarian to be appointed to the post of Speaker or Deputy Speaker.
It is also recommended that Article 16 of the Constitution is amended to ensure that the provisions in the Fundamental Rights Chapter, particularly Article 12, overrides the restrictions arising from retaining old laws, including personal laws such as the MMDA and property rights of married women under Tesawalami law, that claw back of equality for women.
MPs Thalatha Athukorala, Rohini Wijeratne, Rajika Wickramasinghe, Manjula Dissanayake, and representatives of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) were present at the occasion.
Japan and Sri Lanka sign Memorandum of Cooperation on the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) for Low Carbon Growth Partnership.
Japan and Sri Lanka signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) for Low Carbon Growth Partnership this afternoon (10) at the Presidential Secretariat.
The Memorandum of Cooperation on the JCM was signed by Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Environment and Mr. Misukoshi Hideki, Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka. Thereafter, the Japanese Ambassador met with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and engaged in cordial discussion.
After its withdrawal from the Second Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol, Japan introduced the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) in 2013 to contribute to the global effort of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This mechanism has been developed to reduce GHG emissions jointly with developing countries and share the greenhouse gas emissions reduced as the percentage between Japan and the agreed party country. Japan introduced this mechanism as agreed at the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change to adopt the Paris Agreement to achieve the commitments of the Nationally Determined Contributions.
Japan is currently implementing projects under the JCM mechanism in 17 countries such as Mongolia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Maldives, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Palau, Cambodia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Myanmar, Thailand and Philippines.
Through implementing the proposed projects under this mechanism the benefits such as introducing new technologies and technical expertise, capacity building, generation of green jobs and new infrastructure development could be achieved.
The Government of Japan and its private sector will provide technical assistance and part of the capital investment to implement this mechanism in developing countries. Under this mechanism, projects in energy, industry, transport, waste, forestry and agriculture sectors for reducing GHG emissions are expected to be implemented.
Moreover, Sri Lanka ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change on 21st September 2016. Sri Lanka also has submitted its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Therefore, the implementation of the Joint Crediting Mechanism in Sri Lanka will support achieving the GHG emission reduction targets under the Paris Agreement and contribute to the global effort of reaching the global temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.
Approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General’s Department has been obtained for the implementation of the Joint Carbon Crediting Mechanism between Japan and Sri Lanka. Further, Cabinet approval has been received on 05 September 2022 for the implementation of the mechanism in Sri Lanka.
When implementing this mechanism in Sri Lanka, a Joint Committee co-chaired by the Governments of Japan and Sri Lanka and representatives of both countries will be established to approve the projects.
Speaking at the occasion Mr. Naseer Ahmed, the Minister of Environment, said that under the guidance of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and on the special supervision of Mr. Sagala Ratnayake, the President’s Senior Adviser on National Security and the Chief of Staff, this program was made successful.
Minister of Environment Naseer Ahmed, Senior Adviser to the President on National Security and Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayake, Presidential Adviser on Climate Change Ruwan Wijewardana and others attended the event.
Japan and Sri Lanka sign Memorandum of Cooperation on the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) for Low Carbon Growth Partnership.
Japan and Sri Lanka signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) for Low Carbon Growth Partnership this afternoon (10) at the Presidential Secretariat.
The Memorandum of Cooperation on the JCM was signed by Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Environment and Mr. Misukoshi Hideki, Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka. Thereafter, the Japanese Ambassador met with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and engaged in cordial discussion.
After its withdrawal from the Second Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol, Japan introduced the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) in 2013 to contribute to the global effort of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This mechanism has been developed to reduce GHG emissions jointly with developing countries and share the greenhouse gas emissions reduced as the percentage between Japan and the agreed party country. Japan introduced this mechanism as agreed at the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change to adopt the Paris Agreement to achieve the commitments of the Nationally Determined Contributions.
Japan is currently implementing projects under the JCM mechanism in 17 countries such as Mongolia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Maldives, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Palau, Cambodia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Myanmar, Thailand and Philippines.
Through implementing the proposed projects under this mechanism the benefits such as introducing new technologies and technical expertise, capacity building, generation of green jobs and new infrastructure development could be achieved.
The Government of Japan and its private sector will provide technical assistance and part of the capital investment to implement this mechanism in developing countries. Under this mechanism, projects in energy, industry, transport, waste, forestry and agriculture sectors for reducing GHG emissions are expected to be implemented.
Moreover, Sri Lanka ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change on 21st September 2016. Sri Lanka also has submitted its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Therefore, the implementation of the Joint Crediting Mechanism in Sri Lanka will support achieving the GHG emission reduction targets under the Paris Agreement and contribute to the global effort of reaching the global temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.
Approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General’s Department has been obtained for the implementation of the Joint Carbon Crediting Mechanism between Japan and Sri Lanka. Further, Cabinet approval has been received on 05 September 2022 for the implementation of the mechanism in Sri Lanka.
When implementing this mechanism in Sri Lanka, a Joint Committee co-chaired by the Governments of Japan and Sri Lanka and representatives of both countries will be established to approve the projects.
Speaking at the occasion Mr. Naseer Ahmed, the Minister of Environment, said that under the guidance of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and on the special supervision of Mr. Sagala Ratnayake, the President’s Senior Adviser on National Security and the Chief of Staff, this program was made successful.
Minister of Environment Naseer Ahmed, Senior Adviser to the President on National Security and Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayake, Presidential Adviser on Climate Change Ruwan Wijewardana and others attended the event.
The corrupt regime that is ruling Sri Lanka at the moment is destroying the country and there will be no future without the holding of an election, said Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, addressing the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Ududumbara Electorate Authority Board meeting organised by Counsel Sanath Bandara yesterday (10).
If the government denies the holding of an election, struggles will be taken to streets demanding one, the Opposition Leader noted, alleging that repression was unleashed by this regime against a peaceful protest held at Galle Face Green two days ago (09) in its fear of the people.
The government fails to bear the witnessing of even a peaceful demonstration by a mother and her child who hold hands together, he added, reminding that there is footage disclosing that the Police are forcibly separating the mother from her child and putting her in to the jeep.
Premadasa went on saying that the members of the government who forgot to mourn when people were dying in the queues, those who forgot to mourn when the farming community was sighing without fertiliser, and those who forgot to mourn when people were being killed by gas cylinder explosions are lamenting today.
He promised the audience that anyone obstructing those enjoying the democratic right to peaceful protests will be penalised under a SJB-government. State-sponsored terrorism and state brutality have no prolonged lifespan, for the history bears enough witness to prove it, he reminded.
