Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa and millionaire businessman Thirukumar Nadesan were acquitted today (03) in a case filed against them for constructing a huge mansion in Malwana. It is reported that the government has been ordered to pay the legal costs due to that decision.
The announcement of the verdict in this case which was heard before the Gampaha High Court for a long time commenced at 10.00 am today and continued till 12.00 pm. Judgment took 2 hours to be read out.
Defendant’s attorneys also stated that if the Attorney General decides to file an appeal against this decision, all possibilities will be blocked by this judgment.
Accordingly, the Gampaha High Court has issued a very detailed judgment today. It is reported that the judgment was a 98 page report.
Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has expressed his displeasure to the construction contractors for the serious delay in the construction of the new passenger terminal complex at the Katunayake Airport.
The Minister who visited the construction site recently stated that the construction companies were selected by the Government of Japan and that he would lodge a complaint with the Government of Japan regarding the serious delays in the construction work.
The Minister further said that the contracts for these constructions were signed about eight years ago but no significant progress has been made so far.
Under this project, it is planned to construct a new passenger terminal and related aircraft operating system.
The total cost estimate of this total development project is one hundred and thirteen billion rupees (113). JICA has also provided financial assistance for this purpose.
The construction work has commenced in 2019 and 2020 and according to the contract, the construction work should be in the final stages, but to a satisfactory extent, the construction work has not been completed so far, the Minister said.
The Minister also said that although the second terminal was planned to be built in accordance with the existing international standards for the airport, it has been informed that its security system is currently being prepared to build outside the IKAO standards, contrary to the original plan.
The Minister emphasized that despite the indifference of the construction company and the fuel crisis, it was the responsibility of the contractor to conclude the contract on the agreed date.
He also instructed the Board of Directors of Airports and Aviation to conduct a proper investigation into the selection of subcontractors and the handing over of the construction contracts to unsuitable subcontractors, which has hampered the work of this development project.
The construction of a second passenger terminal and an aeronautical operating system at the Katunayake International Airport was initiated due to severe congestion and reduced space at the existing passenger terminal, the Minister said.
The Minister also said that the construction of these second passenger terminals at the airport has commenced to provide maximum facilities and efficient service to tourists visiting the country.
K.D.S. Ruwanchandra, Secretary to the Ministry, Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri, Chairman, Airport and Aviation Company, representatives of its Board of Directors and officials of Japanese Construction Companies were also present on the occasion.
It is reported that a gas ship imported by Laugfs Gas Company is scheduled to reach the island tomorrow (04).
The ship is said to contain 3,000 metric tons of gas.
Laugfs Gas’ operations have not been operational for the past few months due to the inability to open letters of credit in the face of the country’s foreign exchange crisis, which has severely affected consumers who have bought Laugfs gas cylinders.
It is reported that former Minister Basil Rajapaksa and millionaire businessman Thirukumar Nadesan have been acquitted in a case filed regarding the construction of a luxury house in Malwana.
This is according to the decision given by the Gampaha High Court today (03).
The case was filed against Basil Rajapaksa and Thiru Nadesan for money laundering through the construction of this huge house. Following a lengthy hearing, Gampaha High Court Judge Nimal Ranaweera pronounced the verdict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin received treatment for advanced cancer in April, three US intelligence officials have told Newsweek.
Amid ongoing speculation about the 69-year-old Russian leader’s health, an assessment by the intelligence service in Washington reported him recovering from cancer treatment he underwent two months ago, Newsweek reported.
The intelligence report also confirmed an assassination plot against Mr Putin in March, the organisation said.
The high-ranking officials – one from the office of the Director of National Intelligence, one a retired Air Force senior officer, and one from the Defense Intelligence Agency – who saw the classified report told Newsweek they fear Mr Putin’s paranoia about staying in power may make things worse for Ukraine.
But it is also what may deter him from launching a nuclear war.
“Putin’s grip is strong but no longer absolute,” said one of the senior intelligence officers. “The jockeying inside the Kremlin has never been more intense during his rule, everyone sensing that the end is near.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently addressed widely spready rumours that Mr Putin was suffering from cancer.
Responding to France’s broadcaster TF1, Mr Lavrov said: “I don’t think that sane people can see in this person signs of some kind of illness or ailment.”
He went on to claim that Mr Putin, who turns 70 in October, appears in public “every day” before adding: “
“I leave it to the conscience of those who spread such rumours.”
An unnamed oligarch was recently recorded saying the 69-year-old Russian President is “very ill with blood cancer”, according to New Lines magazine
And it has been widely reported that the FSB, Russia’s state intelligence agency, was told not to speculate about the leader’s health – something which had the opposite effect and plunged the rank-and-file into rumours, according to Russian investigative outlet Proyekt.
Other intelligence sources cited in Western reports have suggested that he may be ill now. Ukraine’s head of military intelligence, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, claiming on television that Mr Putin has cancer “and other illnesses” and was in a “very bad psychological and physical condition”.
He highlighted that steroids can be prescribed for some forms of blood cancer, and also that a high steroid dose would make a person more susceptible to catching Covid-19, following reports that Putin was very wary about catching the disease for several years.
However, no clear and incontrovertible evidence has been presented of any specific claim regarding Mr Putin’s health.
The retail price of a kilogram of skinless chicken has risen to Rs. 1250.
The retail price of an egg has also risen to 45 rupees.
As of last week, the All Ceylon Poultry Traders’ Association had stated that poultry production had dropped by 30% and egg production by 40% and that farms were closing shutting down.
At the end of April, the retail price of a kilo of chicken was around 980 rupees.
A special discussion between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and all party leaders in Parliament is scheduled to be held today (03).
Accordingly, this discussion will be held at the Prime Minister’s Office at 3.30 pm today.
The 21st Amendment to the Constitution will be discussed at this meeting and it is said that an agreement will be reached between all parties today before presenting the bill to the Cabinet next Monday.
Once or twice a year, the approaches to Islamabad, Pakistan’s staid, leafy capital, start to resemble a jumbled cargo port. Piles of shipping containers sprout up at motorway junctions on the outskirts of the city and at strategic crossroads inside it. Lines of riot police stand guard. Residents grumble, knowing traffic will get choked, schools will close and getting to work will take twice as long.
The appearance of the barriers, put there by police, signals that the city of 1m is under siege from one of the country’s “long marches”. These are more aptly described as long drives: convoys of protesters travel in cars and minibuses from cities such as Lahore and Peshawar, a few hours away by road. These ritualised displays of street power, in which political parties rally their supporters and lead them towards the capital, are a favourite tactic for anyone trying to rattle the government.
No one is keener on them than Imran Khan (pictured, centre), the cricketer-turned-populist who leads his own Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (pti) party. Since being ousted from his job as prime minister in a no-confidence vote in April, he has refused to leave the pitch. Instead he has taken to street protests, threatening to bring down the new government.
He blames his inauspicious exit on a conspiracy between the opposition and America, which he claims was keen to see the back of him because he refused to pander to America’s foreign-policy demands. America says this is nonsense. Mr Khan’s supporters have lapped it up anyway. Over the past few weeks, huge crowds have rallied to him, demanding new elections to kick out the “imported” government. They have also criticised the armed forces, whose support is essential for any government, in unusually explicit terms.
Mr Khan’s latest hurrah came on May 25th, when he urged supporters to march on the capital and stage a sit-in until new elections are held. But turnout was unimpressive. In the end, he scrapped the plan as the protesters reached central Islamabad and skirmished with security forces, who fired tear gas. He announced a fresh deadline of May 31st for elections to be called and warned of more marches if the government does not comply.
There has been much speculation about why the march was dispersed. Mr Khan says he wanted to prevent bloodshed. His opponents say he was disappointed with the size of the turnout. pti insiders claim that the march was halted after the generals gave assurances that elections, at present scheduled for late 2023 when the current parliament’s term ends, would be brought forward to this year.
Mr Khan’s latest deadline came and went. He had not called a new march by the time The Economist went to press. Some observers suspect that he may need time to rally his supporters after the anticlimactic ending to his last push on the capital. His allies think he is unlikely to return to Islamabad imminently.
It is hard to see why the new prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, a former chief minister of Punjab and the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, would agree to call early elections. His government, less than two months old, has taken tentative steps towards repairing relations with the West. But it has not yet devised a strategy to tackle the economic crisis it inherited. In part that is because Mr Khan’s protests have kept it distracted. Mr Sharif has also failed to seize the political initiative. Last month the country watched the flailing prime minister board a plane to London to seek advice from his older brother, who lives in exile.
The country’s finances are in wretched shape. The pandemic and the fallout from the war in Ukraine have battered an economy already reeling from decades of mismanagement, outsize military spending and a focus on debt-driven infrastructure projects that generated no returns. Inflation hit 13.8% in May, driven largely by the price of food and transport. The rupee has lost 8% of its value against the dollar since early April (see chart). Foreign reserves had dwindled to $10bn by May 20th, enough to cover imports for only about six weeks.
The reserves are at their lowest level since 2019, when Pakistan last sought help from the imf. Only half the $6bn bail-out agreed at the time has been disbursed. Mr Khan, then prime minister, originally agreed to cut subsidies and reform the economy but reduced fuel prices instead. The country is running deficits on both its budget and its current account. It needs some $37bn worth of financing for the fiscal year beginning in June, reckons the finance minister.
On May 26th Mr Sharif at last seemed to act more decisively. The government announced a cut in fuel subsidies, raising prices by 20%. This won approval from the imf, which has made the resumption of its loan programme conditional on policies to stabilise the economy. The currency and the stockmarket rallied slightly in response to the move. A bail-out will also unlock credit from allies such as China and Saudi Arabia, which are unwilling to extend more help without assurances that the imf will release the bail-out money.
To obtain those, the government will have to introduce more unpopular measures. This month it is likely to announce cuts to subsidies on electricity and the passage of an austerity budget. But dissolving parliament and calling early elections would distract from the goal of improving macroeconomic stability, even though Mr Sharif could win a real mandate. The imf is unlikely to take seriously a government that may not be in power for more than a few weeks, particularly given the risk that Mr Khan might return to power. Early elections would probably need approval from the generals. No matter what pti insiders claim, this will be harder to gain than it might have been a few months ago given new hostility towards the army among Mr Khan’s supporters.
Even so, Mr Khan does not appear to be giving up hope. He is petitioning the Supreme Court to guarantee safe passage for potential follow-up marches. The coming spate of painful economic moves will supply him with plenty of excuses to paint the government as American stooges and enemies of the people. The appointment of a new army chief, due in November, will add yet more uncertainty to the political balance. To fix its economy, Pakistan badly needs stability. It will spend the coming months with anything but. ■
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Interfering Imran”
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka appeals to Sri Lankans living abroad to send remittances through the banking system as foreign exchange is essential to meet the daily needs of Sri Lanka such as fuel, gas, medicine and food.
Following is the statement issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in this regard.
