Mother and son granted bail - Dematagoda accident:

The 15-year-old boy and his mother arrested on the charge of knocking down a 10-year-old girl and her 47-year- old mother at a pedestrian crossing in Dematagoda were yesterday ordered to be released on bail by Colombo Additional Magistrate Chandana Kalansuriya.

The 15-year-old boy and his mother were ordered to be released on a cash bail of Rs.10,000 each with two sureties of one million rupees. Meanwhile, Court directed the suspects that compensation of Rs.100,000 be paid to the aggrieved party as a relief payment.

Furthermore, the Court called for child probation report regarding the 15-year-old boy and ordered him to appear before a probation official with immediate effect. The victims, Weerasinghe Arachchilage Anula and Samadhi Rasmika were killed when a car driven by 15-year-old boy crashed into them. Further magisterial inquiry into the case fixed for February 25.

Prime Minister Ranil Slams Media in Parliament

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremessinghe today in Parliament slammed some media institutions on the manner they had reported the issue over the involvement of foreign judges in the accountability process on the war.

He insisted that the government will not agree to an international war crimes tribunal on the Sri Lanka issue.



“We have not signed the Rome statute,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that he met President Maithripala Sirisena and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday and discussed the issue.

He said at the meeting it was agreed that the government position on the investigation on the war is that it will be a domestic process which will be open to international assistance.

Earlier the opposition said the government had different views on the matter with the President saying no to foreign judges and the Prime Minister saying international involvement has not been ruled out.The Prime Minister however said today that foreign judges cannot get involved in the process unless they have the approval of the local Supreme Court and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.

Wickremessinghe said that Sri Lanka will conduct the probe on the war within the framework of the Constitution.

He also slammed some private media institutions saying they are attempting to overthrow the government.

The Prime Minister also accused some media institutions of attempting to instigate communal disharmony.

Sri Lanka Rank 83rd IN 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index

Sri Lanka has been ranked 83rd among 168 countries in the 2015 annual Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.

The index ranks countries according to the perceived level of public sector corruption.
Transparency International in a statement said this is a marginal improvement on its 85th placed ranking in 2014.

The ranks are based on a scoring system that ranges between 0, public sector perceived as highly corrupt, to 100, public sector perceived as very clean.

Two-thirds of the 168 countries assessed scored below 50.

In 2015 Sri Lanka has scored 37 points, which marks a slight decline to the 2014 score of 38 points.
This indicates that from the perspective of business people and country experts, based on data sources from independent institutions specialising in governance and business climate analysis, the perception of the extent of corruption in the Sri Lankan public sector has slightly worsened.

Sri Lanka is clubbed together with four other countries – Benin, China, Colombia and Liberia – all with a score of 37. Among the South Asian countries Sri Lanka ranks third below Bhutan and India. Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan ranked below Sri Lanka.
Denmark took the top spot for the 2nd year running, with Finland, Sweden and New Zealand making up the top four.
North Korea and Somalia were ranked at the bottom. The overall CPI index has shown that people working together can succeed in the battle against corruption.

JVP leader On Rajapaksa's foreign Bank accounts

The JVP yesterday demanded to know from government how many files the latter had submitted to the Attorney General to take legal actions on investigations into the frauds and corruption issues of the previous government. 

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake making a special statement in parliament said there were media reports to the effect that the government was in possession of information about several accounts belonging to members of top political family of this country in foreign banks.

Cabinet Spokesman at the cabinet press briefing held on Jan 14 said that the government had found details with regard to three accounts in a private bank in Dubai belonging to a member and three other close affiliates of a VIP political family. The sum total of the monies in the three accounts was more than one billion US dollars.

One account had 1.086 billion US dollars another account had 500 million US dollars. Another account belonging to a former secretary and a chairman of a public corporation had 1.8 billion US dollars. Another government MP had told media recently that he knew of a sum of Rs 426,560 million belonging to former rulers. "According to the information it could be concluded that the government had sufficient information of corruption and frauds that took place in the past and it is in a position to take legal action against those responsible. 

There was a public discourse in recent times that the government should investigate all corrupt deals and confiscate the wealth of those found guilty of swindling public money. Further to that one of the main slogans of the Jan 08, 2015 presidential campaign by President Maithripala Sirisena was to punish the corrupt. It was one of the promises made in the manifesto. "Now one year has passed but the new administration has not been able to take substantial action against those involved in mega-swindles. 

People think that the government safeguards the corrupt and exert its influence to manipulate the investigations to serve the purposes of its political survival. Even in last October the government pledged to take action against the fraudsters but the investigations against them have been stalled," MP Dissanayake said. He demanded to know from the government the progress it made with regard to the investigations into the allegations of foreign bank accounts the Cabinet spokesman had mentioned recently. 

 Leader of the House University Education and Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would respond to the JVP leader’s questions on a future date.

Yoshitha to summon before Military court

Speculation' is rife that Lieutenant Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the second son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa would be summoned before a military court in connection with the abuse of his position in violation of the Navy Act, authoritative defence sources said.

The Navy conducted a full scale investigation into the charges leveled against Rajapaksa and the investigation report has already been referred to the President. Navy sources added that further action would be taken against Rajapaksa based on the President's decision.

"However, according to the findings of the inquiry, there is enough room to believe that the President will decide in favour of a Court

Martial. Multiple allegations against the Navy officer and alleged violations of the Navy Act were examined during the inquiry," a senior Navy officer involved in the investigation told the Daily News.

.Yoshitha Rajapaksa was accused of having held the position of Chairman of a private company, Carlton Sports Network (CSN), while being a military officer.

According to legal opinion holding such a position while being a military officer is against military law.

"Another allegation leveled against him is that he had allegedly undertaken many foreign tours, without obtaining written permission from the Navy. Not even a Navy Commander has enjoyed such privileges," sources said.

An investigation is to be carried out as to how Lieutenant Yoshitha had allegedly gone overseas nearly 30 times. At that period not even top officers had undertaken foreign trips without written permission.

Sources said that the findings of the internal investigations carried out by the Navy have proved that a large amount of money had allegedly been spent by the previous government for the foreign tours and training programmes of Yoshitha Rajapaksa.

"If found guilty before a military court, Yoshitha will be punished," the sources said.

Police Ordered to Arrest BBS monks

Around 30 monks belonging to Bodu Bala Sena are to give themselves up to Homagama police today (28).

They have taken the decision pursuant to an order issued by the Homagama magistrate’s court yesterday to arrest those who had behaved in an unruly manner when BBS general secretary Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera was ordered remanded.

These monks will not be given bail, as they are accused of illegal assembly, damaging state property, assaulting police and disrupting to police duty.

37 under investigation

Three police teams are investigating to arrest, within the next two days, 37 persons, including monks, for their disorderly conduct at the court complex.

They have identified the suspects through video footage and pictures.

During the incident on January 26, the OICs of Athurugiriya and Wellampitiya police and two STF commandos were injured and damage caused to the vehicle of a prison official.

An organized group protested against the remanding of Gnanasara Thera on a charge of contempt of court, and assaulted and bitten several policemen, investigations have revealed.

The IGP has instructed the DIG in charge of the western province to submit a detailed report into the incident.

He has been ordered by the prime minister to handover a report to the Mahanayake Theras of Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapter regarding the monks’ conduct during the incident.

Different standards for law enforcement - Bodu bala sena

Different standards were applied by the law enforcers to MP Hirunika Premachandra (when she was arrested for allegedly kidnapping someone) and the Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera when he was charged with contempt of court and the disruption of court proceedings, alleged the Collective of National Bikkhu Organisations today.

The Collective of National Bikkhu Organisations comprises the BBS, Ravana Balaya, and Sinhala Ravaya.

The Ven. Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara Thera, speaking at a media briefing held at the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) head office, alleged that the manner in which the law enforcement agencies took action on the two incidents demonstrated that the judicial system was not the applied equally to everyone.

He asked whether the law enforcement agencies acted only against Buddhist monks when there were many serious problems which should be addressed by them.

Condemning the prime minister’s statement in parliament that some robe wearers were causing a tense situation in front of the Homagama Magistrate’s Court, the Thera alleged that the robe wearers were not BBS members but persons sent there by the prime minister.

He referred to them as the “Sirikotha/Temple Trees Force.” He requested all Buddhist monks in the country to come together to protest against injustice. He said a dharma war may erupt unless the government ensured that Buddhism could function without hindrance.

“We were shocked upon hearing that Gnanasara Thera was remanded. They could have granted him bail because he apologised to the magistrate,” he said.

Court orders To arrest ASP and HQI over Embilipitiya incident

The Embilipitiya Magistrate has instructed the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to arrest the suspects including the former Embilipitiya Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and the Headquarters Inspector (HQI) in connection with the clash which resulted in one death on January 04.

The Magistrate ordered the CID to immediately arrest the ASP and the HQI and produced them before the court as well as to arrest the other suspects and produced them in an identification parade, President’s Counsel Hemantha Warnakulasooriya told.

The clash involving a group of policemen and several civilians attending a function at a residence resulted in the death of one youth and injuries to several others.

The investigation into the incident was handed over to the CID on Friday (22) based on the instructions of the Attorney General (AG).

Four policemen and three civilians were hospitalised with injuries following the clash at a residence on Nawa Nagara Road in Embilipitiya on January 04 while one of the latter succumbed to injuries just days later.

Family member of the deceased claim he was beaten and pushed off the top floor of a building while the police spokesman had stated that he had jumped.

Villagers also allege that two policemen requesting for liquor from the homeowners at the party had triggered the clash.

Meanwhile the Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayake told Parliament today that it was police officers who had informed the police emergency hotline and the ASP in question regarding as incident and not neighboring residents.