Ranil no longer Mr. Clean: more corrupt than Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena
Posted on June 5th, 2010
H. L. D. Mahindapala
Nothing is going right for Ranil Wickremesinghe, the UNP leader who is not sure when his head would roll. The crisis within the UNP is deepening with scandals of corruption breaking out ever week.
First a week-end English newspaper screamed that he is the head of a homosexual mafia of old Royalists. Party members said they had no access to the leadership and that the party was controlled by the homosexual mafia. It was a scandal, though well known, was not made public until recently. In fact when Mangala Samaraweera joined the UNP some wag said: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ItƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s not surprising. ItƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s first gay marriage in Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
Now, the Sunday Leader, once his best supporter under LasanthaWickrematunga, its former Editor, has revealed that he has been playing out millions donated to the party.
TodayƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s edition of The Sunday Leader says that Rs. 48 million were given by a Muslim businessman on promises of getting specials deals to set up a super luxury gambling centre and a diplomatic appointment.
Ranil Wickremesinghe has gone into hiding (temporarily) avoiding calls from the newspaper.
The Swiss businessman, Sabir Hussein, had contacted The Sunday Leader, with the details. He had even produced documentary evidence.
Last Sunday the newspaper revealed that Ranil was spending lavish holidays in five star hotels down south. He is now given to expensive holidays on what income, is the question asked by some party insiders?
Earlier, the same paper revealed that a foreign government had donated money to him.
Question: Is this why Ranil is hanging on to the position of the leader?
A close family relative said that he has no other income other than the salary he receives as an MP. He has also never done a days work though he is a lawyer. He has done a few odd jobs but not sufficient enough to establish himself as lawyers with a livable income. He has always lived on party and parliamentary incomes. So if he loses the party leadership he will be forced to live off an oily rag, says one leading member close to his family.
This new scandal has brought down his image in the eyes of the party rank and file and the public at large. The only surviving grace was that he was ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Mr. CleanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Now he is seen to be more dirty than Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena who was accused by The Leader paper of giving contracts to his family members when he was a Minister in RanilƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Cabinet. .
Party members are now worried that they canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t attack the government of corruption and mismanagement because their leader is seen to be a first class crook. Party members are also concerned that they did not get the funding for their elections campaigns while the party leadership was pocketing millions.
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ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ UNP Leader Got Rs. 48 Mn From One ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-DonorƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
Posted by sanjeewa on Jun 6th, 2010 and filed under Lead. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry from your site
- ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Ranil and Malik did not deliver ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” I didƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚: Sabir HusseinƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Sabir and MalikBy Faraz ShauketalySensational new information obtained by The Sunday Leader show that the former Chairman of the UNP and Ranil Wickremesinghe-confidant, Malik Samarawickrema, collected on behalf of UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe a huge Rs. 48 million from one ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-donorƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Swedish based Sri Lankan businessman, Sabir Hussein, 50, contacted The Sunday Leader with details.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Hussein gave documentary evidence of one such donation he made from Sweden, and claims that it was part of a substantial donation of approximately USD 460,000 made to the UNP. The bulk of these funds were given to the Leader of the Opposition, according to Hussein.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Malik Samarawickrema last week claimed that he had no knowledge of funding from foreign countries; in this instance however, the transfer is from an individual based overseas.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Samarawickrema who was Chairman of the UNP at the time, at first denied that Hussein had made any donations at all. But when told that The Sunday Leader had documentary evidence to prove otherwise he said that it was possible that Hussein had indeed made a transfer of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-perhaps Rs. 2 millionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and that he had to check his records.
The Sunday Leader has documentary evidence which proves a transfer ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ USD 9000 in November 2001 to Penguin Sportwear Ltd. which company Samarawickrema confirmed belongs to him.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Due to the fact that HusseinƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s claims would make him a well known donor,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Sunday Leader spoke to many prominent UNP members: Lakshman Seneviratne said that he was not aware of Hussein but that in itself was not unusual ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” he was aware of many others who had also made donations but were not known to other party leaders. Seneviratne did not wish to disclose any specific names in the interest of discretion. Dayasiri Jayasekera said he had not heard of Hussein and that was probably because he did not get involved with funding issues.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sajith Premadasa, who is widely expected to succeed Wickremesinghe as party leader, confirmed that he was aware ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sabir Hussein, describing him as a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-friend.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Premadasa however was unable to confirm details of any donations as he was not involved in those matters, he said.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Malik Samarawickrema meanwhile called The Sunday Leader to disclose that he had information to suggest that Hussein had a criminal record in Sri Lanka. Independent checks by The Sunday Leader confirmed that Hussein did not have any criminal record in Sri Lanka. Later, Samarawickrema contacted us again to say that he was unsure whether Hussein indeed had a criminal record and that in fact it had to do with an issue with the Swedish authorities.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If it is the case that Hussein has a criminal record and that Samarawickrema was aware of it , it proves that Ranil Wickremesinghe had no qualms about taking huge amounts of money from criminals.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Ranil Wickremesinghe was said to be out of Colombo without his mobile phone and returning only on Sunday. His security officer SSP Wicremesinghe said that the leaderƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s mobile phone was with him and he would attempt to contact the Leader of the Opposition ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-somehowƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and get him to return our calls. Wickremesinghe did not. For good measure we left a message with the security officer asking that he return our call as we were going to press.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ According to Hussein, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Malik Samarawickrema hatched a plan and virtually coerced him into makingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ sizable donations to the UNP promising ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-dealsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-diplomatic positionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and exclusive rights for a super luxury entertainment centre in Colombo complete with a high-end casino. (See inside pages for full story.)
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sabir Hussein is a self-made millionaire who made his money in the internet boom years. He was a pioneer operator of internet gaming businesses and made his specialty in the marketing of these sites ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” at one time he had millions of internet users logging on to sites that he worked with. MSN reported during the triumphant days of the internet, that Sabir Hussein was one of the largest advertisers on MSN portals. We carry a full interview and report within this edition.
June 6th, 2010 at 1:38 am
This is the unfortunate side of Sri Lanka, corrupt politicians. They are everywhere in the world, but we can’t afford to have corruption at the top. Elsewhere in the world there is corruption, but at least the government servants are largely uncorrupted and not traitors. Once, a Tamil gentleman told me that Sri Lanka was like a ‘bus stop’. What he meant was that we all live there to get what we can and leave for greener pasture at the earliest possible opportunity, leaving Sri Lanka to idiots. This is a heart breaking situation.
June 6th, 2010 at 6:40 am
See what Victor Ivan’s Bandit queen has said at a meeting at St Bridget’s Convent:
‘Engaging in politics in Sri Lanka today is the easiest and fastest way to making a quick buck. At present politics is the most lucrative of businesses in this country and around 80 percent of those carrying out political functions are corrupt’. That is what todays Island reports as former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga said.
She also said to have added that she was living by ‘selling’ her ‘assets’ and was ‘proud of it’.
She also said to have stressed that the education system should take over the responsibility for laying the basis for a moral education.
I wonder whether she was talking from her mouth or from he ass. Or does she think we are born again to forget what she had done for eleven long years. What do these people think we are; suckers.
June 8th, 2010 at 8:27 am
The “Bandit Queen” is talking about herself. She should know about curruption more than anybody else as she was in the midst of it. She was involved in the Waters Edge affair. She is not what she claims to be. I agree with her that all politicians are currupt. However there are degrees of curruption. During her regime and Ranil’s there was curruption and no development. She sold state assets to pass the budget. However during Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa’s time there is massive development for even the blind UNPer’s to see. How is this possible if they indulge in curruption like Chandrika and Ranil? Has any incident been brought out or publicly proved? Chandrika has to produce proof to back up her words. The “Bandit queen” should not look up and spit lest it fall on her own head.
June 11th, 2010 at 4:15 am
As always a very good article. Homosexuals all over the world are connected, and help and support each other anyway possible. Especially when they hold positions of power no matter where in the world (political class). Prime example of this is when Ranil had the ceasefire agreement with LTTE killers politicos in uk were very pleased with the outcome. One liberal democrat politician called Simon Hughes (Who had to resign because of some unwarranted activities in park in London in the middle of the night with a another man) suggested that Ranil should be nominated for the noble peace price. This was mentioned in a BBC breakfast show soon after the ceasefire agreement.
nethaji welikala
December 7th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Malik Samarawickrama has himself stated that donations were mainly given to the Leader and or its Fund Raising Committee and that these donations were almost exclusively anonymous and that no records are available save for a note of the expenses incurred by the party.
That in itself is proof indeed that monies were received by the Leader of the UNP from time to time and that it was in fact the status quo to donate money, in cash annonymously to the Leader of the party. Wickremesinghe by quoting a legal matter within a foreign jurisdiction attempts to cast aspersions on my integrity. Wickremesinghe being a lawyer will understand the notion that a person is not guilty until the legal process has been exhausted.
In the 2 years leading to the General Elections of 2002 I have remitted quite legally approx USD 1.6 Million to my accounts in Sri Lanka. In this same period I have spent less than 60 days in Sri Lanka, staying always at a Colombo hotel. Even if I had spent the equivalent of USD 1,000 per night of my stays, I would have spent not more than Rs 6 Million on my personal expenses. In this same period I have withdrawn approximately Rs 50 Million in cash from my accounts from which my various expenses have been met. In the run up to the eletions in 2004, I transferred even more money – an additional approx US$ 1.4 Million and withdrew over Rs 110 Million in cash for my use in Sri Lanka. My personal expenses in this additiponal period was approx Rs 5 Million making a total of Rs 11 Million. A simple calculation will reveal that I had over Rs 90 Million in cash “left over”. It is from these funds that donations were given to the Leader of the UNP. His transigence and reluctance to even acknowledge that I supported him and the party
Documentary evidence is available of the transactions referred to above and I would be willing to engage Wickremesinghe for a LIVE debate perhaps on a channel over which he has some family control. Unlike Wickremesinghe, despite the fact that I am not a “public” figure, I am being open about my finances in order that a reasonable person, can make his own mind up whether I had the financial means to make these donations;
On the contrary Wickremesinghe despite being a “public” persona, has chosen not to provide a fair and reasonable explanation to clear the air if nothing else. Even his Asset declaration made to parliament remains under these archaic rules, closed off for the public to read of his wealth and financial interests. Patently he could solve much of the speculation if he resorts to being far more transparent and releases by his own free will, a copy of his latest Asset declaration. Indeed, I may as well say, “Need I say more”.
Yours truly
Sabir Hussein
December 7th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Mr Wickremesinghe calls for an end to the “Rajapaksa Dictatorship” when in fact, it is Wickremesinghe who is perpetuating a virtual dictatorship within the United National Party. Presidnt Rajapaksa remains where he is because he has the luxury of having the people’s mandate.
Sabir Hussein