Shenali Waduge

An accessory is a person who assists in the commission of a crime, but who does not actually participate in the crime. Guilt by association or you are known by the company you keep makes a person guilty by their association with known wrongdoers. Complicity is the act of helping or encouraging another individual to commit a crime. It is also commonly referred to as aiding and abetting. One who is complicit is said to be an accomplice. But, even though an accomplice does not actually commit the crime, his or her actions helped someone in the commission of the crime. The concept of accomplice liability means an accomplice faces the same degree of guilt and punishment as the individual who committed the crime. The issue at hand is that 2 COPE Parliamentary reports on the Sri Lankan Central Bank Bond Scam has found Arjuna Mahendran the Central Bank Governor guilty and questions why the Prime Minister the icon of Westminster democracy and beacon of good governance known by his supporters as Mr. Clean is going all out to whitewash his friend. What the nation expects of the PM is that he take accountability of the scam given that Mahendran’s appointment was made inspite of objections and Arjuna Mahendran himself is on record to say ‘I acted on instructions of the Prime Minister’. Resignation is the most honourably thing to do.

Please find below a list of resignations by Prime Ministers some on allegations of corruption, some for involvement in sexual scandals, some for bribery, others before being impeached and some simply due to policy. This is what we expect of leaders who came into power promising good governance. Having opened up so many entities for bribery, corruptions etc it is puzzling why no one connected to the PM or the yahapalana government are being charged, getting arrested or put into prison given that the current government is comprised of MPs who were holding portfolios under Rajapakse rule during which time the PM and his party came out with files accusing them. Why are these cases not been investigated?

Resignations

• 1957 – British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigned as Prime Minister after ordering an end to the Suez Canal operation allegedly misleading the House of Commons over the degree of “collusion” with France and Israel
• 1963 – British Secretary of War John Profumo resigned following sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1963
• 1969 – French President Charles de Gaulle resigned after defeat in a constitutional referendum
• 1970 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia resigned following election defeat
• 1973 – US Vice President Spiro Agnew under President Nixon resigned on financial irregularities – on charges of extortion, tax fraud, bribery, and conspiracy.
• 1974 – US President Richard Nixon resigned following Watergate Scandal. Becoming the only President to resign from office.
• 1974 – Prime Minister of Japan Kakuei Tanaka resigned on charges of corruption and sexual promiscuity.
• 1974 – Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir resigned following the Yom Kippur War.
• 1976 – 5^th President of Ireland Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh resigned on a matter of policy
• 1977 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin resigned
• 1981 – Spanish Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez
• 1981 Hussein Onn Prime Minister of Malaysia resigned due to health conditions
• 1984 – Pierre Trudeau Canadian Prime Minister
• 1986 – Musa Hitam Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia to President Mahathir Mohamed resigned citing irreconcilable differences
• 1989 – David Lange Prime Minister of New Zealand resigned over differences over ‘Reagonimics’ economic policy with his government.
• 1990 – Geoffrey Howe – British Deputy PM to Margaret Thatcher resigned over government policy on the European single currency
• 1990 – British PM Margaret Thatcher resigned after Michael Heseltine launched a challenge to her leadership
• 1990 – Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
• 1991 – President of USSR Mikhail Gorbachev
• 1994 – Japanese PM Morihiro Hosokawa following allegations of bribery
• 1994 – Japanese PM Tsutomu Hata became 80^th PM of Japan for 9 weeks only.
• 1995 – British PM John Major resigns as Leader of the Conservative Party
• 1996 – Madagascar President Albert Zafy resigned following impeachment
• 1997 – Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Sir Julius Chan resigned following multimillion-dollar contract with Sandline International, a mercenary organization
• 1997 – President of Albania Sali Berisha following the Ponzi pyramid scheme
• 2001 – Philippine President Joseph Estrada allegations of corruption
• 2003 – Robin Cook Leader of the House of Commons resigned in protest of the invasion of Iraq
• 2003 – Clare Short British Secretary of State for International Development resigned in protest of the invasion of Iraq
• 2006 – Snyder Rini, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, facing riots after only eight days in office
• 2007 – Iajuddin Ahmed, President of Bangladesh, in his capacity as chief adviser during the 2006–2007 Bangladeshi political crisis
• 2007 – Romano Prodi, Italian Prime Minister, after losing a vote of no confidence
• 2007 – Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, stepped down as leader of the Labour Party on (June 27), during his third term. Deputy Leader John Prescott and Home Secretary John Reid, and several other Cabinet ministers, followed suit, including Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and Justice Secretary Lord Falconer
• 2007 – Su Tseng-Chang, Taiwanese Prime Minister, after failing to secure election as his party’s candidate for the 2008 presidential election
• 2010 – David Laws, Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the United Kingdom (May 30) Forced to resign over expenses abuse allegations, after it emerged he had channelled tens of thousands of pounds in public money to his longtime partner
• 2016 – David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom resigned after the United Kingdom had voted to leave the European Union

India must receive special mention for the moral high ground taken by MPs and Ministers resigning following public outcry over debacles. A train disaster almost always end up with the Railways Minister resigning.

The yahapalana government came into power promising good governance in 2015. Within days Ranil Wickremasinghe appointed long time friend as Governor Central Bank despite islandwide opposition from all quarters citing that he was a Singaporean citizen and questioning how he could function as a governor given that Singapore law does not allow dual citizenship. His links to Raj Rajaratnam, now in US prison for insider trading was also cited. All these factors were however ignored.

It is alleged that Parliament was dissolved in 2015 before DEW Gunasekera could table his 1^st COPE Report under chairmanship of DEW GUnasekera. The 447 page report had opposition from the UNP members. The UNP Finance Minister even defended Arjuna Mahendran

Ranil Wickremasinghe’s response was that the interim report was illegal and breached the Parliamentary Privileges Act. The PM even challenged COPE Chairman to a debate not with him but with Sujeewa Senasinghe. In July 2015 Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said that when the new Parliament meets, his party will appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate – which he did not. http://www.colombopage.com/archive_15B/Jul07_1436282152CH.php The PM went to the extent of writing to the Secretary-General of Parliament against Dew Gunasekera.

The subject of the probe was a 30-year bond auction for Rs.1 billion on February 27, 2015. The CB received 36 offers amounting to Rs. 20 billion.  Earlier CB officials had given an indicative rate that interest rates of 9.5 per cent would be taken into consideration with such pre-auction advice being the usual practice. However instead of selling one billion rupees worth of bonds they ended up issuing ten billion rupees worth at an enhanced interest of over 11 per cent. Central Bank increased offer to Rs 10 billion with Rs 5 billion to Perpetual Treasuries. Of this, Rs 3 billion was given at 12.5%, there driving up yields of 30-year bonds to 11.73% from 9.5% and also drove yields across other tenures.

A three-member lawyers committee appointed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that the Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran had no direct role in deciding to accept bids over and above the one billion rupees stipulated in the 30-year bond tender and accept up to 10 billion rupees.

The 2^nd COPE Report under Chairmanship of Sunil Handunnetti proposes that legal action be taken against Arjuna Mahendran and all others involved and steps taken to recover the loss from those guilty.

The public are of the overall opinion that the scandal is payback for all MPs bought in Singapore from Rajapakse’s govt to create the regime change.

Arjuna Mahendran is on record for saying that he acted on instructions of the Prime Minister. It is totally baffling why the Independent Commissions are silent on such a national issue where billions of losses have taken place.

We do not expect such ugly practices from a Prime Minister that has projected himself to the world and his supporters as being a Mr. Clean and a Visionary. Listening to the interviews with former COPE Chairman Dew Gunasekera and the report tabled by Sunil Handunnetti it is clear that Arjuna Mahendran is no man of integrity and his former workplaces must feel very embarrassed to be associated with him while the PM’s actions in trying his best through his party MPs to stall and stop the report release goes to show a lot of hanky panky is taking place. All these go against what the PM projects himself to be.

People want a leader who practises what he or she preaches, who follows through on promises and who “walks the talk.”. People judge integrity by the consistency, credibility and reliability of a leader’s behaviour.

If the PM is a man of integrity the best thing he can do and should do is to resign. The public must demand answers and actions from those in authority against every person responsible for the Bond Scam irrespective of whether they are foreigners or Sri Lankan. If Mahendran has been found guilty this must be indicated officially to the Singaporean authorities and action taken against him. The rest of Parliament must also immediately demand action as should the public and one wonders where the good governance activists are of late!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWBqutKKhW8 interview with Gomin Daysri and Pratiba Mahanama

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SFaOMlx_rU&feature=youtu.be DEW Gunasekera – pl listen to this interview

http://newsfirst.lk/english/2016/10/cope-report-cbsl-bond-scam-need-know/153047