Signs of desperation
Posted on November 2nd, 2016

Editorail Courtesy The Island


The UNP MPs who made a futile attempt to dilute the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) report on the Treasury bond scams have sought to question the eligibility of the Auditor General’s Department to investigate the frauds at issue and put out a report thereon. They have blown, out of proportion, some limitations Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe has mentioned in the report as regards the investigation in question. (What they have left unsaid is that he has compared his department’s expertise etc with those of the Central Bank.) Real professionals make no pretence to omniscience unlike politicians who think no end of themselves.

Interestingly, the protesting UNP MPs themselves have endorsed the COPE recommendations which follow from the conclusions premised mostly on the assumptions based on the findings in the Auditor General’s report. Thus, in the final analysis, these vociferous MPs have, in endorsing the COPE recommendations, subscribed to the outcome of the Auditor General’s report. (Elementary, my dear Watson!)

Having pathetically failed to frighten the Auditor General into submission with barks and affronts and incurred public opprobrium as a result, the UNP MPs are now assailing the credibility of his department. Their consternation is understandable. Having yelled at a female Central Bank official who testified before the COPE and scared her out of her wits, the heroes in kapati suit thought they could bulldoze their way through. But, when they took on the Auditor General they found themselves in the same predicament as the proverbial woodpecker which pecked on a banana trunk.

It is a pity that Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy has not emulated the Auditor General, who has been bold enough to brave the wrath of a bunch of conceited government MPs in the name of the truth. The country needs many more intrepid public officials like Wijesinghe to keep politicians who are full of themselves in their place.

An otherwise articulate Central Bank Governor did not sound convincing at Tuesday’s media briefing, where questions were raised on the bond frauds. He sought to obfuscate the issue with gobbledygook and cut a pathetic figure in the process.

The question is how competent the UNP MPs are to pass judgment on the Auditor General’s Department officials. Do they think they possess better qualifications than the state auditors to probe the bond scams at issue? It was Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who told Parliament last year, when the issue of bond frauds was first raised, that the members of the House did not know a Treasury bond from James Bond. Many a true word is spoken in jest! The less said about our lawmakers’ educational qualifications the better. Thankfully, the COPE based its findings on the Auditor General’s Department report.

How can those who question the state auditors’ eligibility to investigate the Central Bank bond scams argue that Financial Crimes Investigation Division and the CID are competent to investigate financial frauds? Suspects are arrested and remanded on the basis of their findings! Our experience with the self-important CID officials who have ‘interrogated’ us over various issues at the behest of their political masters during the last so many years is that they should be sent back to school. It is thanks to them that the conviction rate remains as low as four percent. They are however much better than the members of parliament who question journalists on breach of privileges etc. We hope we won’t be denied the pleasure of being summoned by the COPE over our news items on its report. COPE findings and recommendations we reported on have been endorsed by 16 out of 26 members of the watchdog committee! We stand vindicated.

Let the ‘yahapalana’ politicians berating the Auditor General, out of sheer desperation, having failed to derail the COPE probe, be told that no amount of barking will help them dupe the public. They have laid bare their true faces.

6 Responses to “Signs of desperation”

  1. Ananda-USA Says:

    In other words, Puhul Hora Karen Daney!

  2. Dilrook Says:

    Intimidating the Auditor General must be condemned in strongest of terms. This is despicable. They came to power promising good governance, but now they have fallen way below all other governments. Intimidating the Auditor General will worsen investor confidence and reduce the credit rating of the country.

    Hopefully these UNP goons will not resort to violence against public officials who are only doing their job. UNP regimes have a very bad history of violence against public officials.

    They must be remembered that Mahinda dug his political grave the day he decided to remove Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake for doing her job. He was the president and his party alone had two thirds in parliament. Ranil being a mere prime minister (can be replaced at will by the president anytime he pleases) and even lacking a simple majority in parliament will be much easier to remove.

    UNP crooks should stop showing their utter desperation.

  3. S.Gonsal Says:

    I cannot forget how my friend not only intimidated but asked to resign for working properly. He too was the auditor general and he had to keep very silent fearing death. The current auditor general is in heaven !

    Some sad news.

    අමරදේව කළුරිය කරයි

    2016 නොවැම්බර් මස 03 11:18:02 | . , බිමිල් ශ්‍යාමන් ජයසිංහ

    හෙළයේ මහා ගාන්ධර්වයානන් වන ඩබ්ලිව්. ඩී. අමරදේව මහතා (88) මීට සුළු මොහොතකට පෙර අභාප්‍රාප්ත වු බව lankadeepa.lk බලවත් සංවේගයෙන් වාර්තා කරයි.

    අමරදේව මහතා රෝහලට ඇතුළු කළ පසු හදවත නතර වු බවත් වෛද්‍යවරු හදවත පිරිමැද ඔහු යන්ත්‍රයට සම්බන්ධ කළ බවත් සුසිත සේනාරත්න කියයි.

    ඩබ්ලිව්.ඩී.අමරදේව උත්තර භාරතීය රාගධාරී සංගීතයෙන් සිංහල ගීත ක්‍ෂේත්‍රය පෝෂණය කළේය.1927 දෙසැම්බර් පස් වන දින මොරටුවේදී උපන්නේය. වනක්කුවත්ත මිටි වඩුගේ දොන් ඇල්බට් පෙරේරා, ප්‍රකට ගායන හා සංගීතඥයකු ලෙස ශ්‍රි ලංකාවේදී හඳුනා ගනු ලබන්නේ අමරදේව නමිනි. සිතාරය, තබ්ලාව, හාර්මෝනියම වැනි ශාස්ත්‍රීය සංගීත භාණ්ඩ එක්කොට ගනිමින්, සිංහල ජන සංගීතය සහ භාරත ජනමූල සංගීතය ස්වකීය නිර්මාණ විෂයට ඔහු දායක කැර ගත්තේය.

  4. Christie Says:

    India and Indian colonial parasites what they wanted.

  5. plumblossom Says:

    Yes, Ranil Wickramasinghe must resign immediately. This is the honourable thing to do. The country should be run by a PM who holds the confidence of most people. This is very important. Someone else who holds the confidence of the people should be appointed the PM by President Sirisena. Besides, Arjunan Mahendran did say the PM, meaning Ranil, asked him to do it. Therefore he should resign immediately which is the honourable thing to do and let any investigations take place without any interference. In other countries, this is what happens after this type of incident. So it is not at all unique.

  6. Sooriarachi Says:

    Whatever is said and done, in practical terms, Sri Lanka’s economy had been given a mighty blow by stupid or deliberate acts such as the stopping major infrastructure development projects; ridiculing and misrepresenting the assistance given by China; causing an unbearable loss to the country with the two irregular Central Bank Bond Issues; Looking the otherway whilst Indian Fishermen carry on with their illegal fishing practices in Sri Lankan waters and many many other corrupt actions by the new regime under Sirisena/Ranil/Chandrika/Sampanthan. IMF must be happy that Sri Lanka will have to come to them with a begging bowl and listen to their dictates, unless a way is found to reverse all the above mentioned acts, starting with the recovery of moneys lost from the Central Bank scandal and punishing those involved and those now trying to whitewash it.

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