Editorial Courtesy The Island

Friday 10th January, 2020

The UNP is reported to have said it would take a decision on its MP Ranjan Ramanayake, popularly known as One Shot, over the phone scandal. It is trying to make a scapegoat of its political hit man, who has got into trouble. True, he has become a huge embarrassment to the UNP, but his leaders cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility for what he has done. It was not for his own sake that he interfered with the police and the judiciary; he did so for his party.

The UNP grandees must be descendants of Harry Houdini; they are quite adept at escape acts. Those who masterminded the bond scams have gone scot free to all intents and purposes. Only some minions have got caught for the biggest ever financial crime in this country. There were extremely difficult tasks that they could not accomplish under their own steam, such as making the state-owned banks lend billions of rupees, at short notice. They received political backing. They were also not equal to the task of manipulating the Central Bank and preventing the state banks and the EPF from bidding so that there would be no competition; not even the then Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran would have been able to do so without political help.

That the yahapalana government was interfering with the police became evident in Dec. 2016, when IGP Pujitha Jayasundera was shown, on television, receiving a call from someone, during a public function in Ratnapura; he was subsequently heard giving an assurance to the caller in a very reverential tone that a certain suspect would not be arrested. The then Opposition vehemently protested, in Parliament, demanding a probe, but in vain. Now, it is up to the CID to find out who called the IGP. Was it Ramanayake?

Under the previous government, there were a number of instances where some court houses were kept open until midnight for prominent members of the Rajapaksa regime to be remanded. Was it due to political interference?

Former CID Director Shani Abeysekera has been interdicted on the basis of leaked voice clips. All others including judicial officers who have discussed with Ramanayake matters pertaining to cases being heard before them must not be spared. Last year, Solicitor General Dilrukshi Wickramasinghe was interdicted over a telephone conversation she had had with Avant-Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadipathi over a case she handled as the Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption. She is heard, in a previously leaked voice clip, regretting action taken against Avant-Garde and boasting that she can make or break laws. We don’t know whether those who are in higher positions than she have done likewise under pressure from Ramanayake and his bosses. Interestingly, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has released nine voice clips, whose content incriminates some top officials including a former Prime Minister. Malaysia has handpicked the right persons with backbones for its anti-graft commission.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka Kalinga Indatissa and his predecessor U. R. De Silva have said the onus is on Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuirya to order a probe into Ramanayake’s phone recordings involving sitting judges. A thorough investigation is called for; Ramanayake may have influenced some other judges as well. Action has to be taken to prevent a severe erosion of public faith in the judiciary.

It must also be found out whether Ramanayake meddled with the Attorney General’s Department as well. For a person who calls judges directly, influencing the AG’s Department officials is child’s play.

It is an insult to the people’s intelligence for anyone to claim that Ranjan influenced the police and the judiciary, unbeknownst to the yahapalana leaders. He is a political dwarf in spite of his gym-toned torso and would not have been able to gain access to high ranking police officers and judges, on his own. He was able to do so as a representative of the then government. He obviously did that regime’s dirty work. From the conversations in some of the audio clips it is clear that he had the blessing of his political bosses for doing what he did. All of them must be held responsible for Ramanayake’s dirty work.