{"id":43983,"date":"2015-05-20T07:51:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T13:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=43983"},"modified":"2015-05-19T02:32:44","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T09:32:44","slug":"ranils-gestapo-police-exposed-in-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/05\/20\/ranils-gestapo-police-exposed-in-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranil\u2019s Gestapo Police\u00a0 exposed\u00a0 in Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

President\u2019s Counsel, Romesh de\u00a0 Silva\u2019s brilliant analysis of the politically manipulated Police unit investigating financial crimes confirms that the My-3 regime\u201d\u00a0 has created an illegal arm of the Police \u00a0to pervert justice. His submission to the Supreme Court, has unerringly alerted the public to the Gestapo role of the\u00a0 Financial Crimes Investigation Department (FCID) \u2013 the newly established Police arm of the National Executive Council (NEC) which blindly follows the orders issued by the Prime Minister without any checks to restrain his arbitrary and politically motivated decisions taken against his opponents. Counsel Romesh de Silva\u2019s meticulous description of the FCID debunks the inflated claims on which Yahapalanaya\u00a0 was marketed to the people on January 8th<\/sup> , 2015. His revelations blasts the political myths of the Yahapalanaya (good governance).<\/p>\n

For instance, the FCID is empowered to summon individuals and remand them on politically motivated charges. This Police unit uses flimsy, untested evidence to remand mainly those\u00a0 in the opposition. Detailing the anti-democratic characteristics of the FCID that threaten liberty and fundamental rights, Romesh de Silva told the Courts that (a) \u00a0already ten people who were summoned by the FCID have been arrested; (b) the FCID was created by a Cabinet decision on\u00a0 January\u00a0 15, 2015 (c) the Cabinet had no legal powers to decide on setting up a new police division (d) the Gazette notification, which contained only four paragraphs, was illegal and\u00a0 was politically motivated from the inception (e) the IGP could not transfer his powers to the Cabinet of Ministers to establish another arm of the Police to investigate and arrest people (f) an instrumentality like the FCID, which is ultra vires, could not arrest people. (g) the investigations were carried outside the available police powers and (h) this\u00a0 unit is headed by the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also a Vice President of the International Democratic Union committed to uphold the highest liberal democratic traditions and fundamental freedoms.<\/p>\n

Counsel Romesh de Silva revealed this in defending Gotabaya Rajapakse who had been summoned by the FCID with the\u00a0 hidden agenda of\u00a0 arresting him.. He told the Supreme Court :<\/strong> The Cabinet Spokesman had recently said that the National Executive Committee had directed the Financial Crimes Investigation Division to arrest the petitioner on an alleged false accusation. The Cabinet Spokesman’s statement had been published in ‘Dinamina’. It had not been denied. The gazette which created the FCID was ultra vires. Everything that flew from that Gazette was ultra vires. The gazette was politically motivated. The gazette enabled a police division to investigate crimes subject to cabinet decision. Hence, a new police division was set up subject to cabinet supervision. Only the IGP was empowered to investigate crimes. He could not be subjected to Cabinet decisions. (The Island<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 13\/5\/2015).<\/p>\n

The inescapable conclusion arising\u00a0 from putting Counsel Romesh de Silva\u2019s statements together, points to the fact that Wickremesinghe has set up an illegal police arm to victimize his political opponents. People who are summoned by the FCID seldom go home. Of the many complaints received, it is Wickremesinghe\u2019s NEC that picks and chooses the allegations that are sent to FCID for\u00a0 investigation. Some of the allegations picked up by the NEC for the FCID to investigate are based on anonymous letters. Example:<\/strong> the allegation that Marriot Hotel in Dubai, is owned by President Mahinda Rajapakse, which has been flatly denied by the ex-President, was based on an anonymous letter. Looking for evidence to substantiate this allegation, like the allegation that the Rajapakse regime has stashed away 18 billion in offshore havens, is not like looking for a needle in a haystack. It\u00a0 is so huge that it would not be difficult to find the evidence, if true. In the absence of hard evidence Wickremesinghe\u2019s FCID pursues allegations, picked from here, there and everywhere, to blacken the image of\u00a0 his political opponents.<\/p>\n

FCID is a part of the Wickremesinghe\u2019s propaganda machinery to create\u00a0 headlines, partly to denigrate the image of\u00a0 the Rajapakse, partly\u00a0 to boost the image of Wickremesinghe\u2019s failed politics and partly to create a climate of fear. He failed in delivering\u00a0 the promised\u00a0 nirvana in 100-days. So he\u00a0 generates headlines against his opponents by sending them to remand through an illegal\u00a0 arm\u00a0 of the Police which has no powers to arrest\u00a0 people.<\/p>\n

So far the anti-Rajapakse\u00a0 headlines manufactured by\u00a0 Wickremesinghe\u2019s propaganda\u00a0 machine, have been humongous. But the facts are scarce.\u00a0 Can justice be delivered on monstrous propaganda? The entire rationale\u00a0 on which Yahapalanaya was marketed to the people was that\u00a0 it\u00a0 would\u00a0 make a difference\u201d. The difference\u201d promised was rule of law. But\u00a0 how can there be rule\u00a0 of law when its Gestapo police is engaged 24\/7 to pursue its political\u00a0 opponents on hearsay? Has rule of law become the rule of Wickremesinghe, with Wickremesinghe turning into a wild witch-hunter? Why is NEC picking only those allegations that are considered favourable for the retention and\u00a0 extension of Wickremesinghe\u2019s power?<\/p>\n

To arm an overarching political body like the NEC with a handpicked police team, operating outside\u00a0 the law, is a serious threat to the fundamental freedoms of all citizens. The fact that it is headed\u00a0 by the Prime Minister makes it more sinister. It also means that a Cabinet sub-committee headed by Wickremesinghe has grabbed Police\u00a0 powers which can be exercised only by the IGP. But\u00a0 through FCID Wickremesinghe is acting both as the Prime Minister and the IGP simultaneously. Under what principle of Yahapalanaya can the Prime Minister run an arm of the Police, established outside the legal framework of the Police force, to hunt and remand political opponents?<\/p>\n

The FCID goes into action expeditiously, summoning members of the opposition and remanding them, shortly after the allegations are handed over by Wickremesinghe\u2019s Cabinet Sub-Committee. This instrumentality is reminiscent of the Star Chamber \u2013 a medieval instrument\u00a0 of political oppression\u00a0 and suppression used by ruling royalty to silence dissenters. In the\u00a0 medieval period, when Europe plunged into\u00a0 the Dark Age, the Star Chamber developed into a law enforcement authority with powers to deal with the socially and politically powerful who could not be convicted by the lower courts. Counsel Romesh de Silva\u2019s detailed\u00a0 description\u00a0 of the NEC brings to mind the\u00a0 time when\u00a0 the notorious Star Chamber abused\u00a0 power to retain power. The NEC has engaged in similar exercises of handing over selected political opponents to the FCID who are then summoned for questioning and sent arbitrarily\u00a0 to the remand prison on flimsy evidence without due process.<\/p>\n

To counter this, it is\u00a0 likely that the pro-Wickremesinghe kalliya<\/em><\/strong> will argue that the Rajapakse government too committed similar violations of the law. But that is to argue that two wrongs can\u00a0 make a right. Besides, the January 8th<\/sup> mandate for good governance was to uphold the\u00a0 rule of law and not\u00a0 to establish an illegal arm of\u00a0 the law to enforce Wickremesinghe\u2019s law. The primary criterion on which Wickremesinghe\u2019s FCID should be judged is the\u00a0 solemn promise given by President Maithripala Sirisena that rule of law will prevail in dispensing justice. The valid answer to this issue is not to point a finger at the Rajapakses to divert attention from Wickremesinghe\u2019s perverse politics but to explain how and why the mandate of the people to establish a Yahapalanaya\u201d (good governance) is\u00a0 being violated so aggressively and contemptuously by Wickremesinghe. The silent endorsement of President Sirisena who religiously promised not to do\u00a0 what\u00a0 the Rajapakses did makes him also a partner in the crime of establishing an illegal arm of the police to pursue\u00a0 political opponents. Is this the best that Sadhu Sirisena\u2019s political nirvana can offer\u00a0 the people who voted for him?<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the Supreme Court intervened and stopped Wickremesinghe\u2019s attempt to arrest Gotabhaya Rajapakse. This frustrated Wickremesinghe\u2019s plan to project the pretentious image that he is Mr. Clean running a squeaky clean administration. But nothing\u00a0 that he does can wipe out the mega-million scandal of his prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Arjuna Mahendra. Putting\u00a0 the Rajapakses behind bars\u00a0 is not going to make him look clean. He\u00a0 will be judge by his own performance which has been so far to protect the James Bond of Singapore\u201d who is responsible for the biggest financial scandal in\u00a0 the history of the Central Bank. Wickremesinghe\u2019s current political tactic is to cover-up his sins by rounding up the Rajapakses and their allies and handing them over to the FCID. The My-3\u201d regime won on Janaury 8th<\/sup> by demonizing the Rajapakses. He\u00a0 is now forced to survive by demonizing them further. But\u00a0 to do that he has to clean his stables before he goes to the next election coming round\u00a0 the corner. This is not going to be easy given the short deadline for election. Besides, he has exhausted his\u00a0 slogans and goodies he\u00a0 could offer to the electorate to create the feel-good effect for him to win.\u00a0 So he uses an\u00a0 illegal instrument, which doesn\u2019t have police powers, to send his political opponents to jail and immobilize them, hoping to capitalize on the negative publicity diffused by jailing his opponents. .<\/p>\n

He also needs these anti-Rajapakse headlines\u00a0 to cover-up monumental blunders of importing\u00a0 Arjuna Mahendra, a foreigner from Singapore, to head the Central Bank, and R. Paskaralingam, another foreigner from UK, to run the Treasury. Paskaralingam is another relic of\u00a0 Wickremesinghe\u2019s failed past who had left a bad taste in the\u00a0 mouths of local financial\u00a0 circles\u00a0 before\u00a0 he fled to UK when Wickremesinghe was thrown out by Chandrika Kumaratunga. Though Wickremesinghe is putting up a brave front he\u00a0 has no leg to stand on. He is batting defensively on his back foot, withdrawn into a damage control mode. \u00a0The bond scandal of the Central Bank is something that he cannot live down. His\u00a0 first biggest blunder was his infamous CFA signed with Prabhakaran in 2002. His second is the recruitment of Arjuna Mahendra who has claimed close relationship, from childhood, with Raja Rajaratnam, now behind bars in New York for insider trading. Not all the waters of the\u00a0 Indian Ocean can wash his guilt\u00a0 away.<\/p>\n

There is no one else to blame except Wickremesinghe\u00a0 for putting himself\u00a0 and the nation\u00a0 in this financial mess. Having painted himself into a corner, Wickremesinghe is now\u00a0 stuck, not knowing how to get out of the mess created by his own folly. On top of\u00a0 this he now\u00a0 faced with a severe blow from the Supreme Court which had intervened to\u00a0 prevent his Gestapo\u00a0 Police from arresting Gotabaya Rajapakse. It\u00a0 is a big\u00a0 blow\u00a0 to his\u00a0 ego and to the assumed\u00a0 power of his democratic junta\u201d. This description\u00a0 of his rule, where a minority rules the majority in the\u00a0 Parliament, was, no doubt, a Freudian slip. But\u00a0 like all Freudian slips it \u00a0reflects the hidden intentions buried deep\u00a0 in the psyche. If push comes\u00a0 to shove Wickremesinghe will not\u00a0 be\u00a0 unwilling to run a junta\u201d like the way he ran his Party.<\/p>\n

He has\u00a0 survived in his\u00a0 party by fixing the UNP constitution to keep him in power with the Executive Committee stacked up to the rafters of Siri Kotha with his catchers\u201d.\u00a0 Since he doesn\u2019t have the numbers in Parliament he is moving\u00a0 heaven and earth to use the NEC and the FCID as tools to survive in\u00a0 the prime ministerial seat. His past\u00a0 experiences of being thrown out of the prime ministerial seat has made him a nervous\u00a0fascist bent\u00a0 on hanging\u00a0 on to power at any cost. He\u00a0 is an insecure man who is not sure\u00a0 of\u00a0 his\u00a0 tomorrows. Despite\u00a0 his bravado he\u00a0 is not\u00a0 sure of\u00a0 winning the requisite numbers in the next election to be confirmed as the next prime minister. The only alternative available\u00a0 to him is\u00a0 step out\u00a0 of the constitution to establish instrumentalities that will strengthen his grip on power. He is obsessed with running his\u00a0 democratic junta\u201d with\u00a0 him\u00a0 as its benevolent and\u00a0 popular Fuehrer. He has labeled it as the National Government\u201d which is another politically convenient label to keep him going as the Prime Minister without a majority to sustain him \u00a0in Parliament.<\/p>\n

This is why the Supreme Court\u00a0 decision has\u00a0 unnerved him. The Supreme Court decision to cut down his arrogant powers was an unexpected blow. This is\u00a0 hurting him\u00a0 most\u00a0 and he\u00a0 is reacting like a wounded bull.<\/p>\n

His knee-jerk reaction is to go over the heads of the Supreme Court and appeal to judges of the Commonwealth.\u00a0 This reflects his power-crazy mentality. Unfortunately for him, he has been shot down not only by the Supreme Court but also by the\u00a0 Commissioner of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission Dr.\u00a0Prathiba Mahanamahewa.\u00a0 Confirming the authoritarian character of Wickremesinghe, Dr. Mahanamahewa states: “Looking at these developments, we cannot imagine what would have happened had the 19th\u00a0Amendment vested all the powers of the Presidency on the Prime Minister.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Mahanamhewa has hit\u00a0 the nail on the head. The overall plan and argument for the constitutional reform was to hand over presidential powers to the prime minister\u00a0 in parliament to prevent corruption, abuse of power, and authoritarianism. By his own example Wickremesinghe has proved that power vested in the hands of the prime minister in parliament can be worse than the power\u00a0 vested in the president who stands outside the parliament. His appointments of Arjuna Mahnedra and R. Paskaralingam are two glaring examples of Prime Minister abusing his\u00a0 powers to appoint \u00a0his henchmen in key places without any benefits to the nation.<\/p>\n

Besides, the illegal agreement he signed with Prabhakaran, without informing the Cabinet, the President, parliament or\u00a0 the people in 2002 and the appointment of Arjuna Mahendra, who has proved to be the destructive Prabhakaran of the financial market, confirms that Wickremesinghe cannot be trusted with power. In\u00a0 both instances he has betrayed \u00a0the vital interest of the nation. This also reveals his contempt for anything Sri Lankan. He\u00a0 prefers Mahendran from Singapore and Paskaralingam from UK to local talent who can do a better job in protecting the interest of the nation. Neither of these importees have shown a loyalty to the national interests. They are in it to either feather their own nests or that of using\u00a0 the GOSL bases to promote pro-separatist\u00a0 agenda. Neither of these officials have backed Sri Lanka in foreign or local fora. But they are allied to agents in pro-separatist \/ LTTE outfits. For instance, Arjuna Mahendra, has openly admitted that Raja Rajaratnam, the insider trader jailed in New York, were childhood mates.<\/p>\n

The conduct\u00a0 of Wickremesinghe in running\u00a0 the FCID and\u00a0 the serious \u00a0threats to fundamental freedoms that flow from his arbitrary and\u00a0 politically motivated action demand that the Gestapo police acting under Wickremesinghe should be dismantled\u00a0 forthwith. \u00a0There is no place for such an instrumentality in any democratic administration, let alone Yahapalanaya. Parliament should take immediate action to curtail the powers of Wickremesinghe who, in the first place, have no right to arrogate anti-people, anti-democratic powers. The basic principles enunciated in the agenda of the Yahapalanaya backs the Parliament and not Wickremesinghe. If Parliament fails to teach \u00a0Wickremesinghe the basic principles enshrined in Yahapalanaya it will be as\u00a0 guilty as Wickremesinghe in betraying the fundamental rights\u00a0 of the people.<\/p>\n

Prime Ministers and Presidents generally tend to consolidate their\u00a0 own anti-people powers. \u00a0It\u00a0 is up to the Parliament to stand up for the rights of the people. Parliament must act now before Wickremesinghe can play havoc with his powers like the way he handed over powers to the other fascist dictator, Velupillai Prabhakaran, in 2002.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala President\u2019s Counsel, Romesh de\u00a0 Silva\u2019s brilliant analysis of the politically manipulated Police unit investigating financial crimes confirms that the My-3 regime\u201d\u00a0 has created an illegal arm of the Police \u00a0to pervert justice. His submission to the Supreme Court, has unerringly alerted the public to the Gestapo role of the\u00a0 Financial Crimes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}