{"id":49414,"date":"2015-11-14T20:46:44","date_gmt":"2015-11-15T02:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=49414"},"modified":"2015-11-14T13:39:33","modified_gmt":"2015-11-14T20:39:33","slug":"the-truth-about-avant-garde-according-to-tilak-marapana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/11\/14\/the-truth-about-avant-garde-according-to-tilak-marapana\/","title":{"rendered":"The truth about Avant Garde according to Tilak Marapana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Sunday Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Tilak Marapana, who resigned as Minister of Law, Order and Prison Reforms over a conflict of interest issue pertaining to the controversial business entity Avant Garde told his side of the story to Piyasena Dissanayake.\u00a0 The following are excerpts of the interview.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 There\u2019s considerable concern in the country about the operations of Avant Garde\u2026.<\/p>\n

A: First of all it must be mentioned that this is a company that is involvedin local and international operations legally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"article_image\"
\nTilak Marapana<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 What is the status of your relationship with Avant Garde?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 There is no relationship at present.\u00a0 I first met Nissanka Senadhipathi, Chairman of Avant Garde, way back in 1993.\u00a0 He was at the time a member of the security staff of President D B Wijetunga.\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t meet him or speak with him after that until very recently.\u00a0 In fact I was not even aware of his association with Avant Garde.\u00a0 It was only in the last week of January this year that I met him.\u00a0 He came to see me along with a lawyer.\u00a0 This was at a time when stories about arms deals and Avant Garde were splashed all over newspapers.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 What made him come to see you?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 Around that time there were all kinds of stories in the media to the effect that Avant Garde ships were being raided in search of illegal weapons which were being illegally used.\u00a0 He told me that the Government was taking steps to freeze his bank accounts and that if this was done it would cause a lot of problem to thousands who were employed by him.\u00a0 He also said that would create problems for the country.\u00a0 He sought legal advice from me that could out a stop to all this.<\/p>\n

He also said that he had held four rounds of talks with the Nigerian Government, along with officials of the Defence and Foreign Ministries.\u00a0 Talks had centred around four key issues: 1.Obtaining vessels for the Sri Lanka Navy from the Nigerian Navy, 2. Servicing ships owned by the Nigerian Navy, 3. Training for Naval staff in Nigeria, and 4. Deploying military experts of Sri Lanka to train those in the Nigerian security forces.\u00a0\u00a0 An agreement related to the first of these was to be signed the following month, i.e. February 2015.\u00a0 Unfortunately, even by that time the raiding of Avant Garde ships had begun and Mr Senadhipathi\u2019s passport had been impounded by the court.\u00a0\u00a0 He wanted me to take steps within the existing legal framework to enable the signing of the agreement.\u00a0 He gave me all documents relevant to the issue.\u00a0 Consequently I made representations to the Attorney General.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 So this means that Avant Garde retained your services to represent them legally?<\/p>\n

A: Yes.\u00a0 I gave them legal advice.\u00a0\u00a0 I was neither a minister nor a Member of Parliament at the time.\u00a0\u00a0 Mr Senadhipathi was one of many who sought my professional services.\u00a0 Consequent to my representations, Mr Senadhipathi was able to leave for Nigeria.\u00a0\u00a0 The second time when he wanted to go abroad there were other issues that came up.\u00a0 These too I sorted out.\u00a0 I never represented him in court.\u00a0 He heads many institutions and they have their own lawyers.\u00a0 All I did was offer him legal advice.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 It is alleged that you are still working as a legal advisor to Avant Garde.<\/p>\n

A: I reject all such allegations. I am no longer retained as a legal advisor by Avant Garde.<\/p>\n

Q: If that is the case why did you make a controversial statement regarding Avant Garde in Parliament during which you also referred to the Attorney-General?\u00a0 Whose interests were you serving?<\/p>\n

A: I did not serve anyone\u2019s interests.\u00a0 I only did my duty towards the people of this country.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Duty?<\/p>\n

A: The Attorney-General had stated that all arms in the possession of Avant Garde were legal and that as such it was not possible to prosecute Avant Garde for any wrongdoing.\u00a0\u00a0 I did justice to that statement.\u00a0 I also have a duty as a Member of Parliament and a minister to reveal the truth.\u00a0 This too I did.\u00a0 I had studied all the relevant documents.\u00a0\u00a0 It was armed with documented proof that I made the statement.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Well, you have been forced to resign.\u00a0 What do you have to say now?\u00a0 Are you disappointed?<\/p>\n

A: Not at all.\u00a0 I am absolutely happy that I was able to reveal the truth.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 You have claimed that the vessels contain arms that have been licensed by foreign governments.\u00a0 Does an ordinary citizen have the right to bring such arms to Sri Lanka?<\/p>\n

A: The arms were not brought to Sri Lanka.\u00a0 This was done in accordance to something called the Bonded Warehouse System.\u00a0\u00a0 The Ministry of Defence has given the green light for the vessel to come to Sri Lanka.\u00a0 All this was done in accordance to the regulations that govern ports.\u00a0\u00a0 I have seen the relevant approvals.\u00a0 There are international laws pertaining to floating armouries.\u00a0\u00a0 There are special UN regulations that cover such things.\u00a0 The general public is unaware of this.\u00a0 That\u2019s why there\u2019s a controversy.<\/p>\n

Q: Several ministers claimed that there were illegal weapons in the Avant Garde vessels.\u00a0 Are you saying that they lied?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 All such allegations were reduced to the state of falsehoods and rumour subsequent to the Attorney-General\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 If as you say there was nothing illegal, doesn\u2019t the Government have to take the responsibility for all the harm done?<\/p>\n

A: The Government did not take legal action following the observations of the Attorney-General.\u00a0\u00a0 There were of course those who alleged that the Attorney-General had been bribed.\u00a0 Some of them are from our side, this is true.\u00a0\u00a0 We promised the people that we would investigate large scale financial crimes.\u00a0 I think it is silly to put all that on hold and go after Avant Garde where allegations cannot be substantiated.<\/p>\n

Q: Can the Government disregard the observations of the Attorney-General?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 A wise Government would accept the Attorney-General\u2019s opinion.\u00a0 An unwise Government would not.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Did you resign because of these allegations?<\/p>\n

A: I am not scared of allegations.\u00a0\u00a0 Some people are calling for a fresh investigation.\u00a0 Some of them believe that as the minister under whom the Police Department comes I would sweep such an investigation under the carpet.\u00a0 \u00a0I resigned so that there\u2019s no room left for such suspicion.\u00a0\u00a0 Now they should conduct a proper investigation.<\/p>\n

Q: Your own party members called for your resignation.\u00a0 What do you have to say?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 It is unfortunate and disappointing certainly.\u00a0\u00a0 But now they can proceed with investigations without harbouring any doubts.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 What would you do if Avant Garde solicits your services at a future date?<\/p>\n

A: I would refuse since someone could say that as the former minister I could compromise such an investigation.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 You were once retained by Avant Garde.\u00a0\u00a0 If it was alleged that as a minister you were looking after the interests of the company, it would be hard to counter, wouldn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

A: I was retained by Avant Garde a long time ago.\u00a0 At the time I was appointed minister, I was no longer representing Avant Garde.\u00a0 I have never used ministerial powers to make unnecessary interventions.\u00a0 I only took policy decisions but never got involved in cases.<\/p>\n

Q: What are your plans for the immediate future?<\/p>\n

A: I haven\u2019t decided yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Sunday Island Tilak Marapana, who resigned as Minister of Law, Order and Prison Reforms over a conflict of interest issue pertaining to the controversial business entity Avant Garde told his side of the story to Piyasena Dissanayake.\u00a0 The following are excerpts of the interview. Q:\u00a0 There\u2019s considerable concern in the country about the operations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49414","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=49414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}