Land of deal-makers

Never a dull moment in this land called paradise. Move over sugar scam, garlic scam, bond scam, petroleum scam; we have a new scam ‘star’ – the X-Press Pearl fiasco on the horizon. Whether this scam would also end up like the others where no action has been taken remains to be seen.

Last month, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe named Chamera Gunasekera as an individual who has allegedly received a bribe of US$250 million to cover up the probe on the X-Press Pearl maritime disaster and asked the authorities to probe his allegation. Who is this individual?

The revelation sent the media scrambling for details as the claim didn’t have much detail. This is the second international scandal of a foreign currency bribe being paid to a

Sri Lankan. In February 2020, Sri Lankan authorities ordered the arrest of the former CEO of the national carrier, SriLankan Airlines, and his wife after they were implicated in a US$2 million bribery scandal involving the purchase of Airbus planes.

Then Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera directed police to obtain an arrest warrant from court for former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena and his wife Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake for allegedly accepting bribes from French aircraft manufacturer Airbus over the sale of aircraft to the state-run carrier. When the case came before court, the duo who had been arrested earlier, were released on bail. That was three years ago; there has been no report on the case thereafter.

The X-Press Pearl bribery claim is one in a string of deals in Sri Lanka and for once is coming from a government minister itself. Sugar deals, bond deals, coal power deals, thermal power deals, garlic scam, dhal deals, numerous petroleum deals have been exposed by the media but there has been little or no probe on these scandals. Minister Rajapakshe who made the initial accusation with regard to the X-Press Pearl disaster seems to have backed off saying it’s now up to the authorities to investigate.

As I reflected on these issues, the phone rang. It was Arthika, my nonsensical economist friend also known as good-for-nothing Somey.

“What has happened to that bribe issue that Justice

Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe had on the X-Press Pearl disaster?” asked Somey.

“Nothing. It seems to have been swept under the carpet just like many other scams in Sri Lanka,” I said.

“I read recently that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also warned against dubious deals and called for accountability, governance and transparency in all transactions,” he said.

“The country has had some interesting taglines connected to tourism like ‘A land like no other’; ‘Sri Lanka; Wonder of Asia’; and now ‘So Sri Lanka’; which focus on Sri Lanka’s diverse product range. We should add ‘Land of Dealmakers’ as the latest tagline,” I said.

“Hmmm…….that’s interesting. The number of deals involving bribery and corruption has increased over the years but with little or no investigation. The culprits are happily collecting their ‘rewards’ while the country and its people have to pay for all these crimes,” he said.

“The bond scam and the sugar scam alone lost a couple of billions of rupees to the exchequer and if recovered could have been valuable tax revenue,” I said, winding up the conversation after a discussion on the government voting in Parliament to oust Janaka Ratnayake, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, for his struggle to reduce electricity rates of the consumer.

This is probably the second instance where an independent official was unceremoniously ousted by Parliament after former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was impeached in Parliament and removed by a vote several years ago.

Coming nearly to the end of today’s column, I was for a moment distracted by the conversation of the trio under the margosa tree which was on a different issue.

“Den elavalu mila adu wela wage lankawe (Vegetable prices seem to have reduced in Sri Lanka),” said Mabel Rasthiyadu.

“Eh nishpadanaya wedi wela thiyena hinda wage (That’s because production appears to have increased),” noted Serapina. “Habai thel mila thavama wedi (However fuel prices are still high,” said Kussi Amma Sera.

Some years ago a powerful Minister was labelled as “Mr. 10 per cent” for his penchant for allegedly being bribed for various government deals. Over the years, Ministers and officials have been accused of taking bribes for government contracts. In 2018, the Bribery Commission arrested then President Maithripala Sirisena’s chief of staff and another state official on suspicion of accepting a bribe. Officials of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) arrested I.H.K. Mahanama, the president’s chief of staff, and P. Dissanayake, the head of the State Timber Corporation (STC), the commission said. In December 2019, they were found guilty by a High Court and their appeal rejected by the Supreme Court. Both officials received jail terms, in a strong message to those accused of bribery and corruption.

The latest scandal is the smuggling of gold bars and mobile phones by parliamentarian Ali Sabri Raheem who was released after paying a fine to the Customs at the Katunayake Airport. The MP made a feeble claim that a colleague of his had packed his bag and that he was unaware of its contents.

Bribery and corruption across all governments – present and past – result in huge losses to the government in the form of tax revenue. For example, the sugar scam is said to have benefited one individual in gaining Rs. 5 billion when the tax was reduced to a mere 25 cents from Rs. 50 per kg to apparently favour this individual.

Billions of rupees have been lost to the state owing to these corrupt deals.

As I wound up my column, Kussi Amma Sera brought in my second mug of tea saying “another MP is in trouble today”, referring to the case of the Puttalam MP who was accused of smuggling gold bars. I nodded, reflecting on the fact that in Sri Lanka powerful politicians and officials go scot-free while the minions are the ones hauled up in court for maybe accepting a 50-rupee bribe. This is not to say that small bribes should be ignored but to stress the importance of equality before the law.