The debate that has arisen in the JVP is crucial. The series of articles by Nandana Gunatilake that appeared in the Sunday Divaina, the speech made by Somawansa in April at the rally commemorating the dead in the 1971 uprising, Weerawansa’s reply in parliament to Somawansa’s speech, and Somawansa’s brief response at the news conference, etc may be considered the important sources of this debate.
The leaders of the JVP portrayed themselves and the party as the cleanest , the most disciplined and an entirely guiltless political party in the country. It was said to be the only party which had MPs unblemished by corruption. It was said to be the party with MPs who conducted themselves with a high sense of morality, and a party unsullied by drunkenness and adultery. It was also said to be the party with no internal splits and where internal democracy prevailed.
However, what is heard in the speeches of the core leaders of that party conveys something totally different. It is a party where a system prevails that ‘beheads’ people by soft means. It is a party that is as corrupt as the others. The MPs of that party consume liquor in secret. They commit adultery. It is not a united party but a party split into pieces by envy, hatred and malice. It is not a party where internal democracy prevails but one where dictatorship reigns.
In the emotional speech he made in parliament Wimal Weerawansa compared the party to the Temple of the Truth. In other words, he believed the party to be something pure and sacred, that he considered the party to be an object worthy of veneration, he might have seen Rohana Wijeweera as a god. This cannot be considered an ailment peculiar to Wimal Weerwansa alone, but an ailment inherent in all the members of the party.
These evil characteristics of the JVP, which are inherent to it and carefully hidden from the public, were always there. These features were there long before the current leadership.
Allegations similar to those levelled by Somawansa against Weerawansa had been levelled against Wijeweera too. Allegations of womaising against the founder leader of the JV late Rohana Wijeweera were made by some members of the politburo party.
Like the LTTE, the JVP too is a party that collects funds for the party from businessmen. The LTTE collects money from businessmen by threatening them with death. The JVP does the same by threatening the businessmen with strikes in their factories. In the past decades there have been many example of this.
The JVP protested vehemently when controversial multi-millionaire businessman Harry Jayawardena bought the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation from the government during the regime of Ranil Wickremesinghe.The JVP said that, when the SLFP/JVP alliance come to power after the elections in 2004 the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation would be taken back by the government.
Believing in that promise the employees of the Insurance Corporation voted en masse for the JVP. An Alliance government which included the JVP did come to power after the 2004 election, but the JVP spoke not a word against that transaction. All that Harry Jayawardene did was to pay a large amount of money to the party.
The transmission tower of the JVP’s VFM radio is set up on the roof topper floor of the headquarters building of Hatton National Bank. Harry is the owner of Hatton National Bank. The monthly rent that the JVP should pay the Hatton National Bank for the space allocated for this under accepted rates is Rs. 1.6 million. Does the JVP pay Harry Jayawardena that sum? Or has be given that space as a concession? What has Somawansa to say about it? What has Weerawansa to say about it?
A fundamental rights petition challenging the privatisation of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, based on the corruption involved in that transaction, is currently being inquired into before the Supreme Court. The petitioner in the case is Vasudeva Nanayakkara. Although Vasudeva Nanayakkara is the petitioner, the instigator of the petition is chartered accountant Nihal Sri Amarasekara. For some time he was a prominent member of the Patriotic National Movement (Desha Hithaishee Jathika Vyaparaya).
It was not Vasudeva Nanayakkara but a prominent JVP MP who was to be the petitioner in this case. In the first instance he had given his consent to be the petitioner. However, at the last moment he backed out. Why? The party which protested vehemently during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government over the issue is today strangely quiet. This vicious practice was bequeathed to the party not by Somawansa or Weerawansa but by Wijeweera.
I once heard the following story from Yasasiri Kasthuriaratchi, the head of the Yasodha enterprise.
Yasasiri Kasthuriaratchi was a very close supporter of former President D.B. Wijetunga. During the time of the second insurrection of the JVP there were threats to him from the JVP. To protect himself he supported the JVP. He became a person trusted by JVP leaders. As D. B. Wijetunga was the Prime Minister then, JVP knew the position of importance that Yasasiri held. Gradually the JVP leaders became so close to Yasasiri that his residence became their favourite place for their central committee meetings. Wijeweera participated in some of those meetings and he became a friend of Yasasiri.
Once, Wijeweera had asked Yasasiri what problems he had as a businessman. By that time Yasasiri was involved with the wholesale importation of sugar, The business was dominated by the Borahs. The answer which Yasasiri gave Wijeweera was that the main threat to him(Yasasiri) came from foreign traders. Wijeweera questioned Yasasiri further on the matter and he (Yasasiri) gave him further information. According to Yasasiri, Wijeweera made a short note on the matter.
To Yasasiri’s surprise a JVP gunman had shot and killed a key Borah trader involved in the wholesale sugar import business a few days later. With that most of the others involved in that business fled the country. This was at the height of the JVP’s anti-India campaign.
With that Borah sugar traders out of the way Yasasiri dominated the business. He became very rich very quickly. He did not become rich due to the patronage of D.B. Wijetunga when he became President in 1992 as most people believe, but due to the patronage he received from JVP.
Ranjan Wijeratne who suspected that Yasasiri was dealing with the JVP, ordered the security forces to raid Yasasirri’s residence and conducted a thorough search. To Yasasiri’s misfortune, the security forces found there a short note written to Yasasiri by Wijeweera. Yasasiri was arrested immediately. Yasasiri survived due to prime minister D. B. Wijetunga’s intervention on his behalf.
It was also Wijeweera who introduced a system of selling the services of the party on a rental basis. At a time when there was a dispute between Iran and Iraq, Wijeweera obtained money from Iraq through a policy of supporting Iraq and opposing Iran. Iraq paid JVP money for its anti- Iran agitation and propaganda programme conducted in Sri Lanka.
It was with that money that a Peugeot 504 motor car for Wijeweera’s use and the other vehicles required by the party and the musical instruments required for the Vimukthi concert were purchased. Later Iraq wanted to get JVP to burn a ship which was to come to the Colombo harbour to carry tea to Iran, and for that job alone JVP obtained a payment of Rs. 4 million. It was after the party received that money that Wijeweera got tired of the Peugeot 504 and wanted a Peugeot 505.
According to a prominent JVPer at the time vas Gunaratne’s statement to the Criminal Investigation Department, when he pointed out that party members might raise questions if a new car was purchased , Wijeweera’s reply was that if the colour of the new car was the same as that of the old car, then the party members would not notice the difference. Thus when the party was receiving large amounts of money, a system also arose whereby that money was used improperly by the party leaders.
A part of the money received from Iraq was kept in the custody of several selected leaders of the party. The amount kept by Wijeweera was Rs. 600,000/-. A sum of Rs. 500,000/- was left in Somawansa Amarasinghe’s sister’s house for safe keeping. Another sum of Rs. 125,000/- was left in Shantha Bandara’s house for safe keeping.
A greater part of those monies were later found to have disappeared. 165,000 rupees out of the Rs. 500,000/- kept with Somawana was never accounted for. The 125,000/-kept in Shantha Bandara’s home had also disappeared. The Rs. 600,000/- which Wijeweera had kept with himself had also disappeared. His excuse was that Rs. 100,000/- was given to Kusumsiri of Moratuwa and the balance sum of Rs. 500,000/- was given to Dilan of Pavilion Hotel, Kandy, and that Dilan had invested it in businesses.
When this information was published earlier, a person telephoned me from Paris and said that Dilan of Pavilian Hotel was now living with him (the caller), and that Dilan was not a thief. He speculated that Wijeweera may have spent the money and was dragging Dilan’s name to hide this fact. Somawansa Amarasinghe to this day has not explained what happened to the Rs. 195,000/- of the monies left in his sister’s home for safekeeping.