මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස් වත්කම් බැරකම් නීතිය
Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya collected candidates’ asset declarations with zeal, Ivan argues, only to lock them away, telling Ravaya that the public needs a court order to see them. The 1988 amendment to the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law gives anyone the right to certified copies for a fee. Ivan recounts how he first saw Lalith Athulathmudali’s declaration, the People’s Alliance’s broken 1994 pledge to publish ministers’ assets, the Speaker who complied and the President’s office that did not, and reproduces a 2005 letter from Deshapriya’s predecessor sending him six declarations — disproving the claim that there is no precedent.
රාවය කර්තෘගෙන් අගවිනිසුරුට එරෙහිව කථානායකට පැමිණිල්ලක්
A formal complaint to Speaker Joseph Michael Perera asking Parliament to investigate Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva’s association with Rohana Kumara, a fraudster and suspect in the Peradeniya gardens murder of Ranjith Bandara Wijekoon. It details Kumara’s record, his role at the judges’ training institute, minute-by-minute phone records linking him to the gunman and to the Chief Justice’s residence, the property dispute behind the killing, forged fundamental rights petitions, and exhibits.
කුමාර් පොන්නම්බලම් ඝාතනය
An investigative dossier on the January 2000 killing of Kumar Ponnambalam. It sets out a timeline linking the killing to the President’s televised attack on critics, and reports Mrs Ponnambalam’s accusation against the government and CID chief Bandula Wickremasinghe’s secret report naming Mahen Ratwatte as instigator. It reproduces the President’s two condolence letters (one wrongly dated), suspect Sugath Ranasinghe’s affidavit clearing Mahen Ratwatte, a lawyer’s letter for Ratwatte, and a transcript of Ranasinghe’s taped phone confession.
ජනාධිපති ලේකම්ට පිළිතුරක්
An open letter to Kusumsiri Balapatabendi answering his statement that private media were running a campaign linking the President and her security division to murders. Ivan lists attacks on Lasantha Wickrematunge and himself, the President’s own claim to have stopped a plot to kill two editors, S.B. Dissanayake’s account of her plan to bomb Ravaya and the Sunday Leader, and evidence linking presidential security men to the killings of Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam and the assault on Rookantha and Chandraleka, and offers to join an impartial inquiry.
එජාප ආණ්ඩුවක් යටතේ රාවය ක්රියාකරන්නට යන්නේ කෙසේද?
Ivan sets out Ravaya’s stance after the change of government. He rejects the claim that the paper makes and unmakes governments, explains why it backed the SLFP before 1994 and turned against Chandrika Kumaratunga after the 1997 and Wayamba election violence, and states its positions on the UNP government, the People’s Alliance, whose ruling clique he names, and the JVP. He also contests a Press Council ruling he says Mangala Samaraweera and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe engineered.
මල්වත්ත ඝාතනය රෝහණ කුමාර හා අගවිනිසුරු
The report details the arrest of Rohana Kumara, fourth suspect in the February 2001 shooting of businessman Ranjith Bandara Wijekoon at the Peradeniya botanical gardens, and his alleged ties to Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva. It cites phone records, his use of a Justice Ministry vehicle, his role at the judges’ training centre and his claim to have hidden on the Chief Justice’s advice. It also recounts an attempted bribe of a Mirihana police officer and forged signatures on fundamental rights petitions.
Disregard for the law
Under section 16 of the Presidential Elections Act, only the candidate, the person who nominates him and one other may come to the place where the Commissioner receives nominations. What happened at this nomination, and who was standing where, is the subject of the column.