Where did the Bribery & Corruption Commission Go Wrong?
Responding to the removal of the Bribery Commission’s Director General Piyasena Ranasinghe, Ivan argues the Commission was already a failed institution. He cites its handling of Mangala Samaraweera’s credit cards and the Public Trustee inquiry, retired judges as commissioners, the lack of any oversight, and the career of Rienzie Arsakularatne, and proposes a body to inspect the Commission itself.
රෝමය ගිනි ගනිද්දි නීරෝ වීණා වාදනය කළා සේ, රටට ඉතිරි වී ඇත්තේ ද වීණා වාදනය පමණය
Like it or not, the Sri Lankan state is close to complete collapse, and what can be done depends on understanding why. Ivan works through examples of institutional failure, adding the Chief Justice, the Public Trustee and the Commissioner of Registration of Persons to cases already discussed, to show that every arm of the state is breaking down.
“දි කිරට කියන බළල් සාක්ෂියක්”: අගවිනිසුරු සහ “දිවයින”
The Sunday Divaina ran a full-page interview with the Chief Justice, conducted by a writer who had earlier defended the Public Trustee. The piece asks why the interview appeared while an estate case involving the paper’s owners was pending before a bench on which the Chief Justice always sat, and whether a judge may use a litigant’s newspaper as his shield.
මහා භාරකාරතුමෙනි ඉතින් ආයුබෝවන්
Ravaya called the Public Trustee, Sarath Seneviratne, a first-rate crook for more than six years and gave the evidence. Ivan explains why so many who claimed to defend Buddhism shielded him, how politically important cases are steered to hand-picked benches, and closes on a Supreme Court ruling that a monk MP could not be expelled because he was not a party member.
ලොකු බණ්ඩාර න්යාය
Justice Minister W.J.M. Lokubandara has announced that a public officer facing bribery charges need not be suspended. The note shows that the Establishments Code says the opposite, and that the minister’s ‘doctrine’ was invented to protect the Public Trustee.
තිලංග හා මහාභාරකාරය
The Public Trustee, Sarath Seneviratne, is wanted by the Bribery Commission and in hiding, while Thilanga Sumathipala is on remand. The piece follows the sale of temple land, the protection both men enjoyed from the powerful, the President’s anger and why the government still has not removed Sumathipala from his posts.
මැඩම්ට ජයවේවා
A set of six short notes. The President, now in control of the police, applies the law to the sons of UNP ministers accused of assaulting relatives of Minister Kabir Hashim, which she never did in her own government; the ‘national heroes’ of the Soma Thera campaign now face bribery and criminal charges; the Elections Commissioner cannot even retire because the 17th Amendment commission has not been set up; the President challenges the Prime Minister over the peace process and defence; and the secret second swearing-in to extend her term.
සෝම හිමියන්ගේ අපවත්වීමට මුවාවී චෝදනාලාභී පුද්ගල තුන්කට්ටුවක් රට ගිනි තබයි
An investigation of the leaflet campaign that followed the death of Gangodawila Soma Thera, which claimed that Ravaya was funded by American churches to attack three ‘Buddhist leaders’: Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, the Public Trustee Sarath Seneviratne and Telecom chairman Thilanga Sumathipala. The piece traces who produced and paid for the leaflets and the ‘Bodu Handa’ newspaper, and argues that the aim was to inflame religious feeling to shield men facing corruption and criminal charges.
තක්කඩින් රකින පත්තර සදාචාරය හා මහා භාරකාරයා
Replying to a Divaina article that portrayed Public Trustee Sarath Seneviratne as a pious Buddhist targeted by a Christian conspiracy, the piece insists Ravaya is non-religious and recalls how Divaina and other media shielded Lenin Ratnayake and Wack Silva. It traces Seneviratne’s career from a judicial inquiry at Gampaha to the Bribery Commission and the Public Trustee’s office, and lists alleged abuses: four official vehicles with extravagant repair bills, payments to his daughters’ school, and a Rs. 1.9 million commission on trust funds.