කටයුතු සිදුවෙමින් තිබෙන ආකාරය ඛේදජනකය
The CID found Rs 50 million in treasury bill certificates in one bank locker of a former powerful minister, reportedly holding Rs 1 billion in such securities, and earlier probed Rs 450 million linked to a former service chief. Questions also surround Rs 540 million allocated to a rubber company project on the President’s cabinet paper, whose chairman is her close associate. The editorial rejects her claim of immunity from inquiry and urges the government to enforce the law against large-scale plunder.
අගවිනිසුරුගේ ඊළග රංගනය
The government thinks it can find the votes to curb the President’s power to dissolve Parliament, but Ivan notes she controls the urgent-bill route and the Chief Justice decides constitutionality. Sarath N. Silva may protect her as before or switch to the new rulers, and either choice harms the country; he criticises the justice minister’s wish to use the Chief Justice as she did. A second section faults the Elections Commissioner and Auditor General for saying they cannot refer offenders to the Bribery Commission.
සහජීවනය කොයිබටද?
Ivan welcomes talk of cohabitation between the President and the Prime Minister but says it must rest on principles. The 1978 Constitution breeds conflict when power is divided, the President has refused to respect the new mandate, and the UNP still covets the presidency. He rejects the idea of forgetting her alleged killings, PSD violence and the vehicle purchases, and points to South Africa’s truth commission, which examined abuses by both sides.
ව්යවස්ථා සභාව කොයිබට ද?
Long after its appointment, the Constitutional Council has not set up a single independent commission. The editorial criticises its demand for immunity from fundamental rights suits, reminds it that it is publicly funded and exists to make key institutions independent, and says members should give up political roles, including acting as advisers to politicians, and that appointments to it should face public scrutiny.
අනාගැනීම
Ivan argues that Ranil Wickremesinghe wasted his mandate at its peak by not negotiating terms of cohabitation, letting the President keep her choice of IGP, ambassadors, governors and service chiefs. Now she asserts that no one may investigate her or dissolve Parliament but herself. He says the government cannot pursue her Rs 2,445 million vehicle spending while protecting Treasury Secretary Jayasundera, and that her offer to abolish the presidency entirely is a time-wasting trap.
ජනාධිපතිනියට රටේ රජකම දි නැත
A statement from the President’s spokesman said she had answered questions on the armoured vehicles and that no one may investigate her. Ivan replies that only a dictatorship works this way: used vehicles were bought at new prices and nearly Rs 2,500 million spent against a Rs 68 million allocation without parliamentary approval, an impeachable wrong. If the government does not act, he asks, is it keeping room to do the same?
අගවිනිසුරුට, ලෙනින් රත්නායකට එරෙහිව අල්ලස් කොමිසමට පැමිණිල්ලක්
In a formal complaint dated 30 July 2002, Ivan asks the Bribery Commission to investigate magistrate Lenin Ratnayake for concealing his dismissal from the Insurance Corporation for claims fraud when becoming a lawyer and magistrate, and Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva for abusing office to protect his relative: misleading the justice minister in a confidential report, suppressing the Supreme Court inquiry into himself, derailing prosecution through an illegal one-man inquiry and withholding the three-judge committee’s findings. Numbered exhibits are listed.
Media Reform
An interview with Ravaya editor Victor Ivan on media reform: the campaign to abolish criminal defamation, the proposed Freedom of Information Act, plans for a Media Training Institute, and his argument that Sri Lankan journalism has acted as a creator of disputes rather than an arbitrator of them.
අල්ලස් කොමිසම ඉදිරියේ දහසක් මල් පිපීම
Government and opposition are now filing rival corruption complaints with the Bribery Commission, which the editorial sees as a chance to force it to look at the top of the power pyramid. It urges commissioners to publish their own asset declarations, to treat the editorial itself as a complaint and call for the declarations of everyone from the President down, to act on the Auditor General’s findings, and to start with the President’s Rs 2,400 million vehicle purchases against a Rs 63 million allocation.
නයි පොළගුන් සමග සෙල්ලමට යාම
Ivan likens Ranil Wickremesinghe to a snake charmer handling cobras whose fangs he has not drawn: pursuing the President and her associates slowly through inquiries while they still hold key posts. Further sections note that the committee under retired judge Ranjith Dheerasekera on local election malpractice has been starved of resources, mock the President’s reported threat to bite the Prime Minister’s neck, and warn that the honeymoon is ending, citing Harry Jayawardena’s appointment to the Securities and Exchange Commission.