Can Namal be the catalyst for a government defection?
Will Ranil amend the constitution to maintain Gota?
Will Finance committee pass Ranils domestic debt restructure plan?
These days, President Ranil Wickremesinghe is on an official visit to London and France. During the visit to London, the President met with the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Mrs. Patricia Scotland, to discuss, and the President’s Media Unit also officially released the news to the media. But the President also participated in several private meetings in London that were not made public by the Presidential Media Unit. A very special meeting was held with Subhashkaran Aliraja, a figure who is frequently discussed in Sri Lankan politics and the media these days. Alirajah is known these days as the main buyer of the hugely profitable Sri Lanka Telecom.
LYCA mobile
Alirajah is Sri Lankan by birth. Born in Jaffna, Aliraja later moved to London during the war. During that time, he was accused of having close connections with the LTTE. Many political parties accused that money he handle is of LTTE’s. However, after moving to London, Aliraja started a huge communication device business called ‘Lyca Mobile’. Later, Aliraja worked to expand the business to France. Then Aliraja infiltrated Tamil Nadu, joined the Tamil cinema industry, and invested a huge amount of money in it. Although Aliraja tried to invest in Sri Lanka on several occasions, he did not get a chance to do so due to the strong opposition from Sri Lankan politicians.
Ali Raja buys Jaffna kings
However, during the previous government, somehow Aliraja reached out to the business world of this country and was able to own the E.A.P. media network. Ali invested money but did not come to Sri Lanka. That is because of the opposition he received from the society. But Aliraja worked his way to enter Sri Lanka during former president Gotabaya Rajapakse’s tenure as the owner of ‘Jaffna kings’ cricket franchise owner in Lanka Premier league. Accordingly, Aliraja took steps to land in Jaffna for the first time. It had been reported that several intermediaries held discussions with Gota’s government at that time to organize this trip. However, after the Lanka Premier League, Aliraja became a figure who regularly visited Sri Lanka.
Aliraja & SLT deal
However, Aliraja’s name surfaced with telecom about two months ago. It is with the mention of the names of probable buyers of SLT. But even though Aliraja’s name came out two months ago, for the first time regarding Aliraja, we revealed to the country the so-called telecom deal in this ‘Inside Politics ‘ column at a time when no one even thought about it. Or to be precise, it was last March 26. There we said that during the time when a strongman of the government was on a visit to London, he had met and held discussions with Aliraja, and to organize that discussion, a strongman of this country had visited London with his close friend. The disclosure we made that day is as follows.
‘Another special announcement was issued by the government in the evening on the same day that Sri Lanka received the first loan installment of the International Monetary Fund. It was indicated that the government has decided to sell the shares of the government owned of seven government institutions. The seven organizations were Sri Lanka Telecom, Litro Gas, Sri Lankan Airlines and Sri Lankan Catering, Lanka Hospitals, Hilton Hotel, Grand Hyatt Hotel and Sri Lanka Insurance. However, the most special event seen here was the government’s decision to liquidate Sri Lanka Telecom, Sri Lanka Hospital and Sri Lanka Insurance, which are making huge profits.
Lanka Hospital Deal
However, this time we are preparing to reveal through the ‘Inside Politics ‘ column an extraordinary secret that no one knew until now. It is about how the foundation fell to sell Lanka Hospitals. Although the government issued an announcement last Thursday that this institution will be officially sold, the necessary environment and negotiations have started not just yesterday. The talks started six months ago, in September of last year in London. This time, in the ‘inside Politics ‘ section, we are going to reveal how these discussions started in London, who were the participants, and who is ready to buy Ceylon Hospital.
According to the information we have, it is none other than Subhashkaran Aliraja, a controversial Dravidian businessman of Sri Lankan origin, who is preparing to buy Sri Lanka Hospital. He is the owner of Lyca Mobile, a powerful businessman representing the Tamil diaspora.
Purchase of Swarnawahini
Subbashkaran Aliraja is not a new name to Sri Lankan. He became fame among SriLankan after his purchase of Suwarnawahini which was part of EAP net media network. This transaction was a very controversial one even surrounded with mysteries today.
As a result, as soon as former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa took office, a special committee was formed to investigate the allegations. The same committee investigated the related transaction and reported to the President. According to the report, there was serious fraud and violation of terms and conditions in the execution of this transaction. Following that, steps were taken to forward the report to the Attorney General’s Office. Later, the Attorney General’s Department forwarded it to the Central Bank after concluding that the Central Bank’s monetary regulations had been violated.
No action on the investigation report
But even today, no further action has been taken according to that report. The current president does not seem to be taking any action in this regard. However, it should be mentioned here that in the future we are ready to publish a controversial article with different starting points of this transaction.
This time we are revealing about the secret discussion held in London to buy the said Alirajama Lanka Hospital. A certain strong character and a super woman participated in it from the Sri Lankan side. This powerful character is still a VVIP who holds a high position of adviser in the government. Superwoman is also a famous woman who has relations with high-ranking politicians and millionaire businessmen. She is also known for playing the role of intermediary in billions of transactions. It is a fact known by many people in the industry that these two are ‘living together’ or living in the same house without marriage.
London discussion
Accordingly, these two left for London last September to discuss the deal related to Lanka Hospital with Alirajah. The meeting was organized by this woman herself. It was based on the close relationship between Aliraja and her. Accordingly, after her arrival in London, she first met Aliraja and this powerful adviser. During their time in London, these two stayed in VVIP hotels in the most luxurious hotel rooms.
VVIP involvement
They traveled in luxurious Rolls Royce cars. It was during this discussion with Aliraja that it came out for the first time that the government is planning to sell Lanka Hospital. It has been learned that after receiving a positive response from Aliraja, there was a special discussion about how to conduct the transaction and how to prepare the background for it. And on the same day, a high-ranking Sri Lankan delegation was visiting London, and the two have taken steps to organize a super meeting with them, according to ‘inside politics’ column.
Accordingly, many people are questioning whether the government is working to sell Ceylon Hospital as a result of the discussions held with Aliraja in London last September. Aliraja is ready to buy the shares after sending them to the Colombo Stock Exchange. Apart from the communication sector, which is currently Aliraja’s business sector, Aliraja is also ready to enter the hospital sector through this.
We have a lot of other extraordinary information and photos of this London discussion, and if Aliraja’s name comes to the fore in the future in the case of Telecom and Ceylon Hospital transactions, we plan to reveal all of them to confirm this story that we are revealing today.’
No one was interested
It is crystal clear how this disclosure we made on March 29 has now been confirmed. However, even though we made this unique discovery, neither the opposition nor anyone interested in this matter took steps to take this story forward. Nevertheless, only the former minister Mr. Wimal Weerawansa had taken steps to issue statements against Aliraja in front of the media at that time as well.
Parliament sectorial committee oppose
After that, the problem related to Aliraja came up during the sectoral committee on national security held in the parliament two weeks ago. There was a long discussion regarding the sale of telecom, and it was discussed in the committee that selling it to an outside party could pose a threat to national security due to the fact that it contains highly sensitive information.
PMD’s rejection
Accordingly, the chairman of that sectoral committee, Mr. Sarath Weerasekera, Member of Parliament from Pohottuwa, proceeded to submit a report to the Parliament containing information that the sale of the telecom company is a threat to national security. But on the same day, in a statement issued by the Presidential Media Unit, it was stated that the decision to privatize the Telecom Company is a permanent one and that there will be no threat to national security through its privatization. In addition to this, Wimalda made a public statement the other day and said that at a time when the telecom company is planned to be powered by 5D technology, if it falls into the hands of Aliraja, because there is also a media company under him, it is impossible to prevent Aliraja from gaining a lot of power in the process of establishing the government in this country.
President’s meeting in London
During his visit to London, the President met Subashkaran Aliraja while such a background was emerging in the country. Accordingly, the revelation we made last March has been proven correct with this incident. Accordingly, we now have to wait whether the telecom company will be given to Aliraja as Wimal said, or whether Lanka Hospital will be given to Aliraja along with the telecom company as we revealed. However, the opposition has already raised a number of questions through the sale of the telecom company to Alirajah. Who took the decision to give the telecom company Lyca Mobile owner Aliraja, how, whether a tender was called for it, what were the clauses of the deal, and who was behind the deal is the foremost question.
Mujibur and ‘Right for information’
Last week, Mr. Mujibar Rahman, a former Member of Parliament of the Samagi Jana Balavega, made a special request to the President’s Secretariat under the Freedom of Information Act. There, Mujibur requested the information regarding the housing and security provided by the government to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Last week, when the information was reported in this regard, Gota got very upset and made phone calls to all to make some inquiries in this regard. According to the information we have, Gota has also given a call to Mujibar. Gota then asked why he was doing this since he was out of politics at the moment.
However, with the information reported to us in this regard, we also took steps to investigate the reasons why Gotabhaya was disturbed by Mujibur’s work. From the information we got to know there, it was said that Gota is worried because there is a possibility of any legal problem arising regarding the residence and security provided to Gota.
Effort by Gota to prevent Mujibur
Under the existing law, former presidents and first ladies are constitutionally granted privileges. That is on the basis of president’s death after retirement or during their tenure. According to the constitution, former presidents can be given privileges under that basis, but the constitution does not include provisions for giving these privileges to presidents who left the service in between.
Constitutional provision
Generally, if a government employee leaves service midway, he or she is not entitled to pension or any other benefits. Accordingly, if anyone challenges the granting of privileges to Gota before the court, there is a high possibility that a big legal issue will arise through it. Therefore, Gota talked to Mujibur last week and discussed to stop this attempt, probably because he was fed up with this situation. It is also reported that Gota, who has also spoken to people close to him, has asked for an intervention to prevent this matter from going ahead.
Meanwhile, Gota’s birthday was last week. For that, a Bodhi Pooja ceremony was held in a Narahenpita temple, and for that only Mr. Chamal Rajapaksa was present on behalf of the Rajapaksa family. Apart from that, it was also seen that some gossip spread among the gathered people that no Rajapaksa was participating in the rituals connected with the birthday.
President in London and Paris
Meanwhile, with President Ranil Wickramasinghe’s commencement of London and France tours, the government sent two special messages to all the Ministers of Pohottuwa last Saturday. One of the messages said something like this.
On 28th June 2023, A special meeting of the ruling party MPs group will be held at 05:00 at the President’s Secretariat Office in Colombo 01 under the chairmanship of the Honorable President and the Honorable Prime Minister. I kindly inform you to definitely participate in that.’
This is what was recorded in the second message.
‘Also, as per the instructions of the Honorable President, please refrain from going abroad on the 30th of June 2023 and that weekend, and stay in Colombo to participate in the special discussions to be held on those days.’
Emergency government meeting
Shortly after, we also got the news that the government has called an emergency group meeting and the ministers have been notified to stay in Colombo. Accordingly, we took steps to publish this news on our website on Saturday. Also, we immediately inquired about the convening of an emergency parliamentary group meeting on Wednesday the 28th in the background of no parliamentary meeting being held that week, and the fact that the president had given special instructions to government ministers to stay in Colombo during the weekends of June 30, July 01 and 02. We move on this to inquire with the publication of this news, it was also seen how the ministers were asking each other about what was going to happen over the phone.
Ranil’s 48 second phone call to Sajith
‘ Inside Politics’ column make a special discloser what president is planning to do during the last week of June . This got exposed on a phone call he made just before his departure to London he made to the opposition leader Mr Sajith Premadasa.
The phone call lasted only 48 seconds . Ranil called Sajith to inform him that he is preparing to go abroad, and as soon as he returns from abroad, he will forward the domestic debt restructuring proposal to the Finance Committee of the Parliament for adoption, and then he plans to present it to the Parliament.
After saying this, Ranil hung up the phone without saying anything else.
According to the information we have this is not a recent plan of President. This plan has been hatched some time ago. Over the period opposition leader Sajith, economic experts of the opposition Harsha, Kabir, and Eran were enraging the president to present the agreement reached with the IMF. But from president or his fraction never present any documents pertaining to this.
The opposition asked the president to present this agreement even when the financial fund was debated and polled in the parliament, but the president did not proceed to present this agreement there either. A person who flips through the newspapers in those days has the ability to see a lot of statements about it.
Domestic debt restructuring
In addition, when the government signed the agreement with the financial fund, the country was told that it would not work to restructure the domestic debt. Not only the government, but also the central bank governor once said this. But in the end, it is obvious that the government has reached an agreement with the financial fund to restructure the country’s domestic debt. Although the opposition continued to question the government in this regard, the government gave a slippery answer every time.
Once, criticizing this practice of the government, Sajith said in the parliament that although many countries of the world have signed agreements with the International Monetary Fund, they have not agreed to restructure their domestic debt. Sajith gave examples of many countries by naming them. Despite this, Sajith pointed out that not only has the government agreed to restructure the domestic debt, there is a danger of the country’s banking system collapsing, but also the public funds, the Employees’ Trust Fund and the Employees’ Provident Fund, have been put into a serious crisis.
Accordingly, the president’s plan was to carry out the domestic debt restructuring program by the government alone but also to drag the opposition too into it. He has planned to wipe his hands off the blame from the people and load it on to the opposition.
Finance committee chairmanship
The President suddenly came to the Parliament and took steps to give Harsha the position of Chairman of the Finance Committee as one step of this plan. In addition to the members of Pohottuwa in the finance committee, there are also members of the SJB, JVP and Tamil Alliance. It seems that the President’s plan is to show that the entire opposition has agreed to the domestic debt restructuring program through the Finance Committee.
In fact, the government has already signed the agreement on the financial fund, so there is no need to present each of these clauses to the finance committee or to the parliament. On the other hand, the government has already made arrangements for the adoption of the Financial Fund Agreement by the Parliament, so the only thing left for now is to implement those proposals.
Shangri la wedding
However, this plan of the government was surfaced during a super wedding held at the Shangri-La Hotel. A stalwart of the opposition in the finance committee, who was very upset about this, laughed and said to the other ministers who were sitting at the table at this wedding ceremony, ‘It is right that Harsha was given the chairmanship of the finance committee. But the government did not just give that. He said that the local debt restructuring will be adopted by the finance committee and it will hit the opposition.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader Sajith had smelled government this program some time before. Before President’s plan was implemented, Sajith had taken a step forward and started the operation to turn the government’s program upside down. Accordingly, the first thing Sajith did was to gather the general executive committee of the opposition parties and discuss this topic.
Oppose domestic debt restructuring
There, all members of the general executive committee of the opposition had taken steps to unanimously protest the local debt restructuring proposal. Moreover, Sajith also convened a group meeting of Samagi Jana Balavega MPs last Monday to ask for their views on this matter. Sajith started the meeting by informing the MPs about the 48 second call he received from Ranil. Sajith informed his group of MPs one by one about the matters that Ranil informed him about, and asked the group of MPs about the steps to be taken in this regard. The parliamentary group itself decided to completely oppose the domestic debt restructuring proposal.
Harsha Absent
However, Harsha, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, did not attend this meeting. It was informed that he was ill. Due to this, even the Finance Committee meeting of the Parliament was canceled last Tuesday. If not, this proposal would have been brought before the finance committee last Tuesday. However, as the Samagi Jana Balawega and all the opposition parties have decided to oppose the local debt restructuring proposal, only the MPs representing the finance committee in Pohottuwa are going to raise their hands in favor of it.
In the meantime, if there is a vote in the parliament on the restructuring of the local debt, what will the members of Pohottuwa do? What decision will they make? For the past few days, Mr. Basil Rajapakse, the national organizer of Pohottuwa, had taken steps to call various parties including the district leaders of Pohottuwa to the Pohottu office in Battaramulla to discuss this matter.
Will the ‘bud’ oppose?
Almost all the district leaders were of a firm opinion and pointed out to Basil that if the government does not give Pohottuwa the promised ministerial position, then he should not do what the government says. Especially Johnston Fernando, C.B. Ratnayake, S.M.Chandrasens took the lead in this. They were of the opinion that if the government does not provide ministers to senior district leaders such as Chandrasena, Mahindananda Aluthgamage and Rohitha Abeygunawardena, then it would be best to remain silent in this election.
Also, it has been decided that the President should participate in the emergency group meeting called by the President on the 28th and protest some of the government’s programs.
Namal on the move
Apart from this, Namal too had started a new operation last week and had taken steps to meet the trade union leaders in Pohottuwa. He met the trade union leaders and discussed the privatization program of the government. In recent times Namal had criticized the government’s privatization program in public on several occasions, and in the discussion held with the trade union leaders, Namal also informed the group that they should take the same position and work against it.
Namal to defy president’s request!
Apart from this, Namal is also scheduled to start a visit to China with twelve other members of the government from Saturday (24). It is reported that the group will also visit Beijing, Ningbo, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou during this trip, which is being conducted at the invitation of the Chinese side. According to the information we have, on the 30th, the President had instructed all the government ministers to stay in Colombo and not to go abroad, but Namal has taken a firm decision to go to China as planned due to this being a previously used trip. Namal’s position is that it cannot be suspended because he was not informed about this in advance, and because the trip to China had been planned for a long time.
However, the problem that the government has to face here is many MPs would accompany Namal on this trip. A few weeks ago, the government had only 123 votes in the voting to remove the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, Mr. Janaka Ratnayake. According to that, if 11 votes of the government missed out there will be a problem regarding the majority of the government.
Mahinda confine inside
Meanwhile, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is staying at his Wijerama official residence these days without coming out much. Generally, Mahinda is considered as a leader among the people. Mahinda cannot live without meeting people; not seeing people is like not eating properly for Mahinda. But these days, Mahinda is not engaged in any activities to meet the people. However, in Mahinda Wijerama’s official residence it can be seen he has some meeting and holding discussions with certain people at night.
In a background where the opposition has organized a series of massive protests demanding the holding of the local government elections, last week the chairman of the Election Commission, Mr. Nimal G. Punchihewa was addressing a press conference after some time. Panchihewa said that the commission is ready to hold the local government elections, and that they will once again request for money from the treasury this week. Also, the Chairman of the Election Commission, who said that the people of the country need an election, emphasized that the people are demanding an election and that if they do not hold an election; they will have to face negative consequences in the future.