Nuwan Zoysa to be punished by ICC for match-fixing

International Cricket Council (ICC) announced today that former Sri Lanka paceman Nuwan Zoysa had been found guilty of match-fixing by an independent anti-corruption tribunal. Accordingly, he would be sanctioned, ICC said. 

Nuwan Zoysa was provisionally suspended in October 2018 and charged with three offences under the ICC's anti-corruption code, including "being party to an agreement or effort to fix" a match.

Zoysa has also been charged with breaching four counts of the Emirates Cricket Board's anti-corruption code for players who participated in a T10 league in the United Arab Emirates in 2017 and the proceedings are ongoing, the ICC said. 

Left-arm paceman Nuwan Zoysa played 30 tests and 95 one-day internationals from 1997-2007. He worked time to time as coach of Sri Lanka women's team and the men's A squad.

Public officials need to move slightly out of the books of law - senior adviser to the President of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal acquitted two former senior public officials loyal to the present government from a case on misappropriating state funds for a presidential election campaign of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Addressing media after the judgement, Lalith Weerathunga, the present senior adviser to the President, said to media that the public officials need to move slightly out of the books of law to serve people.  

"I think the judgement relieved the public service from unfair bonds. I urge my public servant colleagues not to fear to do the right thing. Many public officials were discouraged by this judgement. I think that time is over. Do the right thing. No problem will occur. I think public officials need to move slightly out of the books of law. I don't see any error there if the decisions are not self-benefitting and benefiting only the people," Weerathunga said. 

He thanked his wife, children, close relatives and senior counsel Kanchana Ratwatte for their support.

Former Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga and former Director-General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC), Anusha Palpita were acquitted from the case related to misappropriating Rs.600 million funds of the TRC for distributing white clothes for the Buddhist laymen to wear on religious observances. According to the charges, the misappropriation took place during the presidential campaign in 2015 for the advantage of Mahinda Rajapaksa's campaign. 

Colombo High Court Judge Gihan Kulatunga found them guilty of misappropriation of public funds and sentenced them to three years rigorous imprisonment on 7 September 2017.  Colombo High Court also imposed a fine of Rs.2 million on each of the convicts. They were further ordered to pay Rs.50 million to the TRC as compensation. 

Appellate Court panel of judges comprising justices Kumuduni Wickramasinghe and Devika Aberathna delivered the judgement and said that the evidence and document analysis had not proved a misappropriation beyond a reasonable doubt.  

Bailed out Sri Lankan local government chairman parades in his area as a hero despite bribery charges

Sources from Sri Lanka's Meegahathenna area said that the released Chairman of Walallawita Pradeshiya Sabha was parading in the area in vehicle convoy after being granted bail by court.

The local government Chairman Udeni Athukorala who was caught red handed as he was soliciting a bribe of Rs. 1.5 million from the Chairman of Bentara Pradeshiya Sabha in relation to permitting soil transportation business was seen waving to people and participating in welcoming ceremonies organized by his supporters.

Walallavita Pradeshiya Sabha chairman, Udeni Atukorale was released on bail by the Colombo Additional Magistrate today. He was arrested on July 05 by officers of the Bribery or Corruption Commission. 

The suspect was  remanded until July 09 by Matugama Additional District Judge R.A.J. Rajapaksa, who ordered him to be produced in the Colombo High Court today. 

A massive online campaign by the Avaaz community in Brazil won a stunning victory against corruption.

(August 19, 2010, Colombo - Lanka Polity) This is an email received by us and it describes a people's struggle in Brazil that achieved victory.

The "clean record" law was a bold proposal that banned any politician convicted of crimes like corruption and money laundering from running for office. With nearly 25% of the Congress under investigation for corruption, most said it would never pass. But after Avaaz launched the largest online campaign in Brazilian history, helping to build a petition of over 2 million signatures, 500,000 online actions, and tens of thousands of phone calls, we won!

Avaaz members fought corrupt congressmen daily as they tried every trick in the book to kill, delay, amend, and weaken the bill, and won the day every time. The bill passed Congress, and already over 330 candidates for office face disqualification!

One Brazilian member wrote to us when the law was passed, saying:

I have never been as proud of the Brazilian people as I am today! Congratulations to all that have signed. Today I feel like an actual citizen with political power. -- Silvia

Our strategy in Brazil was simple: make a solution so popular and visible that it can’t be opposed, and be so vigilant that we can’t be ignored.

This victory shows what our community can do - at a national level, in developing nations, and on the awful problem of corruption. Anywhere in the world, we can build legislative proposals to clean up corruption in government, back them up with massive citizen support, and fight legislators who try to block them.

France's Le Monde called our "impressive and unprecedented petition" campaign a "spectacular political and moral victory for civil society." And while this victory may be a first, we can make it the precedent for global citizen action.

Amazingly, our entire Brazil campaign was made possible by just a couple of Avaaz team members, serving over 600,000 Avaaz members in Brazil. The power of the Avaaz model is that technology can enable a tiny team to help millions of people work together on the most pressing issues. It's one of the most powerful ways a small donation can make a difference in the world.

5.6 million of us are reading this email -- if a small fraction of us donate just $3 or $5 per week, or 50 cents per day, the entire Avaaz team will be funded and we can even expand our work on corruption and a range of issues. Click below to become a Sustainer of Avaaz and help take our anti-corruption campaigning global:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/ficha_limpa_reportback/?vl

We've seen the heart-wrenching movies about street kids and desperate urban poverty in Brazil, and we know that across the world political corruption preys on our communities and saps human potential. In Brazil, our community has helped turn the tide and usher in a new era of transparent, accountable politics. Let's seize the opportunity and begin to fight corruption everywhere it's needed today.

With hope,

Ricken, Luis, Graziela, David, Ben, Maria Paz, Benjamin and the entire Avaaz Team


SOURCES:

The Economist, "Cleaning up. A campaign against corruption":
http://www.avaaz.org/economist_ficha_limpa

The Rio Times, "Anti-Corruption Law in Effect This Year":
http://www.avaaz.org/rio_times_ficha_limpa

The story of Brazil's Clean Record law has yet to be told widely in English language media. Here are a few stories in other languages that capture the campaign:

Le Monde, "Operation "clean sheet" in Brazil": (French)
http://www.avaaz.org/le_monde_ficha_limpa

Correio Braziliense, "The arrival of 2.0 activists": (Portuguese)
http://www.avaaz.org/correio_braziliense_2_0

You may also like to visit our Sinhala Blog W3Lanka

What a President are we going to re-elect in Sri Lanka?

(January 25, Colombo - Lanka Polity) January 22nd dawned with the news of a bomb explosion in the house of Sri Lanka opposition activist Tiran Alles. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ally Wimal Weerawansa was quick to say that it was a conspiracy of the opposition to beg for sympathy votes. But yesterday Alles spoke to media and said he wanted to make an exposure since there is a threat to his life.


Alles said he witnessed President's brother Basil Rajapaksa who is an appointed MP and an adviser of the President now giving Rs. 180 million in cash to a leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) in his presence under the guidance of then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The grant was an appreciation for the LTTE to lead a boycott of Tamil votes in the 2005 Presidential. Mahinda Rajapaksa, backed strongly by Sinhala chauvinist elements was able to deprive the victory of the opposition candidate Ranil Wickramasinghe thanks to this boycott that prevented Tamils expressing their conscience. LTTE reportedly bought boats with these funds and later used them to kill many Navy personnel and to transport deadly weapons.


Alles, who was a close ally of Mahinda Rajapaksa during his 2005 Presidential campaign defected from the ruling alliance later and he had to face terrorism charges later. He says he revealed all what he knew to the Terrorist Investigation Department of Police to be recorded by them. Embarrassed police later released him without framing charges.


The President was saved of being sued for breach of trust regarding tsunami aids received from abroad thanks to the official impunity of the Presidency under Sri Lankan law. His governance is ill-famous for corruption from top to bottom and his extended family is alleged of amassing huge wealth through corrupt deals.


However, the President is a hero among many Sri Lankans that belong to the majority Sinhala community due to the war victory against Tamil nationalist liberation movement. He, together with his brother Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, present opposition presidential candidate ex-Commander of Army Sarath Fonseka and other service commanders led the state forces supported by the public to totally annihilate the Liberation Tigers.


But Rajapaksa failed to lead the reconciliation process in post-war Sri Lanka. No political process was initiated. However, his regime was in an illusion that they are to rule the country for many years ahead until the long lasting democracy produced a powerful contender for his post. The nation was on the verge of the patience regarding corruption, bad governance, dictatorial rule and anarchy.


The 2010 presidential is the tensest political battle in the history and it is also earmarked as the most corrupt one. The President was shameless to manipulate each and every public property for his propaganda campaign and the opposition was deprived of all opportunities he could block. However, the tide is so high against the President and he is likely to lose the post irrespective of how corrupt the election is.


Sri Lanka needs a leader that can lead the post-war reconciliation. The President needs to fight corruption and to introduce good governance, democracy and rule of law. The President must restart the political process to seek permanent solutions for the woes of the minority communities.

Opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka has pledged a good life. He is also a man with a questionable past. However, he has been able to muster the support of many who need a change in the system. However, we have to wait to see if the vote will express the sentiments for a change. 


(Photo: Emil Kanthan, the LTTE leader that obtained money from Basil Rajapaksa, according to Tiran Alles, posing with President's son Namal Rajapaksa)

What can professionals do?

Rohan Samarajiva

In the course of writing an article on the apparent end of constitutionalism in Sri Lanka, I asked myself what I personally could do to resist the egregious lawless behavior that caused me to write it. My question was why the populace allowed this feudal behavior. How could I be the change I wanted to see?

While thinking about this, I happened to see a shamelessly partisan street hoarding that had been put up by an organization I had made a small contribution to establish and fund: the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, a private limited company fully owned by the government of Sri Lanka. I decided to collect additional evidence including a copy of the ICTA newsletter entitled Catalyst that contained election propaganda for the President. I then wrote the following letter to each of the members of the ICTA Board, with copies to the Elections Commissioner and the World Bank, which continues to fund e Sri Lanka, the program ICTA was created to implement.

No response to my letter yet, but I was pleased to see the offending hoardings taken down on the 12th December. This suggests that professionals talking to professionals can yield results and slow down the slide from the rule of law. This may also be a useful decentralized way of collecting evidence for an election petition should the need arise.

7 January 2009.

Dear Member of the Board of ICTA (Pvt) Limited,

Unethical, and possibly unlawful, election propaganda by ICTA

I write as a citizen, as a former member of the ICTA Board, and as one of the people responsible for designing e Sri Lanka, for setting up the organization and obtaining the funds.

Attached please find evidence of election propaganda by ICTA. These actions may have been taken without your knowledge or approval, but the Board is responsible.

We established ICTA as an entity above politics, for example hiring those associated with the opposition at the time such as Mr Dilanthe Withanage and Mr Athula Pushpakumara. The then leader of the opposition (now President) was invited to participate in events within ICTA premises.

I hope you will discipline the responsible officers and restore ICTA to its non-partisan position. Otherwise you will be held accountable for the politicization and destruction of yet another organization designed for the common good.

If professionals do not speak for good governance, there will be no good governance. I hope you will play your part.

Sincerely,

Rohan Samarajiva
Cc: Commissioner of Elections / Country Director, World Bank, Colombo

War cost country Rs 23 trillion – Siyambalapitiya

We re-publish this article by Mario Andree (The Island) since the facts and the arguements in it are vital. Thanks go to the writer and the newspaper. 

Deputy Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that the Government had spent a total of Rs 23 trillion on the three-decade war. 

This works out to Rs. 920 billion per year in the 25 years of war, which is now a saving for the government in addition to the targeted revenue budget per year.

The 2009 targeted revenue was Rs. 855 billion, and the government spends only around Rs. 2 billion on ministers, and Rs 278 billion on development.

According to the previous situation, compared to the current, the tax and price situations have not changed but have increased.

The expenditure towards war can be used for the benefit of the citizens by reducing taxation and prices of daily needs as the expenditure towards war is a balance after the liberation.

He also told the media on Sunday that the policy statement of Gen (Rtd) Sarath Fonseka is an impossible statement to be implemented in the current situation. To provide some of it, an additional funding of Rs. 350 billion will be required apart from the yearly targeted budget.

These statements’ implications definitely will lead to a high amount of currency circulation within the country which will increase the inflation rates of the country leading to a catastrophe of the livelihood, he pointed out.

He also said this is possible with the high tax amounts charged from the public. An amount of Rs. 1,500 will have to be additionally charged from individuals of the country.

Fonseka’s statement

The policy statement states a salary increment of Rs. 10,000 for all government servants.

This would mean that for a staff of 1.2 million the total salary payment would be increased by Rs 144 billion from the treasury, adding another 10 billion on payments of over time and EPF, Minister Siyambalapitiya pointed out.

The media team of President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced a salary increment of Rs. 2,500 for public servants on on Sunday. This will also need an additional funding of Rs. 36 billion, adding another 2.5 billion for other payments.

"With no proper production and value additional developments, will there be a possibility to provide such increases stated in Fonseka’s Policy Statement?" Siyambalapitiya asked.

The restructure of the pension anomalies will for the increase by Rs. 25 billion, yet according to Fonseka’s policy how this is done is unclear and unstated anywhere in his statement, Siyambalapitiya said.

The minimum Samurdhi benefit to increase to Rs. 500 will need an additional funding of Rs. 5 billion, also 98 billion to provide a Rs. 2,000 monthly payment to the youth and the senior citizens and Rs. 900 million to provide the Rs. 3000 to the estimated unemployed 25,000 degree holders with a Rs. 3000 monthly payment, Siyambalapitiya said.

There is also a further requirement of Rs. 30 billion to provide the fertilizer at Rs. 350. Currently, urea is provided at Rs. 350 while the actual amount is Rs. 9,000, this expense is unnecessary as the agriculture segment is gaining at a rapid pace, Siyambalapitiya said.

He has also stated Rs. 27 billion will be needed to pay all Golden Key investors.

Tax benefits

Sarath Fonseka’s policy statement also states the reduction and removal of some taxes on some food items.

Currently rice has no tax charge, the dhal and sugar tax is at Rs. 1 per kg, onions and potatoes are charged at Rs. 5 per kg.

The tax is to protect local producers. If the tax is removed, they will be in a drastic situation.

The reduction of tax on household LP Gas; the current tax is Rs. 108.75 per 12.5 kg cylinder, the total consumption of the country per year is at 850,000 cylinders the reduction will cause a 1,100 million decline of the state revenue, Siyambalapitiya said.

The reduction of petrol prices, as proposed by the court. It was suggested that petrol is supposed to be supplied at Rs 100 per litre. If this is activated, the government will lose Rs. 31,925 million.

Currently, Siyambalapitiya said the government gains Rs. 22,000 million from diesel, Rs. 550 million from kerosene oil and Rs 9,375 million from petrol.

Totally the government will have to lose 350 billion by providing the promises in Sarath Fonseka’s Policy Statement. The reduction of some taxes will lead to high increases in other taxes which will not suit the Sri Lankan Citizens, Siyambalapitiya said.

Implementing the salary increment announced by the current government would also lead to a tax increase or introduction of new taxes.

The Deputy Minister of Finance strongly stated that he would resign from his position the second Sarath Fonseka or his team proves how he is going to find the funds without heaping burdens on the people by increasing or introducing any other taxes.

Blatant misuse of public property in a tough battle for the presidency of Sri Lanka

(January 07, Colombo - Lanka Polity) A written complaint lodged by the All Sri Lanka Harbor Workers' Common Union leader Chandrasiri Mahagamage before the Election Commissioner points to shocking revelation of blatant misuse of public property for the presidential campaign of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Minister in charge of the Ports Authority  is Chamal Rajapaksa, the elder brother of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The complainers  say that 300 workers and 70 vehicles of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority have been deployed in presidential propaganda and election violence. The union has exposed the names of the employees and the numbers of the vehicles.

The personnel  have been stationed in three places in Colombo, Embilipitiya in south and Dambulla in north for election operations.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is using or rather misusing  the platforms of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority for his rallies. Ports Authority employees have been deployed in erecting the stages with overtime and bata allowances violating the election laws, the union points out.

The President  has not spared a single pebble unmoved in the state sector in a tough presidential battle with his ex-Army chief Sarath Fonseka. Senior public servants like his powerful brother defense secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who has no right for party politics due to his public-paid position is also running a series of seminars in support of his brother blatantly violating the election laws and the establishment code of the public service. Even the President's Secretary, a senior civil servant is also talking in public in support of Rajapaksa. Thousands of people are summoned to a massive tent set up in the Prime Minister's place now he occupies for meetings and they are treated with  food and beverages. Nobody knows who bears the costs as the government says no public funds are used for them.

On the New Year eve, the President  delivered an SMS to all 12 million mobile phone users via the service providers. Many identified the act as an infringement of the privacy of the phone users and the President's unauthorized New Year greeting finally turned to be a spam.

The use of pubic media for the President's propaganda and for slinging  mud at his major opponent was so irresistible to the Election Commissioner and he took measures to ban five programmes of state TV for its notorious content.

Police also came under criticism  of the Election Commissioner for not removing the illegal mega billboards with the images of the President at every nook and corner of the island.

Is Sri Lanka opposition dare to debate?

(December 29, Colombo - Lanka Polity) The leader of Sri Lanka's National Freedom Front (JNP) has challenged opposition president candidate Sarath Fonseka for a debate on the arms deals Fonseka's son-in-law is allegedly involved. Weerawansa has asked to name other suitable persons, maximum two, to represent Fonseka, if he cannot debate, to the debate that Weerawansa proposes to be held before all media.

Weerawansa's suggestion is timely as reports and rumors point to mass scale corruption in the arms deals under Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. A debate will focus public attention to the issue. The politicians can give out the real information and they can clear their names from corruption charges.

Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka and the opposition must grab this opportunity readily if they are genuine with their proposals to alleviate corruption under their future rule.

Although Weerawansa is a junior close to the ruling elite, he is one of the most influential orators of the ruling coalition. Therefore, he has opened up a path for a debate between the two macro-level presidential candidates in future.

Go on men! Take this chance! Pave way for President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sarath Fonseka to perform their 'stripping-the-other' politics face-to-face. It will at least be entertaining in this polity where people are natualized with corruption.

Lessons to be learnt from Tsunami Reconstruction Process for the development of the North and the East of Sri Lanka

Transparency International, Sri Lanka -


(Photo: Baby 81 of tsunami fame, now five years old still lives in a half-built house with his parents in Kalmunai)

On this fifth anniversary of the Tsunami, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) remembers with great sadness all those who lost their lives, the surviving family members and those who lost their property. It is time to reflect on and learn lessons from the great challenges that we faced with the tragedy when Sri Lanka stands an exponential development potential aftermath of the war. Such reflection would be, in turn the true tribute to those who lost their lives and others who survived with enormous difficulties.

In 2007, TISL obtained complaints relating to the reconstruction process with the principal objective of drawing attention of the relevant authorities to such problems. The complaints received were perused, categorized and forwarded to the relevant government agencies. However, there was no response from any of the government agencies on them. The major issues raised in the complaints were sub-standard quality of the newly received houses, petty corruption by the government officers at the local level and high politicization in the selection of beneficiaries. These problems still lie unexplained undermining the level of confidence among the general public about the state. Thus unfortunately Sri Lanka has failed to learn lessons of governance challenges from post tsunami experience.

The lack of legitimised right to information law or any practice promoting right to information for the people was one of the key problems that marred the tsunami reconstruction process with a significant element of information withholding and a general clamming up by government officials when such information is requested. When information was requested about the utilization of the money received during the recovery process, some government officers refrained from providing them possibly due to fear of persecution by higher authorities in their department and ministries.

It is extremely important to draw attention to these issues in the context of reconstruction in the North and East of Sri Lanka where immense damage is caused on human lives and property together with the fact that huge sums of capital is flowing into the region at present. The three major concerns which the government failed to address in the Tsunami Reconstruction Process will equally be applicable and will jeopardise the post- conflict development in the North and the East unless necessary action is taken immediately. These are: a) the need for participatory development process including planning and implementation through legitimate public institutions based in the areas themselves, b)the restructuring of centralised, narrowly politicised and non-representative administrative mechanisms so that they are more accountable and transparent to local communities, and c)the de-politicisation of the communities at the local level. Similar to the Tsunami reconstruction process, the reconstruction of the North and the East poses a great risk of corruption because of large sums involved, the lack of local accountability or even participation of beneficiaries and the excessive centralization of decision-making.

A brief Financial Analysis

The following table shows the financial situation of Tsunami Reconstruction work by the end of the year
2006. This is the money received through the government approved channels by various donors. This information was obtained from the Development Assistance Date Base (DAD) in March 2007. However, this information is not currently available for the public as the DAD website doesn’t exist anymore.

TISL’s effort to obtain the most recent financial information was met with lackluster responses by the officials. TISL’s observation in this regard was that officials were either reluctant to divulge the proper information or that they did not have the accurate figures about current expenditure status.
Available statistics as per March 2007:

Committed (USD) Disbursed (USD) Expended (USD)

2,126,771,858 1,075,375,348 603,443,908



Note:
•Committed funds – Funds promised by the donors
•Disbursed – Funds handed over to the implementing agencies
•Expended – Funds spent on various projects

According to the available information, there is a difference between the committed and the disbursed funds. When inquired about this difference, the implementing agencies informed TISL that the amounts of money initially promised was not disbursed by the donors, mainly due to the deadlines of these projects not being met. Some donors have not been satisfied with the progress of the projects and have therefore withdrawn from their commitment after paying the first installment.

The difference between the disbursed and the expended has been a controversial issue that does not have a credible explanation. While some officials were reluctant to divulge the information, there were some responsible bodies, who implied that the funds have been utilized by the government for other purposes.

There is no precise evidence to explain the missing sum of USD 471, 931,440. Some government officials rejected the fact of such a missing amount though they have failed to give any explanation about the figures produced.

When the higher officials at Auditor General’s Department of Sri Lanka were contacted in December 2009, TISL was informed that there is no audit conducted on funds received for Tsunami Reconstruction process since the last audit by the former Auditor General in 2005.




Conclusion

a. TISL believes that it is a prime right of the people in Sri Lanka to know the true picture of the Tsunami recovery process. Therefore, the government should take every possible step to assure and respect the right to information of the general public of the country. Thus an audit should be done by the government to explain the utilization of the money received and the challenges faced.

b. All steps should be taken to arrest and remedy the existing problems in the recovery process. The participation of the public is paramount in this regard.

c. A special Committee of the Public Accounts Committee or an Independent Commission be constituted to review any remaining issues relating to the Tsunami Recovery Process and make necessary recommendations and lessons leant as related guidelines for the future.

e. TISL reiterates the importance of collating and documenting all the information of Tsunami 2004 in relation to both the relief and recovery process. Such deliberation is important in the context of current development in the North and East of Sri Lanka.

Unless the political leadership is committed to these recommendations, similar unfortunate experience will be repeated in the reconstruction of the North and the East of Sri Lanka.

why didn't so much money bring prosperity to tsunami victims of Sri Lanka?

(December 27, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Transparency International of Sri Lanka says that out of 2.2 billion dollars received for relief of the victims of December 26, 2004 tsunami, 603.4 million dollars was spent on projects unrelated to the disaster whille another half a billion dollars was missing.
"There is no precise evidence to explain the missing sum of 471.9 million dollars," said the Transparency International statement issued in Colombo adding an "audit should be done by the government to explain the utilisation of the money received and the challenges faced," the group said.

The death of 31,000 people have become the birth of a new wealth for a bunch of swindlers not related to the victims.Both Sri Lankan public as well as the international philanthropers have a right to know how the aid money was spent as the nation marked the fifth anniversary of the tsunami.


An initial government audit in 2005 found that less than 13 percent of the aid had been spent, but there has been no formal examination since, Transparency International said. Many thousands of tsunami victims still live in temporary camps, IDP camps or half-built houses while the managers of the funds, the project managers and the politicians live in luxury houses.

In 2005,the Criminal Investigation Department sought permission from the courts to investigate the accounts alleging that there was a breach of trust concerning nearly 83 million Sri Lankan rupees (approx 820,000 US dollars).Sri Lankan media had alleged that money transfered by international donors to the Prime Minister's national relief fund was credited to the privately run "Helping Hambantota" fund. The lawyers of the Prime Minister told the Supreme Court that the Cabinet of Ministers were informed of the monies in ‘Helping Hambantota’ fund, which is monitored by Secretary to the PM, Lalith Weeratunga.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Sarath Silva (see photo) ordered Criminal Investigation Department to temporarily halt the investigation after considering a petition by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse.

The Prime Minister then is the President now and the Secretary to the PM is the Secretary to the President now. Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva retired and some of his court rulings have been challenged legally.