The Island Editorial

The safety of bond scam witnesses

31 March 2017

 

Western Province Chief Minister Isura Devapriya has dropped a bombshell. Addressing the media on Wednesday, he declared that witnesses, giving evidence before the presidential commission of inquiry probing bond scams, were without protection and the IGP had to be held responsible should harm befall them. He has apparently sought to support his argument with Chairman of the presidential commission of inquiry K. T. Chitrasiri’s statement on Tuesday that the IGP had not heeded a commission request for more police personnel.

One is intrigued. One may have thought political violence was a thing of the past and butter wouldn’t melt in the mouths of the yahapalana leaders, pretending to be ‘incapable of harming even an ant’. They claim to have restored democracy, ensured judicial independence and given police freedom to maintain the law and order without fear or favour. They are busy probing goon attacks and government-sponsored violence under the Rajapaksa administration. But, now, a yahapalana heavyweight has hinted that they are capable of what their predecessors were notorious for—harming opponents! Devapriya is quite au fait with the yahapalana affairs and there is no reason to doubt his claims.

CM Devapriya’s statement is a damning indictment on the yahapalana administration, whose big guns wax eloquent ad nauseam on their commitment to protecting democracy and human rights. The so-called national unity government, whose ministers are at one another’s jugular, consists of several political parties, but the ongoing bond scams probe is inimical to the interests of only the UNP. The SLFP finds a perverse pleasure in upsetting the UNP by flogging that issue at every turn. So, logically, threats to the witnesses should emanate from the members of the UNP, and no one else, though Devapriya has stopped short of naming names.

President Maithripala Sirisena ought to pay heed to the ominous warning sounded by his trusted lieutenant, Devapriya, who is promoting him as the next presidential candidate of the SLFP. The safety of the key witnesses in the bond scam probe must be ensured. Malicious propaganda campaigns are already underway to discourage them from revealing the truth. The Central Bank officials deserve praise for their courage to stand up to the government in power and retaining their sangfroid in the face of a hostile campaign carried out by pro-UNP groups against them.

Anything is possible in this country where politicians consider even their closest allies expendable and, therefore, nobody is safe when they get into hot water and face the prospect of losing power.

Meanwhile, the SLFP faction of the yahapalana administration seems to think the masses are asses. Its members benefited from the Rajapaksa government and unflinchingly endorsed everything that regime did. They voted for ratifying the 18th Amendment and impeaching the then Chief Minister Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake among other things. They lined their pockets and abused power. Today, they are condemning the former administration as if they had never been members thereof. While enjoying the best of both worlds they are tearing into the UNP in a bid to absolve themselves of the blame for the wrongs the present government is committing.

These hypocritical elements need to be told that they were instrumental in shielding the bond racketeers two years ago. In 2015, President Sirisena dissolved parliament before the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) headed by upright, intrepid leftist, D. E. W. Gunasekera, presented its report on bond scams to the House. Thus, he prevented an adverse COPE report being used against the UNP, upon which he was dependent to keep the Rajapaksas at bay at the general election in that year. Today, he is out for the scalp of former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran because such action helps him tame the UNP, which is undermining his authority.

Chief Minister Devapriya should be thanked for his concern for the safety of the witnesses in the presidential inquiry into the bond scams. But, should anything untoward happens—absit omen!—the blame for that must be apportioned to both the UNP and SLFP factions of the yahapalana government.