‘Boru’ shows
Politicians make trips to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) when they are badly in need of political mileage. Following the 2015 regime change, newly elected UNF MPs went, in processions with television crews in tow, almost daily, to make complaints against their rivals; their pilgrimages came to an abrupt end when the lid was blown off the Treasury bond scams. A group of former UPFA MPs, who are currently in the SLPP, went to the CIABOC office, on Monday, to inquire about the progress, or lack of it, in the investigations into the complaints of corruption against former UNF ministers. Some of them faulted the anti-graft commission for having given kid glove treatment to the yahapalana politicians.
Those who voted for the SLPP, at the last presidential election, hoping that the bond scammers would not be allowed to get away with their crime, must be disillusioned. The police swing into action when an ordinary person happens to be on the wrong side of the law, but they sadly lack such high octane performance when they are ordered to take action against those who have committed the biggest ever financial crime, in the country. How they acted after obtaining warrants from the Colombo Fort Magistrate, in March, to arrest 12 persons over the controversial Treasury bond auctions is a case in point. CID personnel were shown on television, visiting the residences of the suspects, and returning empty-handed. How they purportedly tried to arrest those suspects reminds us of a popular Avurudu cycling contest, where the slowest rider is adjudged the winner. The police would not have acted in that shameful manner without orders from the powers that be.
When the SLPP grandees called for the arrest of the bond scammers while they were in the Opposition, we argued, in this space, that the culprits would be safe under an SLPP-led government. Some SLPP big guns have been sighted in the exalted company of certain bond racketeers. That they are cut from the same cloth goes without saying.
For our money, the SLPP members who went to the CIABOC office, the other day, claiming to be on a mission to jump-start the legal process against the bond scammers, and then inveighed against that institution were barking up the wrong tree. The less said about the CIABOC, the better; it never takes powerful politicians to court. Its sordid operations came to light when Ranjan Ramanayake’s audio clips got leaked. But, the pugnacious SLPP heavyweights, who staged a political dog and pony show, on Monday, should have taken on their leaders accused of shielding the bond racketeers before blaming others.
The UNP-led UNF government protected a bunch of corrupt ministers who had left the Rajapaksa government and joined the yahapalana camp, a few weeks before the 2015 presidential election. The present dispensation is shielding some Opposition politicians in spite of serious corruption charges against them so as to enlist the latter’s support in the next Parliament.
In 2015, the holier-than-thou yahapalana politicians obtained two popular mandates to bring their corrupt predecessors to justice. Nobody went to jail, and the crusaders against corruption got exposed for various rackets. The SLPP leaders, who came to power, vowing to throw the bond racketeers behind bars, are smooching with the latter. The public has been taken for a right royal ride.
Let the SLPP activists who are lambasting the CIABOC be told to stop putting on boru shows and bring pressure to bear on their beloved leaders to refrain from shielding racketeers. Let them be warned that they run the risk of being kicked out by their bosses; such is the power of the corrupt.
Politicians make trips to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) when they are badly in need of political mileage. Following the 2015 regime change, newly elected UNF MPs went, in processions with television crews in tow, almost daily, to make complaints against their rivals; their pilgrimages came to an abrupt end when the lid was blown off the Treasury bond scams. A group of former UPFA MPs, who are currently in the SLPP, went to the CIABOC office, on Monday, to inquire about the progress, or lack of it, in the investigations into the complaints of corruption against former UNF ministers. Some of them faulted the anti-graft commission for having given kid glove treatment to the yahapalana politicians.
Those who voted for the SLPP, at the last presidential election, hoping that the bond scammers would not be allowed to get away with their crime, must be disillusioned. The police swing into action when an ordinary person happens to be on the wrong side of the law, but they sadly lack such high octane performance when they are ordered to take action against those who have committed the biggest ever financial crime, in the country. How they acted after obtaining warrants from the Colombo Fort Magistrate, in March, to arrest 12 persons over the controversial Treasury bond auctions is a case in point. CID personnel were shown on television, visiting the residences of the suspects, and returning empty-handed. How they purportedly tried to arrest those suspects reminds us of a popular Avurudu cycling contest, where the slowest rider is adjudged the winner. The police would not have acted in that shameful manner without orders from the powers that be.
When the SLPP grandees called for the arrest of the bond scammers while they were in the Opposition, we argued, in this space, that the culprits would be safe under an SLPP-led government. Some SLPP big guns have been sighted in the exalted company of certain bond racketeers. That they are cut from the same cloth goes without saying.
For our money, the SLPP members who went to the CIABOC office, the other day, claiming to be on a mission to jump-start the legal process against the bond scammers, and then inveighed against that institution were barking up the wrong tree. The less said about the CIABOC, the better; it never takes powerful politicians to court. Its sordid operations came to light when Ranjan Ramanayake’s audio clips got leaked. But, the pugnacious SLPP heavyweights, who staged a political dog and pony show, on Monday, should have taken on their leaders accused of shielding the bond racketeers before blaming others.
The UNP-led UNF government protected a bunch of corrupt ministers who had left the Rajapaksa government and joined the yahapalana camp, a few weeks before the 2015 presidential election. The present dispensation is shielding some Opposition politicians in spite of serious corruption charges against them so as to enlist the latter’s support in the next Parliament.
In 2015, the holier-than-thou yahapalana politicians obtained two popular mandates to bring their corrupt predecessors to justice. Nobody went to jail, and the crusaders against corruption got exposed for various rackets. The SLPP leaders, who came to power, vowing to throw the bond racketeers behind bars, are smooching with the latter. The public has been taken for a right royal ride.
Let the SLPP activists who are lambasting the CIABOC be told to stop putting on boru shows and bring pressure to bear on their beloved leaders to refrain from shielding racketeers. Let them be warned that they run the risk of being kicked out by their bosses; such is the power of the corrupt.
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