
By Amrit Muttukumaru –
Mr. Ranjit Wijewardene
Chairman,
Wijeya Newspapers Limited
Dear Mr. Wijewardene,
Downplaying of Appointment of Ranjan Hulugalle as Lake House Finance Director
The imprudent appointment of Ranjan Hulugalle as Finance Director of state-controlled print media publishing company ‘Lake House’ by your son Ruwan Wijewardene, Minister of Mass Media was severely criticized in Parliament last week by JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. He alleged that in the context of Ranjan Hulugalle (i) being a former director of Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) the Primary Dealer at the centre of the egregious Treasury Bond Scam (ii) his Passport being “impounded by courts over the bond scam investigation” he should never have been appointed to this position. Dissanayake also alleged that Hulugalle suppressing in his Bio Data the fact that he was a director of PTL raises questions on a possible hidden agenda leading to his appointment.
The JVP leader also raised the issue of ‘conflict of interest’ in your son’s appointment as Minister of Mass Media since Wijeya Newspapers Limited owned by his family led by you which is the dominant print media entity in the country will have access to information from competing media entities which include state controlled ‘Lake House’.
Your son’s justification in Parliament for Hulugalle’s appointment is both facile and laughable. It is also unbecoming of a person of his position. He inter alia stated that although he was aware that Hulugalle was a director of PTL, he went ahead with the appointment as a mark of gratitude to H.A.J. Hulugalle (his grandfather) who was a close friend and colleague of Ruwan’s grandfather D.R. Wijewardene during the early days of ‘Lake House’.
Conflict of Interest
The reason why I am writing to you on this issue is because due to an apparent ‘conflict of interest’ your ‘Daily Mirror’ has evidently ‘downplayed’ the reporting of this ill advised appointment. For example, the ‘Daily Mirror’ of 25 March has positioned its report of this appointment inconspicuously on Page 6. This is the same ‘Daily Mirror’ that on 21 March 2019 gave Page 1 coverage to a story titled ‘HE BIT AN SI TO GET AWAY BUT LEFT SANS HIS PANTS’!
This is not all. The report of the appointment of Hulugalle is mysteriously missing in the online edition of ‘Daily Mirror’. I brought this to the attention of your editor Kesara Abeywardena yesterday itself. Here again the ‘Daily Mirror’ online edition is still carrying the (nationally crucial news item!) ‘Deceased mother had partaken of fried fish on alms giving day’!
Conclusion
You are the immediate Past Chairman of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) and Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL). I dare say both the SLPI and PCCSL is dominated by your DOMINANT media company Wijeya Newspapers Limited of which you are Chairman. To top it all your son Ruwan Wijewardene is Minister of Mass Media in a government where his first cousin Ranil Wickremesinghe is Prime Minister.
It is indeed strange there has been no outrage to your son’s appointment as Minister of Mass Media from the COMPETITIVE media. Are they overawed by you and your dominant media company? Sri Lanka is indeed ‘A land like no other’!
I know nothing will come of this letter and it will be business as usual similar to your directive in writing to ‘Daily Mirror’ Editor, Kesara Abeywardene:
1) Not to give me a ‘Right of Reply’ to a prominent Op-Ed article per se defamatory of me.
2) “Simply Stop Muttu After That” after which none of my articles are published in the ‘Daily Mirror’ and ‘Daily FT’.
Please note articles are written by me pro bono in the public interest.
Yours faithfully,
Amrit Muttukumaru
(Public Interest Activist)
Craig / April 1, 2019
A fine letter to a not so fine man about his nincompoop son. Readers/CT should also track his recent horrific appointments to other state media institutions. They will be horrified. We have all realized that the mainstream media only dishes out what they want us to read. What the heck is Ranil doing as these shameless appointments are made and unmade? And yes, there has been no outrage to his son’s appointment as Minister of Mass Media from the COMPETITIVE media.
/
Kalupahana / April 2, 2019
Good Points Mr. Muttukumaru. Keep up the good work!
With Arjun Mahendran, Ranajan Hugugalle was the other Sri Lanka DIASPORA TECHNICAL EXPERT of the bond scam
Chita Ranjan Hulugalle is a US Citizen, who ran a dodgy hedge fund in Las Vegas. Ranjan ran a dodgy hedge fund in Las Vegas and California before moving to Sri Lanka to participate in the PTL scams.
Like Arjuna Mahendran from the Sri Lanka Diaspora there is a diaspora nexus in the Washington Consensus Plot/ project to debilitate Institutions and like the Central Bank and SEC and debt trap Lanka and then asset strip strategic lands and ports.
The lead of the Millennium Challenge Corp (MCC) is also SL diaspora – Nilan Fernando, formally Asia Foundation which was originally set up by the CIA to weaponize Buddhism in the Cold War.
/
S. Modaya / April 2, 2019
All over the world the US uses its duel citizens / diasporas to further its interests. Israel is of course case number 1– to de-stabilize the Mid East and nail Iran and keep the Sunni-Shia conflict pot boiling and then sell weapons… Also in In Latina America, Cuba, Turkey, etc. weaponizing diasporas is a consistent pattern and the reason for the Green Card lottery that has given third world politicians and military lots of green cards..
Ricardo Haussman from Harvard Center for Development made a pitch for US-SL diaspora at a talk at the LKI in Sri Lanka some time ago.
Check out Noam Chomsky’s brilliant critical analyses..
Weaponizing Disaporas is part of the identity politics game of American imperialism — to Divide, Distract and Rule Lanka with Logisitcs hubs/ bases and with puppet and butterfly master Bondscam Ranil!
/
A.N. Other / April 2, 2019
Amrit my friend,
A little advice to you. Carry on like this , dragging a non- existent “bond scam” into every piece you write, and soon enough not only the Daily Mirror but CT will ban you. Haven’t you heard of the Singaporean government demanding proper evidence? Perhaps you could help them out, even though you have never produced any figures on this forum?
/
nalmen / April 1, 2019
ruwan apponited his friend and election worker RANJIT hulugalle to lake house not ptl director ranjan hulugalle ranjit is the son of upatissa hulugalle while ranjan is the son of his brother ranjan hulugalle
ranjit was already in charge of the lake house press
akd got the names confused
/
Craig / April 1, 2019
Nalmen – read Ruwans reply in Parliament in response to AKD:
” State Minister of Defence and Non Cabinet Minister of Mass Media Ruwan Wijewardene told Parliament yesterday that he gave a letter recommending Ranjan Hulugalle to the post of Director Finance of Lake House. The State Minister said Ranjan Hulugalle is the grandson of H.A.J. Hulugalle who played a pioneering role in establishing Lake House together with his grandfather. “Therefore, I recommended Ranjan Hulugalle to that post as a mark of respect to his grandfather. This has nothing to do with the Bond scam.” -CDN
/
nalmen / April 2, 2019
craig
in which case ruwaan also got confused by the similarity of names
ranjit is also a grandson of HAJ
/
kolla / April 2, 2019
Ranil’s return as PM for 5th time has a historical importance, negative as all previous occasions.
This time his role was to prove the hidden corruption of the soul and the poverty of spirit of our self proclaimed elite. This so called elite which emerged before independence and later consolidated is a creation of the intellectual emptiness of a nation.A main role in this elite creating propaganda was played by the Lake House under DR Wijewardena. They described what an elite should be ( themselves !)
Ranil has shown that although they speak English in their squeaky voices , wear tie and coat at every opportunity, have their repulsive hands in their trouser pockets when walking and send their children to British universities( Mahendran !) they are only pretenders to everything .
Like the village cunning of the Rajapakse types, these Colombo fellows also think in terms of family and clan, they rob and they con. Ranil is promoting Ruwan an obvious nitwit. Premadasa is there because of his father. Navin is Gamini’s son. The game goes on. Only that the jokers in this country do not realize the laugh is on them
/
The Oracle / April 2, 2019
It’s all jobs for the boys , negatives are swept under the carpet . Ruwan is learning very fast from his dear cousin.
/
Ad / April 2, 2019
Amrit, the affairs of governance is that it is all a matter of skilled swindling. MS wants to have big share along with RW’s team. But RW’s shrewd enough to hold key positions to swindle more than MS, the reason why October revolution. Both RW and MS cannot let go of the situ as stake is too much to forego. Now MS put in his place, RW is having a steady pace of swindling. Ruwan also is towing this line. MR is against the formation of ‘National’ govt. for this reason. Parliament members form the swindlers list that you have to go after.
/
Spring Koha / April 2, 2019
Ho Ho Ho!
This is sunny Sri Lanka. A 2500-year-old and counting civilisation, where rules are well set.
First Family; Second, old School tie; third, commission-producing cronies, fourth, caste.
The plebs and proles can only protest in exasperation.
/
K.Pillai / April 2, 2019
Another questionable appointment?
The Lankan Elites know no political boundaries. They have the proverbial nine lives.
We, layLankans, have one life and struggling with it.
/
Sarathchandra / April 8, 2019
Hats off to Amrit for standing up to media moguls re. this attempt to steam roller and silence him.
DM of course is well known for its manufacture of false narratives on key issues. The ongoing Wilpattu deforestation is the most blatant example of its meddling. Two full page articles in the space of three days in last week’s DM, plugged the issue as one between poor homeless muslims displaced by the war and despised chauvinist troublemakers such as BBS and Ravana Balakaya. Conservationists and wildlife lovers who raised genuine ecological concerns as well as the Minister responsible for this eco devastation have been conveniently erased or shaded out of the DM narrative. In the last article by a Ms Fonseka, a Catholic community on wilpattu periphery has also been thrown in for good measure. One wonders who instigates and funds these makeovers – much like the recent false cover on Drugs War in DM.
The objective of the false narrative is not so much to help the displaced poor. In this connection the PM has made an excellent suggestion for purchasing alternative private lands to settle the displaced in the North. This could be easily applied in this case too by acquiring non-sensitive lands in other areas to settle the Mannar displaced. Unfortunately, DM scribes seem to have other objectives – to divert Public attention in the direction of BBS and other unsavories , give cover to dubious motives funded by west Asian funds flows and sacrifice the priceless wilpattu.
/