Controversial Governor of Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran has identified at least five officials of the bank, who he believes disclosed vital information on his credit card spending to NFF Leader Wimal Weerawansa, sources close to Mahendran told the Colombo Telegraph. Mahendran’s action however goes against the government’s rhetoric and assurance of the public’s right to information.
Mahendran
“At least three officers from the finance division and two from the internal audit, a vociferous trade union activist, a senior member of the top management have been identified to have committed the said offence and immediate action will be taken in the due course,” the sources said.
According to the sources, these officials have orchestrated the act at the request of a senior member in the joint opposition who has used Weerawansa to take the lead in the mudslinging campaign.
“Disciplinary action is expected to be carried out on the basis of integrity as the said officials have aided and abetted to tarnish the image of the Central bank and the Governor,” the sources said.
“Four of the said officials have been identified to be close allies of the former governor who had rewarded them undue promotions and several overseas trips per year,” the sources added.
The sources said that the Central Bank will soon announce and provide a detail of the expenditure incurred for the governor’s official work and a few instance where governor has reimbursed the amount spent for purchasing some books for his personal use.
According the ARTICLE 19, Individuals who release information on wrongdoing – whistleblowers – must be protected. This Principle was endorsed the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, in his report to the 2000 session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2000/63), and referred to by the Commission in its 2000 resolution on freedom of expression, as well as by his successor in 2013 in his report to the UN General Assembly in 2013 (A/68/362, 4 September 2013).
The principle of Protection for Whistleblowers says; Individuals should be protected from any legal, administrative or employment-related sanctions or harms for releasing information on wrongdoing by public or private bodies. This should be established clearly in law. The best practice is for countries to adopt comprehensive laws that apply to all related aspects of criminal, civil, administrative and labour law.
“’Wrongdoing’ in this context includes the commission of a criminal offence, failure to comply with a legal obligation, a miscarriage of justice, corruption or dishonesty, or serious maladministration regarding a public body. It also includes a serious threat to health, safety or the environment, whether linked to individual wrongdoing or not.
“Whistleblowers should benefit from protection as long as they acted with the reasonable belief that the information was substantially true and disclosed evidence of wrongdoing. Such protection should apply even where disclosure would otherwise be in breach of a legal or employment requirement. Those that sanction, harm or harass whistleblowers should themselves face administrative or legal sanctions or criminal penalties in the most serious cases.
“In some countries, protection for whistleblowers is conditional upon a requirement to release the information to certain individuals or oversight bodies. Protection for disclosure to other individuals including to the media should be available where the persons reasonably believed that disclosure to those bodies would not result in an adequate remedy for the wrongdoing that is exposed. Anonymous disclosure should also be allowed and protected.
“The ‘public interest’ for disclosure to other parties include the media in this context would include situations where the benefits of disclosure outweigh the harm, or where an alternative means of releasing the information is necessary to protect a key interest. This would apply, for example, in situations where whistleblowers need protection from retaliation, where the problem is unlikely to be resolved through formal mechanisms, where there is an exceptionally serious reason for releasing the information, such as an imminent threat to public health or safety, or where there is a risk that evidence of wrongdoing will otherwise be concealed or destroyed.”
Native Vedda / June 5, 2016
“Arjuna Mahendran’s Hunt For Whistleblowers Continue: At Least Five Officers Identified”
Are they MR’s b***s carriers or the ones who refused to carry AM’s b***s?
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Amarasiri / June 5, 2016
Controversial Governor of Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran
Do you want to bid on win power projects, instead of credit cards? There are easy pickings. You can make more money there. However, beware of the competition. 20 bidders!
Bidding suspended as storm brews over Chunnakam wind power plants
The Power and Renewable Energy Ministry has suspended the competitive bidding process for two 10 Megawatt wind power plants in Chunnakam in the North after ‘concerns’ were raised by the Treasury. Power and Renewable Energy Deputy Minister Ajith Perera said the bidding process would remain suspended until the concerns raised by the Treasury were addressed.
However, he said the decision to suspend the bidding processes should not be construed as a move to veer away from the ministry’s policy of open and competitive bidding. The Sunday Times learns that the Treasury had raised issue because the ministry had adopted two types of bidding processes for the two plants, with one plant coming under a general competitive bidding process aimed largely at local operators, while the other plant was open to international competitive bidding.
Meanwhile, the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) alleged that the bidding had been suspended due to pressure exerted by some powerful ministers. CEBEU President Athula Wanniarachchi stated that they had received information that, at a meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Economic Management on May 25, some ministers called for the suspension of the bidding processes.
He said the existing wind power plants, which had a cumulative capacity of 130MW, were paid Rs. 20 or Rs. 23 per unit under a Standard Power Purchase Agreement (SPPA) signed between the CEB and plant developers. “Buying power at this rate is not economical for consumers or the country. We are paying the highest unit price in the world to these developers. The standard world price is around Rs.10-12 per unit,” Mr. Wanniarachchi claimed.
The CEB called for competitive bidding for these two power plants through newspaper advertisements published on December 14, 2015. About 20 bidders submitted bids. Mr. Wanniarachchi charged there was intense lobbying by interested parties to stop the competitive bidding process due to fears it would expose the fact that power generated by wind power plants could be bought at Rs10 per unit.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/160605/news/bidding-suspended-as-storm-brews-over-chunnakam-wind-power-plants-196564.html
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Amarasiri / June 6, 2016
Controversial Governor of Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran
RE:Arjuna Mahendran’s Hunt For Whistleblowers Continues: At Least Five Officers Identif
What is your IQ? Where do you stand on your common sense? On your Ego?
Just curious!
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bo / June 5, 2016
“Whistleblowers should benefit from protection as long as they acted with the reasonable belief that the information was substantially true and disclosed evidence of wrongdoing.”
Whether it is a current politikko in power, crown servant or those politikko in opposition, they MUST not do this sort of abuse and indulge in corrupt practices. I do not mind who exposes this kind of uncontrolled and exhorbitant misuse of privileges; here is a man who is supposed to be controlling our economy and taking it forward, but it seems he is there to destroy our economy and have a good time too at our expense while he is at it. We have heard of his deal with his nephew at a great loss to the country, and getting away without any punishment. We need more whistle blowers. I hope that they get full protection from the President. It is a public interest matter and they have done the right thing.
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KA Sumanasekera / June 5, 2016
Singaporean’s mate Batalanada Ranil formed his own F*****CID to catch and punish his enemies.
The Singaporean has taken cue from the mate and formed his own too.
What is wrong with that?
I mean our inhabitants don’t understand how hard it is to give them Yahapalanaya.
Look at how hard the Singaporean has been pushing even his Credit Card to give good governance. to the Yahapalana suckers.
And the Dodos in his own office find time to Blow Whistles.
Do they think this hard working Singaporean is playing footy?….
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Amarasiri / June 5, 2016
RE:Arjuna Mahendran’s Hunt For Whistleblowers Continue: At Least Five Officers Identified
“Controversial Governor of Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran has identified at least five officials of the bank, who he believes disclosed vital information on his credit card spending to NFF Leader Wimal Weerawansa, sources close to Mahendran told the Colombo Telegraph. Mahendran’s action however goes against the government’s rhetoric and assurance of the public’s right to information.”
Very good. Now we should have a Whistle Blower Protection and Bonus Bill.
10 to 15% of the what the Govt. recovers should be given to Whistle Blowers, and theit jobs protected.
What is Governor Mahendran going to do? Perhaps he should consult with Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Suresh / June 5, 2016
CT Editorial & So called Journalists seem to haw a carnal obsession about Governor Arjuna Mahendran.
Do you not have any more important & pressing need to report?
You ll have brought yourselves down to levels lower that the trashy magazines for sale in the supermarket .
You ll are Stil in Rajapakse times,
But remember that you ll were banned by that government.
Very soon this government too will have you blipped off the radar.
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Hamlet / June 5, 2016
Can’t see that the Whistle Blowers have done anything Wrong!
They have exposed Wrongdoing which Yahapalanaya should Investigate!
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harry hatton / June 5, 2016
All this comes out of the unique nature of the Prime minister we have now ! Unpopular, unwanted but with a stranglehold on the UNP.
Also he has convinced certain sections of the community that he is an expert on economics( actually he is only a lawyer who never practiced the law) and a super manager( in truth very mediocre as a minister and bungling as a leader).
The first thing he did as prime Minister is to stop the Colombo Port development project! Not only did he antagonize China but also harmed our economy. Now this government is going on their knees to China begging for mercy.
The trick is as he does not want to be found out for a ordinary lawyer with only average intelligence, he puts up a front of arrogance and a know all face.Dont forget the guy wrote a book on Buddhism !
We remember the way in which our Prime Minister defended Mahendran in Parliament and tried to fool the 20 million people of this country by appointing a committee of lawyers of his own party to investigate the Bond scam.Where in the world does a government appoint lawyers from a political party to investigate a public fraud ?
Arjun Mahendran is a fraudster.
And enough of this Nivad Cabral did this and that. If cabral did anything illegal please bring him before court.
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Patriot / June 5, 2016
Colombo Telegraph is surprised to see Yahapal Maya acting strange. We told you so.
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Native Vedda / June 5, 2016
Patriot pathetic
“Colombo Telegraph is surprised to see Yahapal Maya acting strange.”
Probably you are standing on your head while sitting on your brain.
” We told you so.”
Please remind us.
What did you tell us about the previous MR’s clan and cronies?
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Patriot / June 6, 2016
Native going ga ga over Bata Ranil is fine. He likes your Native Butt.
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Funlover / June 5, 2016
Arjuna Mahendran has been dumped in the Central Bank as its Governor only because those yielding political power in Sri Lanka desire to use this man as their cat’s paw.
Otherwise there was absolutely no need to employ a foreign national in this important responsible and sensitive position.
It is beholden on Ranil Wickremasinge to explain. Mr Clean label alone is not sufficient.
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Uthungan / June 5, 2016
How is that foreign judges are taboo for investigation of war crimes but a Singaporean national who was a former
Lankan but had renounced his Lankan nationality be appointed as a Governor of the Central Bank?
Was a follow up example of US Green Card holder Gotabaya’s appointment as Defence Secretary bythe MARa regime?
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k.soysa / June 5, 2016
This man is one of the most arrogant persons that we are seeing. He does not realize that he is a public servant and serves the PEOPLE and not himself. I hope the general public will JOIN those who are (so-called) whistle blowers. Insist that he prepares proper accounts of all his expenses and also explain his conduct.
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Nuwan / June 5, 2016
You can write in length about the UN Articles on whistleblowing. Unless provided by the sri lankan law, nothing stands in the way of hunting them down. It might stop at no one can do nothing. Simply there wont even be elections fo another 10 years.
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Funlover / June 5, 2016
What use are elections, when 99% of those seeking election to public office are [Edited out].
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roger / June 5, 2016
What ever the reasoning, this man Mahendran’s actions have been questioned from day one. There is no doubt that this person is not the suitable person for the job. RW is no longer the clean man or the efficient planner, as once was thought. He is an idiosyncratic person with stubborn character of no use. He and his team has converted this country into a real mess. He and his team has only continued what MR started. If Ranil has any commitment to what his clan promised to achieve power, he his to send his beloved Mahendran home, at least that will give people some relief.
If RW and his clan cannot understand simple economics that reducing revenue and increasing recurrent expenditure will push the economy down the slippery slope, and increasing purchasing power will increase imports and inflation will negatively affect exports (all of which happened during the last year forcing the RW clan to borrow money for consumption) I think there is a need for a change before its too late.
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Gune / June 5, 2016
CT,
We are not interested who the whistleblowers are and how efficient the governor is in apprehending the culprits. We only want to know if the contents of the allegation is true or false. Any other form of reporting this matter is only digressing from the core issue. This governor has been problematic from day one and this needs to be checked out.
If this is a gross exaggeration by Wimal and the joint opposition which they are very well capable of, then that too needs to be investigated.
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Yahapalanaya / June 5, 2016
AM without being a coward face the press and prove that the allegations are false whithout taking revenge from the whistleblowers. RW don’t be elusive and silent as usual else voter will very soon be on the street.
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Nagananda / June 5, 2016
Similar to civilised countries like UK where there is a legislation – Public Interest Disclosure Act – to protect whistleblowers, Sri Lanka also should introduce an act of parliament to protect whistleblowers who make this kind of disclosures in the public interest.
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sr / June 5, 2016
Right or wrong something done in good faith must be accepted so the whistle blowers must be given protection.
“AM has identified the whistle blowers”
AM has nothing to do here. He has to wait & see.
Solidarity of other officials with the whistle blowers will be the key for the people to witness of a rare event.
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S. Sivasegaram / June 5, 2016
The world owes a lot to whistle-blowers in recent years. They should be commended for revealing the truth in the interest of the public.
There are false alarms and spreading of sensational falsehoods which are punishable.
Let us consider apprehending the culprits after the truth is established.
The Governor’s first task should have been to clarify the matter promptly– not going on a manhunt.
If the revelation was mala fide then an inquiry is fully in order.
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justice / June 6, 2016
No whistleblower has so far identified the shadowy figures who actually conducted the controversial Bond Auctions – in a capricious manner, increasing the amounts auctioned and the percentages for each amount, enriching Mahendran’s son in law and other primary dealers, for many years.
These persons must have received benefits from the primary dealers.
Are they too protected under Article 19.
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Jay / June 6, 2016
This fellow should be sacked. Is he the most qualified bloke to hold this post? Being a friend of RW is not a qualification or skill. Things are going bad to worse under Yahapalanaya. Yahapalanaya is the biggest joke of the century.
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Sirisena Yatawara / June 6, 2016
Arjuna Mhandarn is son of Charlee.M….[Edited out]
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Coconut Republic / June 6, 2016
Yes, It is true there were trips made by some unwarranted CB employees and their whole families. Upon few drinks there were train dance fun. These are the crowd also bought many properties across our mother land by robbing CB by undue promotions too.
Mr Mahendren, also check on the employees of the bank which issued your credit card.
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thondamanny / June 6, 2016
Protect the Whistle Blowers…… They are an asset.
let us hear more wrongdoing by this CB Governor.
RW set a thief to rob the CB coffers on his behalf. So this is what is called Mr. Clean in Sri lanka that is to use a Cat’s Paw.
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Kettikaran / June 7, 2016
There is a thin line dividing a conscientious whistle-blower acting in the interest of the country-the public and the other variety that steals delicate information to confuse and inflame the public.
An official Dinner costing Rs.10,000 in a suitable place either in Colombo or a foreign capital for VIP officials, in actual effect, works out to about $60 – below average by any standards.
In Washington, London, Paris, Tokyo or any other recognised capital this will come to about $200-400 per person. Surely, you don’t expect our Governor of the Central Bank to dine at a thosa-kade or Buhari Restaurant. And, in fairness to the man, he cannot be dining on CBSL account on every meal. He does it only on occasion.
That virtual boy wonder Sajin Vas is said to have spent US$400 on a Spa bath in Istanbul. The bill for the crooked Weerawansa – an upstart from the JVP, for his haircut would come to over US$100 – if you check his own many bills on his utterly unnecessary foreign jaunts. It will be many times more for the regular jaunts he took his children and wife to Los Angeles when he was Minister – at government expense. From Liptons Circus handiya to Wonderland in Los Angeles is a long jump for this ill-educated “former Minister” Senior politico Buddhadasa of Angoda-Weliweriya area will provide more interesting details of Weerawansas rackets, some of it now under investigations by the FCID.
Kettikaran
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Kasun / June 8, 2016
What is the divide between a whistle-blower and a politically motivated action. Whistle-blowers need not feed information to a political party. This is pure selfish sucking upto his masters.
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