Sending a clear signal to the judiciary, the Government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has launched social service programmes with the main accused in a major arms trafficking case and notorious ex-army major Nissanka Senadhipathi.
Senadhipathi and eight others have been served indictments by the Attorney General on multiple charges of gun-running and corruption, with trial set to begin by May 2020. Senadhipathi is the main suspect in the case. He evaded arrest late last year, by fleeing to Singapore for “medical treatment” the night before he was to be taken into custody.
In a blatant display of solidarity with a main accused in a major criminal trial, Ministers and SLPP MPs are tripping over themselves to be pictured alongside the Avant Garde Maritime Services Chairman, who has been seized with a desire to provide welfare services to prisons inmates, based on his own experiences while he was in remand custody on the illegal weapons trafficking charge.
Senadhipathi has launched a vocational training project for inmates and “submitted a cabinet paper” for approval, by his own admission.
The Prisons Commissioner General T.M.J.W. Tennakoon and Prisons Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva graced the launch, while Hambantota MP Namal Rajapaksa tweeted, “Very timely initiative by #SriLanka’s Ministry of Justice, Human Rights & Legal Reforms together with Avant-Garde to provide rehabilitation and vocational training for prisoners to integrate them back into society.”
The Prime Minister’s son was also at the opening and seated next to the Avant Garde chairman.
Legal experts told Colombo Telegraph that the hob-nobbing with an accused in a major criminal cases speaks volumes about the message the Government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa wants to send the judges who will hear the case. “Basically the Government is saying to the judiciary, Senadhipathi is one of ours and don’t touch him” a senior lawyer said. It would take exceptional courage on the part of judges to convict such a high profile friend of the President the lawyer added. (By Janakie Mediwake)
anonymous / February 21, 2020
What can you expect from a family of criminals/fraudsters & a criminal of a president?
‘Birds of a Feather Flock together’
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D. P. / February 21, 2020
anonymous,
This “birds of feathers getting together” had to be expected & therefore I’m not surprised at all. However, everytime I see/hear incidents like these, my anger grows exponentially against Ranil/Ravi/MY 3 betrayal of Jan 8, 2015 voters.
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I’m really worried about both the economic & political future of the country b’cos the financial situation is so bad that no party would be able to run a stable Gvt long enough to recover from the current financial abyss. Ranil knows this perfectly well and therefore, he prefer to lay down & wait for the next pillow change for an easy ride to power. That is why he is so reluctant to give up the party leadership. But, this system of pillow change will not punish those who got caught for stealing public money. Therefore, despite Ranil’s ability to steer the country towards an economic recovery, his political leadership is no longer acceptable.
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On the other hand, if Sajith could take over Gvt that has lost about Rs 600 billion of annual revenue already due to unwise/untimely tax deductions along with a collapse of tourism & related industries, it is inevitable that he also would face a huge voter anger before long for reintroducing old tax system. If that happen, voters will definitely go back to discarded dirty pillows once again. In other words, the huge challenge country is facing today is on how to convince the voters not to vote for corrupt politicians again no matter how hard the recovery process could be as long as the Governing is free of corruption. This is not an easy task!
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rama / February 25, 2020
The country has been taken on a ride for a long long time because the gullible Sri Lankans trusted every idiot who spoke big. Gotta spoke about what he was planning to do but the country is broke he can do nothing. What audacity from MR who went to India to beg for a moratorium getting the country more into a corner. SL is doomed to suffer and the day will soon come when people will rise to create chaos and that would be bloodshed and thunder never seen before. India could come to assist but will make SL another state of India. It is obvious that neither Gotta nor MR got any reception as such when they visited India but Trump stole the show,it only shows that the “R” clan is being sidelined and probably treated as clowns
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Craig / February 21, 2020
Yes, the stage is being set for the grand white wash. What a blatant suck up to a man who is on Bail and now on trial. This is arrogance of the highest order. A stark reminder to all of us of whats in store.. And as usual the gutless, spineless mainstream media simply and tamely reports this – as they did of yesterday’s appointment of a retired major general as the DG of SL Customs. Will the Administrative Service protest? Or will they squirm?
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rama / February 25, 2020
This Major Gen must be having both his feet in the grave and DG of Customs there will be pandemonium with plenty of narcotics and Chinese women entering the country so we will be breathing the COV19 virus until we drop dead. These politicians will not even have a chance to fly to S’Pore for treatment. Importing cheap brands of pharmaceuticals continues unabated. Lets us hope that SL will not become a country like Yemen
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ROHAN JOHNPILLAI / February 21, 2020
all those who have either intimate or not an intimate connection or two are not honorable ex-military or civil better to dead buggers of the lowest caste and in criminals only classless mog of low-class gangsters who greedily bringing down the honorable reputation that this now bankrupt isle had built till 1956.
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ever since 1956 when the petty-minded racist Sinhala Buddhists voted an oxford educated once upon a time a very very church-attending Christian who only knew very well that being a Christian then disowned his white cotton exclusively tailored white cotton suits and became a rogue Buddhist all because to enable him and his family to sit and soil the royal bog in the cesspit
there is speculation as to sexually which way he was swinging on the trees.?
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now this uncouth, unsavory arms dealer by the name of Nissanka Senadhipathi.desires to spend a few billions of other good folks hard-earned monies accumulated and saved for a very long time saved gingerly, kept under their pillows and inside their bulky pillows.?
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knowing very very well thanks to his close association with the wide arsed rajapuka’s he confidently beyond all doubts knows for a fact that he and his uncouth cohorts will be guests at his majesty’s right royal prisons where due to their intimacy with the crim rajapuka clan they will be assured a room at the official residence of the commissioner of prisons an ex-military dude who has to share his matrimonial queen-sized much soiled better not to be described mattress with him the so-called crim major.?
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Mallaiyuran / February 21, 2020
The National Hangman, other than War Criminal, Mass Murderer, Journalist killer, ….. what other credit he has himself to be an EP to a country?
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mike / February 22, 2020
Mallaiyuran – “…..what other credit he has himself to be an EP to a country?” He is also an A M E R I C A N citizen and belongs to the Rajafucksha Mafia Group of Companies!
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Buddhist / February 21, 2020
Sri Lanka is a “CROOKS PARADISE” under Gota-Mahinda Government. Mahinda will either hug a drug dealers when the police is raiding the drug dealer’s housese, give a promotion to an accused human rights violator, give a deputy government whip position to a “Miriskudu Politician”, give a minister position to a guy who had numerous identity cards and passport or transfer honest diplomats – civil servants – judges – diplomats etc out of their positions as if they have done something wrong. This is the reality of Gota-Mahinda government today.
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Stan / February 21, 2020
You can judge the leader of a country by the company he keeps around him. PGR is surrounding himself with the most unsavoury bunch of characters one can think of. Most of the persons he has been appointing to high posts are suspects in criminal cases and many of the police officers he keeps transferring out are the persons who know the full details of these criminals. But then PGR is the biggest criminal of all and a Kallathoni who is unable to produce incontrovertible evidence that he is not a citizen of the United States of America.
Let us see if the next State Department list contains his name!
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JD / February 21, 2020
There is one key person there. Most associated with him went to jail or had to cover up their face out of shame.
Yahapalanaya came to clean it.
So, think about that, do you want the recycling of the same gang over and over.
As part of recycling, even if they go through a conveyor belt or a machine, they will be still the same.
Change them. MPs come to the Radio and talk the same and say Old boys club is good.
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Plato. / February 21, 2020
President Gota generally appoints those who have court cases pending against them for corruption and various other crimes.There would be more such appointments.The man is already drunk with power and he is challenging the established norms in our Law and Order practice.
The judiciary is being intimidated no doubt to do his bidding.
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rama / February 25, 2020
The country has been taken on a ride for a long long time because the gullible Sri Lankans trusted every idiot who spoke big. Gotta spoke about what he was planning to do but the country is broke he can do nothing. What audacity from MR who went to India to beg for a moratorium getting the country more into a corner. SL is doomed to suffer and the day will soon come when people will rise to create chaos and that would be bloodshed and thunder never seen before. India could come to assist but will make SL another state of India. It is obvious that neither Gotta nor MR got any reception as such when they visited India but Trump stole the show,it only shows that the “R” clan is being sidelined and probably treated as clowns
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K.A. Sumanasekera / February 22, 2020
Senadipathi is a real battler as well as a War Hero , who served the Nation as a soldier of the Special Forces Unit, who beat the shit out of the LTTE in Maravil Aru and eventually finished the scourge of Tamil Terrorism which ruined the country for 30 years.
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After being locked up by the Yahapalana Justice for 12 Months , Seandipathy came out swinging on the Derana TV Program ,flaying the people who jailed him and why he was jailed.
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It was none other than Dr Rajitha and a few other close buddies of Dr Rani Wickeremasinghe who fixed him , because Senadipathy didn’t want to share his Billions of Ruppiah income with them.
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And Senadipathy showed all the files in his possession with the names and details of his enemies..
Seanadipathy even said he has Recordings of the Conversations with them.
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I thought Dr Rajitha would have sent Senadipathty a Letter of Demand for at least 2 Billion Ruppiahs for damage to Dr Rajitha’s Image .
And another at least One Billion demand to Balaya for putting Senadipathy on Air.
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Just like the ex UNP Minister Bathudeen’s letter of Demand to Minister Wimal Weerawansa for One Billion Ruppiahs for the damage to Bathudeen’s good image.
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Extra cover / February 22, 2020
6,900,000 buffoons voted for Gotler. So what can you expect. He has been given a licence to do what he likes as long as the Sinhalese / Buddhists are safe. To hell with the Country.
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Jehan / February 22, 2020
The country’s becoming the Golden triangle for drugs and mafia activities,If the decent law abiding citizen don’t rise to the occasion, we will be a Coronavirus infected outpost of Chinese ccp mafia. Gnanasara is getting the temples as distribution centers for drugs, the drug mafia is running the business from the prison hospital.
Innocent Muslims have been targeted as terrorist and prisoned. One 19 year old Muslim boy was killed, the body was dumped at the parents house, this will cause resistance, and we might have a war again, with mafia Gots using it as a distraction,
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Lanka / February 22, 2020
This could be an attempt to recruit prisoners to Avante grand by paying the minimal allowance by promising that the prison term will be reduced by this many years. Some or these prisoners must be hardcore criminals so it will be easy for them to kill or getting killed.
I hear prisoners are working in Chinese state owned corporation to maximize returns. In America there were indentured servants (white) who came from UK to work in the plantation and were given liberation after few years.
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Rationalist / February 23, 2020
I have been trying to find out what exactly was the crime that Avant Grade did -but all my efforts proved futile. Apparently, they provided security services for ships being threatened by pirates near the Somalian cost and operated three floating armories in cooperation with a couple of other middle east countries. Did the Govt. use their services to secure weapons during the war? If so, that is not a crime as inland weapons storage is a threat from the LTTE. I have no problem with the use of private facilities to fight a major terrorist war that was destroying our country. Perhaps they contravened some bureaucratic regulation on arms storage? Can someone clarify what exactly is the crime Avant Grade is accused of? None of the persons I asked personally could explain.
The headline talks of “Gun Smuggling”. Can someone clarify smuggling from whom to whom?
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Douglas / February 23, 2020
As AKD said, the President GR has installed a “Military Type Mega Laundry” to clean all the “MAFIA” members.
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MirakRajBanda / February 25, 2020
Racist pigs remain as pigs (who helped Rajapakayas to crown) while the hyenas keep preparing for a final plunder of mother Lanka. Please stop this!!!!!!!!!
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