Interpol Headquarters confirmed that there was no company called Bellimissa Holdings Limited in the United Kingdom. When the MiG deal fell into media spotlight in December 2006, it was highlighted that so-called government-government deal involved payment to a mysterious third party, Bellimissa Holdings, UK. Bellimissa was in fact a ghost company that did not exist in any form in the UK. Even London address it had provided to the Defence Ministry was false.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Confirming the media reports, last week, the Interpol Headquarters has reported to the the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) that there was no company called Bellimissa Holdings Limited in the UK.
The controversial MiG 27 deal was first revealed by Sunday Times Defence Correspondent and Senior Journalist Iqbal Athas in December 2006 and further exposed in The Sunday Leader then edited by murdered Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge.
It was revealed in the front page report of The Sunday Times dated 03.12.2006 that four MiG 27s purchased in 2006 had been on the market for several years. They had lain in disuse since 1991 and were repaired by Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant before being sold to Sri Lanka. In fact, in 2000, three of these planes had been rejected by SLAF on two different occasions.
Firstly on May 25, 2000, when the SLAF purchased four MiG 27 aircrafts at US$ 1.5 million each, and next on October 24, 2000 when two more MiG 27 aircraft were purchased for US$ 1.6 million each. Thus, it appears that these very same MiG 27 aircraft had earlier been rejected by the SLAF in 2000 were purchased in 2006 at a cost of US$ 2.462 million each.
On the basis of The Sunday Times news report on March 11, 2007 Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi, two key minsters who broke away from the Rajapaksa government made complaint to the Bribery Commission alleging corruption part of the Presiden’ts brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Following the complaint the Ministry of Defence issued a statement on March 22, 2007, titled “MiG 27-Inside Story”. This statement is false in many aspects. On of the main issues is the MOD refers this procurement is as a deal between the producer government ( Ukraine ) and the Government of Sri Lanka. This statment is false for the following reasons. Ukrinmash from SLAF purchased these aircrafts is the self-supporting Foreign Trade Investment Subsidiary of UKPSPETSEXPORT – the State company responsible for the export of military products. Such organisation does not fall within the parameters of a government to government contact.
Under a Government to Government deal, monies must be paid to the relevant bank account of the Government or a Government Institution. The MiG purchase monies were not paid to a bank account of ukrimash in Ukraine either. Instead payments were made to the account of UK company named Billimissa Holdings.
Belimissa Holdings Limited is a party of the contact sign by the MOD. So the MOD is deliberately lied to the public to cover up this fraud.
Udayanga Weeratunga, a first cousin of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had allegedly involved in arms sales to separatist rebel fighters in Ukraine, was the main broker of the MiG Deal.
In February 2006, Udayanga Weeratunga was not Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Russia, but a Sri Lankan citizen resident in Ukraine. There was nothing to distinguish him from any other Sri Lankan apart from being a first cousin of the Rajapaksa brothers.
Records from the guard room of Air Force Headquarters indicate that Weeratuna visited the SLAF headquarters no less than 25 times to meet air force officials.
Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa filed legal action against The Sunday Leader newspaper to prevent further exposure of the corrupt deal. The investigative reports on the MiG deal proved to be one of the last reports on controversial defence purchases under Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s reign in Sri Lanka’s mainstream press. After The Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge was killed, the newspaper was purchased by a Rajapaksa family friend Asanga Seneviratne. The Sunday Leader, on March this year apologised to Gotabaya Rajapaksa for a series of articles written in the newspapers in 2006 on the purchase of MIG 27 aircraft for the Sri Lankan Air Force. The unqualified apology was carried in The Sunday Leader newspaper of 8.3.2015.
On April 2, 2015, Colombo Telegraph exclusively reported that after violating all laid down norms for recruitment to the Sri Lanka Navy, the son of former President Yoshitha Rajapaksa received a 13th month course sponsored and paid for by Ukrinmarsh, the Ukranian Government’s “State Self-Supporting Foreign Trade and Investment Firm.”
It was all arranged by Udayanga Weeratunga, former Sri Lanka Ambassador to Russia and first cousin of Rajapaksa. This clearly shows that Weeratunga, who stands accused by the Ukranian Government of selling weapons to pro Russian separatist rebels was operating hand in glove with the former President and his brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Defence Secretary.
Related stories;
Academic Exposing Corrupt War Procurement Tender Process Threatened By Rajapaksa Government
Media Not Allowed To Cover Sumanthiran Cross-Examining Gotabaya
Press Barred Again From Covering Gotabaya’s Cross Examination In Court
Apology To Gotabaya By The Sunday Leader
Rajapaksa First Cousin’s Illegal Arms Deals: Sri Lanka To Send Investigation Team To Ukraine
Rajapaksas Siphon Off 18 Billion Dollars: Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera
justice / May 11, 2015
No reputed airline purchases old aircraft not in use for several years.
This “purchase” from an unidentifiable third party is irregular to say the least, and smells of corruption.
Gota needs to be compelled to give evidence regarding same, in a court of law.
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thondamannar / May 11, 2015
Justice………… You are standing on your Tail.
Old Aircraft was purchased not for an Airline BUT carryout a blow job in the North of the country.
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Leon / May 11, 2015
I suppose another Commision will be appointed. A report will be published and that would be the the end of story. Nothing will be done to the perpetrators and no action taken. This is the sorry state of affairs in Paradise.
If Gotabaya was involved in arming the separatist in the Ukaraine why is the Interpol silent on this serious matter?.
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garawi / May 11, 2015
>>If Gotabaya was involved in arming the separatist in the Ukaraine
Who said that! Read carefully!It was Weeratunge!
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kali / May 12, 2015
garawi
Who is Weeratunga. It is Gotha
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kali / May 11, 2015
MiG Deal: Rajapaksas Paid US$ 10 Million To A Ghost Company: “No Company Called Bellimissa” – Interpol Confirmed
Interpol are LIARS . They are the stooges of Western Conspiracy against the War winning CRIMINALS who are straightforward honest guys who served the Nation well without taking any rupee.
TRUTH WIL BE TOLD with the grace of Lord Buddha.
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garawi / May 11, 2015
Bull S**T! Don’t get Buddha involved in this dirty jobs!
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priyangika / May 12, 2015
Lord Buddha has to be involved. They do all these frauds and crookish deals after paying their respects to Lord Buddha. They get pirith threads tied etc. They pray to him before they start these things and now we have to prey to him to undo the wrong.
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maali karunaratne / May 12, 2015
Please do not drag Lord Buddha or any other gods respected by the people into this. It is not ethical
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Bandara - Kotte / May 13, 2015
THESE CRIMMINALS OFFER FLOWERS AND KEEP POOJAAS TO LORD BUDDHA AND TIE PIRITH THREADS TO ESCAPE FROM THEIR CRIMMINAL ACTIVITIES.
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kali / May 12, 2015
garawi
You non believer. If Lord Buddha is not there to help you man who is going to help you.
You think Allah will help you NO CHANCE MAN.
Wake up and face facts. You are in a [Edited out] ( your words not mine.
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kali / May 12, 2015
Moderator are you Sinhalese with double standards.
One for Tamil and One for Sinhalese and the reason I ask is as follows.
You allowed the following by ” garawi”
Bull S**T! Don’t get Buddha involved in this dirty jobs!
But edited out mine which was a copy of garawi”s.
Grow up my friend
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Jim softy / May 18, 2015
Editors are Sinhala christians and Tamil christians.
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Sylvia Haik / May 12, 2015
Too late. That great genealogist Jackson Anthony has said that the Rajapakses are direct descendants of Lord Buddha. It must be true because they have all the attributes of divinity. Lord Buddha must be turning in his grave.
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burt / May 12, 2015
This gives new meaning to the word “Deshapremi’s”
LOL
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Bandara - Kotte / May 12, 2015
GOTA CHEATED THE BUDDHA AND OFFERED FLOWERS TO LORD BUDDHA! STOLE IN BILLIONS IN CREATING GHOST COMPANIES! WHY WAIT ARREST HIM AND PUT HIM TO JAIL FOR STEALING POOR TAX PAYERS MONEY.
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deva / May 12, 2015
what do you know about politics…..[Edited out]
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sarojini / May 12, 2015
why would Interpol lie ? Someone would have asked if there was a company by the name of Bellisimo from Interpol and Interpol would have replied in the negative . This does not mean anything to Interpol .A mischievous person would have coined these two together to give it a completely new twist to this saga ! Does it say anywhere that Interpol has said that Gothabaya transferred funds . NO it is our pundits that give us this message .
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punchinilame / May 11, 2015
MP Sooriyaaratchis death caused by his own vehicle accident need to be re-opened now that there is news that Mangala and Soporiyaaratchi knew of Gotas MIG deal?
The defamation claim on Sunday Leader was withdrawn – it was a Gota tactic to divert
attention. Similarly the one billion dama<ges against the Finance Minister by Gota
may be a similar diversion.
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kali / May 11, 2015
Ranil should order the arrest of any Interpol Agents for spreading false rumours against the liberators. What does it matter if they have stolen a few TRILLIONS the Sinhala Nation has voted by a Majority to accept it and MS & RW have promised to protect the CROOKS.
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Goraka / May 11, 2015
They swindled 20 million Sri Lankans!
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ras / May 11, 2015
looks like the same old fabrications are coming to the surface again anticipating gotas arrest ..all of these allegations have been answered in 2007 it self
Finally, it should be noted that the neither the GoSL no any other government can decide on the bank of which a company may have its accounts and where it may get credit facilities. Ukrinmash has indicated a financial institution based in England, where the payments are to be made by the GoSL as per the contract. It is a matter of financial policy of the Ukrainian government and not a matter of interest of the GoSL.
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070320_01
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Vibhushana / May 11, 2015
You could be correct there. M. I. Kuldyrkaev, a Ukrainian national is associated with Bellisimo Holdings.
It seems someone from the Ukrainian govt swindled their tax payers.
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dcn / May 11, 2015
When the case filed by Gota against the Leader newspaper for defamation was heard in Mount Lavinia courts for a few years which closed only a few months ago. Our readers would recollect how journalists and even lawyers were chased away from this court House when the case was heard and Gota appeared himself. There was mystery as to how the case was settled by the new owners of the Leader newspapers. It all adds to something now!!!!!
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Jay / May 11, 2015
Here you go.
Please publish this. Wow.
Report by World Bank about Bellimissa Holdings Limited.
https://star.worldbank.org/corruption-cases/node/19569
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Ram / May 11, 2015
Thank you for the link.
The Bank involved is JP Morgan Chase, a behemoth in the banking world. If the suggestion is that JP Morgan in London was involved in an illegal deal with a non-existent company then it can be pursued.
I am sure you are aware that a single building with a few rooms in the Cayman Islands is the registered home of some 60,000 companies with no visible presence of company personnel on the premises. It happens elsewhere too, though not to such a gross degree. Cameron, no friend of the Rajapakses, should be more than willing to provide all the help necessary to expose wrong doing if any, because the address given is in London.
The document as published, sad to say, seems to be a MERE FISHING EXPEDITION.
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Heretic / May 12, 2015
Thanks Jay,
“According to reports by The Sunday Leader, a Sri Lankan newspaper, payments under the contract were directed to Bellimissa, as the Designated Party. Bellimissa Holdings Limited has never been registered in the UK and the address given in the air force contract – 2nd Floor, 145-157 St. John’s Street, London EC1V 4PY (pictured) is home to an inter-related group of five companies, all part of a ‘group’ in the name and style of Westbury Group. The company is not an entity in England, and it does not have either an office or a single paid employee at the address provided in the air force contract. This means that under UK law, Bellimissa Holdings cannot possibly bank inside the United Kingdom. Thus the registered address for Bellimissa on the Letter of Credit issued by the People’s Bank in its favour could not have been addressed to a British bank, or to a company address anywhere in England.”
We know that Peoples Bank paid for the Migs using a Letter of Credit and that the money did NOT go to the UK. I believe that we have seen this a long time ago in the Sunday Leader but nothing was done.
Sri Lanka Central Bank, Peoples Bank, Air Force, Interpol etc please find out where the money went. I expect that there was an offshore company somewhere in a suitable jurisdiction and that both the bank account and the company have been closed years ago. The jurisdiction of course has never registered who the beneficial owners of the company were. The money has been transferred somewhere else a long time ago. Good luck!
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Heretic / May 13, 2015
To continue:
We need more information on the conditions of the Letter of Credit. If the L/C was unrestricted and transferable the case becomes more complicated.
Most of the money should have gone to pay for the Migs not be a commission unless the Ukrainians were cheated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_credit
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Piranha / May 11, 2015
This assassin trod the stage under his brother’s rule as if he were invincible. He was cocky and self assured that no one could challenge his words or actions. He was beyond the laws of the land and any one who trod on his toes got eliminated – literally – or left the country fearing for his or her life.Now we know that he was also a thief, a mega thief who stole from the country’s coffers – peoples’ money.
This arrogant killer must be caged and before that all his crimes must be brought to light.
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mohamed aqthab / May 11, 2015
my comment with out smoke there is no fire
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sarojini / May 14, 2015
Mohamed Exception to this rule is Sri Lanka. There can be lots of smoke without fire !
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Arun Vincent / May 12, 2015
How many zeros in a million?
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kali / May 12, 2015
Paksas are responsible for the biggest ever Loot the World has seen running into BILLIONS. No wonder Interpol, MI5, CIA are all involved. But the Majority of the Majority are talking about a come back by the CRIMINALS CROOKS and THIEVES. This is what you call Sri Lankan GOOD GOVERNANCE.
Who are the advisors
DYAN
DESMOND
Ali Baba and the 40 thieves( or should I say 5.8 million thieves)
Verdict
Our beloved Jeyalalitha NOT GUILTY
MR Gotha Basil GUILTY beyond doubt;
HAGUE Beckons
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burt / May 12, 2015
The clean financial operations of the previous government is looking more and more like its war without civilian casualties.
They were not good as they thought they were in hiding or destroying evidence of the crimes. Coming back to haunt.
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burt / May 12, 2015
If this is true then it accounts for more than 50% of the 18 million the foreign minister was referring to.
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kali / May 12, 2015
A Message for the 5.8 Million RACISTS
It is obvious from the response ( which could also be a mistaken identity) to Interpol findings of the LOOT by Pakasa Thieves that it has upset them.
But there is more bad news and let me list them.
1) The Acquittal of the Iron Lady.
What does it mean for Sinhala Lanka and the Eelam Tamils.
For Sinhala Lanka it spells disaster and you may wonder why. The acquittal of the Iron Lady has strengthened her standing with Mr.Modi and they have become bedfellows again. Mr.Modi needs the Iron Lady and since her come back she has already made her intentions clear about the wellbeing of the Tamils.
2) The International effort by Interpol, CIA and MI5 ( I call Bounty Hunters) to trace the Biggest LOOT ever by Paksas.
The 10 Million transferred into a Bogus Company for the benefit of Paksas is only the Tip Of the Iceberg.
Up to now the Criminal MR has claimed that he has not stolen any money. But the evidence is staking up against him. He and his Family own Hotels in Dubai, Kiev and Mansions in USA. Coming from Humble Origins in Hambanthotta how did they amass so much wealth . This is why Gotha although a US citizen cant set foot there any more as he is wanted by the US Authorities for Money Laundering.
When Basil the Thief left for US in the early hours Gotha had a plane ready to take him to Maldives .
But Maldives authorities told him that the Luggage was too big and therefore denied entry so he is stuck in Sinhala Lanka with his servant wife and Mother In Law.
MS & RW promised to Protect the War Winning Criminals but even they cant protect the Pakasas. Welikade is a luxury for them and they are a perfect material for Guantanamo.
Ready to take questions from the 5.8 Million.
I know the Fat Mamama Fuk U Shima wont be fielding any questions as she committed Suicide in the Early Hours of the 8th January. But ella the kola might if he is allowed by CT which I doubt.
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Plato. / May 12, 2015
Kali.
Modi and Selvi Jayalalitha, I thought,were strange bed-fellows?
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kali / May 12, 2015
Plato
strange bed-fellows
But Sweet and that is what makes it more exciting. I take it that you have never had your leg up.
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Tamil from the north / May 12, 2015
GOSL should stop saying this and that about the Jarapasas and start arresting every one of them.
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priyangika / May 12, 2015
Country is tired and sick of these exposures. Do not feed us with any more of this. This is a straight forward case. It is not rocket science to investigate into this clear cut straight forward frauds. Welaiamuna’s report would be lying in a shelve and now CT has initiated a campaign to vilify the messenger who brings these news. It is very frustrating to watch this drama serial without an end. It is like these mega episode series that we are fed with in the tv.
Please investigate these crimes. For most of us who voted this government, we are not talking of revenge, it is not “paliganeema”. We ask them to end the corruptions and criminal acts of the Rajapaksas and their allies who bled this country.
I do not know whether the powers read the comments in the CT, I wish they employ some one to do this for them to show what we feel about the anti corruption activities.
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mel / May 13, 2015
Are all Sri Lankans nut cases? No surprise, after living in fear of life for 30 long years !
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Joseph De Vazz / May 13, 2015
According to UN Reports over 75,000 innocent Tamil civilians been killed by Ariel bombardments using Heavy weapons supplied by china and Pakistan and no evidences. Over Billions been stolen from the innocent Tax payers and no evidences. Well done Rajapakses.
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Srinath Gunaratne / May 13, 2015
The price was cheap, air crafts did the job, there is no bombs exploding to pieace your dumb arses! Leave this great man alone, who contributed to achieve the best for the country so far, Yeah, Bring the next election, we will teach this oppertunist scum a lesson.
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Seelawathi / May 13, 2015
Tamil srilankens really had a problem to live like Asylum seekers on western soils. But you – Srinath, guys claiming the same to have got rights in the UK is against your hearts and the nation.
I hate those men and women who abused social laws of western countries abusing the rights of real refugees. God save srilankens.
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Goraka / May 13, 2015
Srinath, don’t let your blind loyalty cloud your mind.
You wouldn’t write a cheque to anyone BLINDLY. Just imagine writing a cheque for $10 million dollars (Rs.13 billion) to a NON EXISTING COMPANY.
This money belonged to you, your family, your parents, and all Sri Lankans.
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Leelagemalli / May 13, 2015
Srinath @,
who is the great man ? Great man has lost to all low levels to this day. This is what you call truth would succeed. Great man could live and die as a respectful person if his abusive nature did not worsen it.
In the next election, atleast a half of 5.8 million that voted for the bugger and his so called BILLA principles woudl surely have changed their mind sets. Meaning 6.2 mio plus 3 mio would support to build up a powerful parliament. This you will see. I have already spoken to men coming from various walks of life there. Most of them are satisfied with the manner current govt work against high profile corrupted guys such as former Prez and his brother Basil:
Srinath at least today, you should learn it from UK people to behave honest to your hearts. Just abusing democratic rights of the UK to support most abusive leaders in the home country is a greater mistake. YOUR kids and future generations of the country will curse on your and the like guys for sure.
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renu / May 13, 2015
Lasantha you were very right That is why he got rid of you . You will now be satisfied that what you said is coming true and we are very close to punishing these culprits
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