A group of senior advisors as well as a group MPs belonging to the United National Party (UNP) have launched a campaign against Ravi Karunanayake and are planning to request party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to sack Karunanayake from the post of Deputy Leader of the UNP and his position as head of the Rural Infrastructure Special Programme, Colombo Telegraph learns.
Ravi
The call is for his removal for the offense of perjury, for Karunanayake has lied to both the CoI and to the Prime Minister. Conviction for other wrongdoings will have to wait on legal proceedings.
These moves appear to have been precipitated by President Maithripala Sirisena’s announcement last evening (January 3) regarding contents of the report submitted by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Central Bank bond issue scandal (CoI).
The Commission report refers to the allegation against former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake regarding the payment of rent for the penthouse apartment and stated that Karunanayake was responsible for that and recommended that the government should to take necessary action against Ravi Karunanayake under the section of bribery and corruption and further legal action under the penal codes for giving false evidence at the Commission.
Wickremesinghe earlier told the CoI that he believed that Karunanayake was telling the truth when the allegation was first made by MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage.
“I asked him ( Karunanayake) about it and he said no. There was no reason to go further”, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said in response to a question posed by Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya.
cheated / January 4, 2018
What kind of moral right Ranil Wickremesignhe has to stay on as PM???????
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Don Stanley / January 4, 2018
Quite right ! The buck stops with Ranil Wickramasinghe who appointed Ravi K and Mahendran to set up a network to loot the people of Lanka via the Central Bank.
Ranil must be IMPEACHED for Grand Larceny and stealing from EPF.
As long as RW remains as PM there will be no investigations, the culture of impunity and immunity for Financial Crime and the destruction of the reputation of Institutions like the Central Bank, and the National Debt Trap will continue to grow.
Ranil appointed, protected the thieves, and blocked AG’s investigations into the Rajapaksa Brothers and Nivad Cabraal’sscams as well. Civil society and JVP should organise massive rallies on the streets to impeach Ranil Wickramasinghe and his royal college cronies network who are looting Lanka in the name of Fake Development.
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K.Anaga / January 4, 2018
The interest which could have been earned by the poor EPF contributors have been denied. Hence those found guilty and found aiding and abetting the guilty should be asked make good the loss. It is not enough asking the guilty to bear the cost of the Bond Commission only.
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GS / January 4, 2018
Very well composed the episode in brief.
Salute sir,…..
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Nic / January 4, 2018
Don – RW should be held for many things done now and in the past. Batalanda, Obstruction of justice, cover up of murder ivestigations, , lying with intent to deceive, sexual harassment of boys, the list can go on and on.
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NathashaPublishers / January 5, 2018
How about the King and the Clan and King’s Son’s and Queen?
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NathashaPublishers / January 5, 2018
If you ask that question from a person who being elected by people of the country. then you should be the next Prime Minister.
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Bond Commission Witness / January 4, 2018
Ravi will not go any where. Ranil will have no choice but to keep him. He knows too many insider dealings at UNP.
Ravi survived the Raj Rajaratnam forex issue and got away by changing the Forex Act. He and B R De Silva & Co partner Lincoln Piyasena were indicted by High Court.
Ravi K appointees in the banks are feeling the pressure now.
1 His KPMG buddy Ashwin De Silva who was just an accountant at Motor Insurance Agent in Sydney was made chairman at NSB. Already summoned by bond commission and final report states that NSB suffered a loss due to his actions.
2 His supporter Ruwan Gallage made chairman at Merchant Bank and then forced to step down and subsequently made chairman at Lankaputra Bank.
3 His buddies appointed as directors to many other banks in 2015 still hanging around as leeches.
4 His close buddy Shaila Moonesinghe appointed to Litro Gas as chairman and subsequently sacked due to money laundering issue at a Taiwan Bank.
5 Lotteries Board nominees still to be removed.
6 His BIL was forced to step down from SLIC as joint MD. Other board nominees still continuing and Bond Commission report states that SLIC suffered a loss due to their action.
7 His nominees at SLIC and Litro Gas are now looking for more loans to complete the already over budget Hyatt Hotel. A hotel room is going to cost Rs 60 million as construction costs when Shangri La did it for half the price with better fittings.
There is no difference between this regime and MARA regime when it comes to corruption or appointments to state institutions.
Let’s see whether what action President Sirisena or Attorney General is going to take !!
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Govinda / January 4, 2018
If there is pressure sack him, and don’t let the others loose or scotch free. Pin the others also without considering which party they come from.
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M. Basnayake / January 4, 2018
About time. If RK is removed from his post, atleast then the UNP can start moving towards regaining some credibility. Don’t know why it has taken this long. Leaders of political parties should start being more proactive regarding corruption amongst their rank and file. This goes for MS as well. I wonder what happened to the case against the loudmouth Honorable Minister Dilan Perera.
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M. Basnayake / January 4, 2018
Poor Ravi, he will no longer have any political refuge. Even the JO won’t accept him into their ranks.
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Babloo / January 4, 2018
King Kekille’s: One of the funniest stories among the Sinhala Folk Stories is about King Kekille. I have no idea whether KK was a real person or not. But one has to admire the sense of humour and the sarcasm in such stories. In one such story, the real culprit is set free and a completely innocent man subjected to death penalty by being trodden by the Royal Elephant – because, listen carefully, the real culprit was too thin and could have caused some discomfort to the Royal E’s legs, while the innocent guy was a fat Mudalali, making it a pleasure for the RE to carry out its assigned task.
If the story of the Bond scam took place in the time of KK, surely, people would have made up a nice story about it and laughed it off. Here RW replaces KK and RK the person to be punished. The story takes a new turn at this point. It seems that RW himself is the real culprit, planning and executing the crime with precision from start to end. But everybody is in a dilemma here – a dilemma that even KK never faced. How can the King himself pass a sentence on himself? That is where RK comes in. He has the right qualification. He is fat. That is why RK will be sacked. Legs too are involved here, but that is another story.
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Hatharabirikatharina / January 5, 2018
hu hu… this should be from that LOW CLASS BUGGER from Mathugama area… who is fed with Kerankeku mallum round the clock and come with Zoophilia fantasies.
Bugger would never change. He is good for rotten Saudi.
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Shyamon Jayasinghe / January 4, 2018
Ranil and the UNP must at its annual Convention tomorrow ask Ravi to quit his deputy position. This is vital for the future of the UNP and for Ranil’s somewhat damaged image. Ranil must also learn a lesson for all time, namely that he must monitor his team. The Commission had stopped short of implicating the Prime Minister in this sordid deal. Ranil has had a great image thus far.
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Native Vedda / January 4, 2018
Shyamon Jayasinghe
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The party must sack all those aging tainted members from the party and appoint Sajith Premadasa as the leader for life.
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This radical change will make at least one person happy, the graying failed armchair revolutionary.
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max / January 5, 2018
//The party must sack all those aging tainted members from the party….//
Native, are you hinting Shyamon Jayasinghe too should be sacked, because of his consultancy role to the UNP, like Prof. Rajiva pointed out recently?
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Hatharabirikatharina / January 5, 2018
Prof Rajiva Wije is a learnt idiot. That proves us from the begining of his politics.
He could rather give a life to PhD students had he been in academia.
All so called profs abused lankensituation not having talents to lanken kind of politics.
They are just square pegs in round holes in lanken politics.
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nosey parker / January 4, 2018
Mr.Jayasinghe
I understand you are safely domiciled in Australia , possibly living on a state pension. Would Australians have tolerated such daylight robbery of public funds ? How many heads would have rolled by now ? Who are you trying to fool with comments like ” Ranil’s somewhat damaged image” , and “Ranil has had a great image so far ?” It is very clear that you are a spin doctor trying pull wool over the eyes of CT readers .
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Perriamama / January 4, 2018
Great image of Ranil?
I believe Rajan Hoole’s outstanding chapter on the 83 pogrom will counter that.
I suggest you read it my dear boy.
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whywhy / January 4, 2018
Shyamon,
Good governance was immature promise just made to chase
Mahinda away ! Now , as a result , the promisors are in the
trap . MARA, My3 and Ranil or even the young leaders of those
parties have no understanding of people’s heart beat . They are
all trying the same failed methods to win elections . People are
day by day driven by these creatures to lose respect for the
whole process ! The only one left to take advantage is, the JVP .
And the people of this country has a clear opportunity to teach
the monkey politics a resounding lesson by being sensible
voters . Two birds one stone ! Try the untested and punish the
thieves . SEND THEM ALL A CLEAR MESSAGE . This is the time.
Shyamon , the UNP never got this low in its history with the
leader , deputy, chairman and general secretary all dragged into
a pool of mud ! You are talking about the image of Ranil , tell us
what image ? Ranil didn’t even try to catch the thieves ! He was
forced to react to the extent of voluntary running to the
commission to TRY his innocence but the general public is not
stupid to dodge the question of his knowledge and experience
about the wrong doers . If he had built up any IMAGE , that should
include the KNOWLEDGE of Ravi K and Arjuna M specially when
handing such mammoth responsibilities to them ! Ranil still looks
for a way to let Ravi come back clean without which his role in the
episode is going to be clearer ! Got it Shyamon ?
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Justice & Fairplay / January 5, 2018
Regret to say Shyamon, it is hard to agree with your take.
Ranil’s image is in a shambles; and it is all self made. Any person with below average intelligence dabbling in politics would have seen the red lights a long time ago. Ranil Wickremasinghe’s cavalier attitude throughout the entire saga, does not make him fit enough to hold office as the Prime Minister.
As for Ravi K, he’s been such a monumental disgrace, he should retire from politics for all time and possibly go abroad, never to return. He has no further place in public life in this country.
Shame on Ravi, Shame on Ranil and lastly shame on the UNP. How its founders shall weep!
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Dan / January 4, 2018
PM claimed to the commission that he ‘believed’ Ravi K was telling the truth. However, surprise surprise, the PM compensated this man, who lied to him and tainted with corruption allegations, with a top job and even provided an office space at the Temple Trees. He even heads the Colombo UNP nomination selection team.
It is clear, in this background, that the PM was well aware of Ravi’s actions and even the PM lied to the commission. His statement that he believed Mahendran & Ravi K are mere excuses to protect himself.
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Percy / January 4, 2018
I asked RAVI whether he robbed, he said no. Then I asked Mahendran whther he robbed the bank and he said no. The COPE said that RAVI and
Mahendran organised the bond scam and Yes I, I, said NO! Then I told my 3 UNP stooges to also say NO. This is the kind of crook we have running SRI Lanka today!
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Native Vedda / January 4, 2018
Pygmalion
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“We were promised on Jan:09th 2015 that all those crooks who plundered this Nation will be caught and the Loot recovered!”
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You must have forgotten to ask a pertinent question at the time of elections which is “WHY IS THIS LYING BASTARD, LYING TO ME?”.
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Lenonard / January 4, 2018
‘ I asked him (RK) about it he said no” it’s good as it get in Sri Lanka under MR Clean. I’m 100% certain MR Clean RW asked the same hard question from his mate Arajuna Mahendra “did you do it” AM would have given the same resounding emphatic “Noooooo! but may have added “ask my wife”
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Sinhala_Man / January 4, 2018
Sack him, and work at a long term solution to the need to select hereafter the party leader in a democratic way.
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Ranil Wickeremasingehe, you have caused inestimable damage to democracy and good governance in this country!
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K.Pillai / January 4, 2018
Allegations are not grounds for a ‘sack’. Let things take its own course and ‘sacking’ will have to be based on the outcome.
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Good Sense / January 4, 2018
Is the call limited to the position of deputy leadership and the fictitious position in the PM’s Office? This reflects the Standards adopted. In Singapore both the government and the opposition political parties expect high standards of personal conduct from MP’s and above. Two MP’s there one from Opposition and the other from Government, (who happened to be the Speaker) had to leave the party as well as the Parliament. In Ravi K’s case if the UNPers wanted him out of the party then it is understandable. But this business of removing him from those positions means there are others waiting to take those positions and not with a view of cleaning the party and its reputation.
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K.Kuleswarakumar / January 4, 2018
Its a welcome recommendation by the Commission of inquiry against the CB bond scam and it has set the precedent in the history of Sri Lanka. The probe should go into deep and get all the back to EPF or to the govt. coffer. We are still waiting to see what is in store for the scandals which went for years during the last regime. If and when this ill-gotten money can be taken there should not be any budget deficits when our finance ministers put forward the national budgets. Well done, HE and PM.
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nalmen / January 4, 2018
he will never sack the man who financed the unp when it was down ask malik about it.that is why he covered him up for so long
as i said before the party needs a new charismatic leader otherwise it will continue on the gadarene slope
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Analyst / January 4, 2018
He Said ,She Said , You Said, I Said ! What ? Who Said , He Said She Said , You Said!! Sir.
So what happens now to the Most Mega Crooks and Murderers of Sinhala Buddhists Thieves from the deep South ??
Easy to net the Criminals of Minority Sir??
What about the other 99% of the Crooks from Sinhala Buddhagama and Sinhala Converts??
The very First Mandate on the. 2015 Manifesto was to NET the Mega Thieves who plundererd the Nation for last 15 years PLUS THE LAST 3 YEARS for a start.
The same friends you ATE Appa with.
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Native Vedda / January 4, 2018
Analyst
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Can I interest you in one of the best ever evasion of truth:
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“As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know. “
– Rambling of Rumsfeld
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Babloo / January 4, 2018
Okay people, don’t get animated so much. Let us calm down and contemplate on the matter. As many have pointed out, I agree that Ranil has to be punished. That would have been normally OK. From our experience, we know that any idiot can be the Prime Minister of this country and despite all the stupid things he does, things will go on. The country will survive. No one here is going to die of starvation as in Tamil Nadu. We do not allow that to happen even to our enemies.
But then, that is the normal case. This is not a normal case by any yardstick. Sri Lanka is planning to become the economic miracle of Asia by 2025. With the Colombo Port City, a Volkswagen car assembly plant, 100% renewable power, Wi Fi covering even public toilets, we are on that path already. Who is the Chief Architect of all this? Ranil of course! Who is the Head Baas of all this? Again Ranil.
Are we going to sacrifice all this for a measly 6 billion rupees suspected to be stolen from CB by someone, where the who, how and why are not clear at all. When even a small branch of a bank is robbed, there is at least CCTV evidence. Has anyone seen Ravi and/or Ranil in any CCTV footage? No Sir. So, are we going to allow Sri Lanka slip behind other countries on a measly excuse like that? I hope not.
The solution of even King Kekille would be to give Ranil a suspended sentence until 2025. Once he completes his mission by 2025 we can do whatever we want with him. Until then let us keep him on parole.
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Dil / January 4, 2018
Babloo, You are worse than RK and RW, and obviously belongs to the same political tribe. Yes, we had idiotic heads of state who ran a war for 30 yrs (JR/Premadasa, Prema/DBW, Chandrika/Sirima), experienced a negative economic growth (CBK in 2001/2), … and I agree with you that they were set of fools. Then we also had a head of state who finished the same war in just 3 yrs. Where is RW’s VW factory? Is it another garage in Panchikawatte? Whose idea was Colombo Port City? RW? You need to see physician on alzheimer? We have public toilets with no water BUT it appears that your public toilet has WiFi to wash the a..! It is NOT LKR6B; it is LKR 30B. RK/RW are the architects of it. SL was doing great up to Jan 08, 2015 and now we are slipping behind. You are an insult to question CCTV footage. Bond scam is not physically breaking into a bank branch. That shows your ignorance on what was robbed! If you do not see that, please, PLEASE consult a neuro physician soon without contaminating, WE THE readers of CT, with diabolic lies.
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babloo / January 4, 2018
Thanks Dil for enlightening me. Actually, I was perplexed by the Bond scam. What was stolen, how much exactly (you say 30 B some say 111 B but I accept your figures), if they did not break in, was it a virtual break in, why can’t someone break in to small banks virtually and rob? are the questions that bothered me and continue to bother me. May be my IQ is not high enough to understand it. I wish someone would explain to me these things.
I watched all the episodes of Hara Kotia which ended on Monday and that in 5000 Rs notes made up a big bag.
Anyway, Dil, I see now that I was completely wrong. Believe me, I was not trying to lie to others. Sorry if I upset you.
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Pygmalion / January 4, 2018
We were promised on Jan:09th 2015 that all those crooks who plundered this Nation will be caught and the Loot recovered!
Those who made this Promise have now been caught with their Pants down.
A Boomerang no doubt!
A curved flat piece of wood which when thrown will return to the thrower.
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Plato. / January 4, 2018
Ravi.K. may have thought that the Bond Commission is only in the realms of a fact finding probe and nothing more.
So,his answers to questions put to him were similar to that Rhyme She Sells Sea Shells on the Sea Shore.
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Babloo / January 4, 2018
Election Gundu: I have the feeling that this whole thing is an election Gundu. One has to ask why at this time when the election is so near? People are emotional and have already crucified Ranil. Now, if MS comes out with something in the report that exonerates Ranil completely, there will be such an anticlimax and a wave of sympathy for Ranil, that even Mahinda and Gota may vote for Yahapalanaya. Even Geetha may shed some cinematic tears and vote the same way.
Let us wait and see. They say that the best dances will come with the approach of dawn.
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Saratnh de Alwid / January 4, 2018
Shyamon Jayasinghe,
Some what damaged imsge? I think you should shut up for a few weeks and watch the fun. Any body who votes for the UNP on 10 Feb endorses grand larcenny in governance. weeks ,
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Native Vedda / January 4, 2018
Saratnh de Alwid
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“Any body who votes for the UNP on 10 Feb endorses grand larcenny in governance. weeks ,”
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The above rules/definition applies elections held on or only after 10 February 2018 and not to those 5,768,090 (47.58%) voters who voted for Dr Mahinda (LLD) in 2015 and to those 4,732,664 (42.38%) voters voted for UPFA in Parliamentary elections in 2015.
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Please advise us whether we should ignore the past elections since February 1948 and start afresh under your new rules/definition from February 2018?
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However is it possible to erase all past theft from our memories?
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Buddhi Perera / January 4, 2018
Ranil might say “I can’t remember”
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Sneaks and ladders / January 4, 2018
What about Mahinda steals Tax payers money Billions of dollars why mahinda and his family still outside roaming? Hypocrisy huh?
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J.Azoor / January 4, 2018
Ranil should Sack the former Minister of Finance IF he has the guts to do it..
Findings of the Bond Commission report proves
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Perriamama / January 4, 2018
You will find that Ranil doesn’t have guts for anything much.
A momma’s boy.
Remember his actions during the passing of the draconian 18th amendment? Ran away, with his tail between his legs.
Guts indeed my foot.
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thumpane gamaya / January 4, 2018
Ranil must come out of his dream…..No UNPer will vote for UNP this time as far as Ravi K. is kept in the party.
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Douglas / January 4, 2018
Does anyone know what the Commission Report states as regards that “UNDATED” letter signed by RVIK, addressed to the Mr. Mahendran, stating that Rs. 70 million is required for Government needs? That was a “MRKED DOCUMENT” presented by the AG’s Team to the Commission on which so many QUESTIONINGS were done. The Treasury Official, including the Ministry Secretary who is charged with the responsibility of sending such requirements to the SLCB “DENIED” any knowledge of such a letter, in their evidence. Isn’t it interesting to KNOW what the Commission’s OBSERVATIONS and RECOMMENDATIONS are on that letter. If we know that, it would be easy to determine the “ROLE” played by RAVIK in this “BOND ROBBERY”.
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babloo / January 4, 2018
Ranil and the Kitul Tree: Here is another story, involving Ranil and Ravi:
Ranil finds Ravi climbing down a Kitul tree belonging to him and the following dialog ensued.
Ranil: Why did you climb the tree without my permission? You are stealing Telijja, aren’t you?
Ravi: No Sir, I just wanted to cut some grass for my cow.
Ranil: You know very well that there is no grass up there.
Ravi: That is why I am climbing down.
Ranil goes home and reports to the Hamine what happened.
Hamine: So you just allowed him to go scott free?
Ranil: Yes indeed. He said No and there was no reason to go any further.
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copycat / January 5, 2018
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2/
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K.Pillai / January 4, 2018
The issue is now in the prosecution court.
It is unwise to be trigger-happy at this stage. Some commenters are. This is understandable.
Justice can be easily buggered by the prosecution.
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Percy / January 5, 2018
Are you hoping for justice to be buggered and the bond thieves exonerated. We all know that hope springs eternal in the human breast but this will be a vain hope. No Pillai Hope illay !
It is amazing to see Unscrupulous Tamils trying to save the skin of robbers. Don’t they have any feeling for their motherland?
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Shrikharan / January 4, 2018
If I did such a thing which Ravi Karunanayake did and got caught with such a verdict, I would have committed suicide.
Ravi is a shameless full suite wearing bank robber. Robbed the very bank he is supposed to protect. He is living in the house which actually was ‘stolen’ from the very man who introduced him to politics Mr. Lalith Aththulathmudali. He transferred his house to Ravi Karunanayake writing off a deed, after obtaining his permission and in good faith that he would return the house back to his family. Later after the death of Lalith when Srimani Aththulathmudali asked the house back he refused to return claiming that is his own house now. True but this was done with an understanding to circumvent a problem which Lalith faced at that time he was compelled to part with the ownership, all done in good faith and trust he placed in Ravi to circumvent some issues Lalith had. But Ravi later cheated the trust and promise and refused to return the house.
How can Ravi ever represent the people after he had cheated the people. He should give up all positions he hold. If it was me I would have also committed suicide, because of the shame that brought not only to me but to the country as a whole.
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Sunil / January 4, 2018
I don’t think Ranil can be replaced easily. There is no suitable successor. Sajith is not suitable as of now as he still needs time to be groomed as a potential leader of Sri Lanka. They should give him more responsibilities. He was my classmate at St Thomas Prep, Kollupitiya upto Grade 5 and was bright as a student. But later I have heard that he was a dropout of the London School of Economics and University of Massachusetts in USA- I don’t know whether it was because his father suddenly was killed. Regarding Ashwin De Silva, he is a chartered accountant and obtained a lot of experience in American Express Bank Colombo. So, he is suitable for the NSB chairman’s post. Also, he is the son in law of former minister Wijayapala Mendis.
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Percy / January 5, 2018
Sunil Now tell us why you brought in the name of Ashwin de Silva, who the hell is he and what is his relevance here. St Thomas Prep is a well known breeding ground for failures and very few join the Mount Lavinia school but call themselves old Thominas!
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