By Amrit Muttukumaru –
Amrit Muttukumaru
There is a great deal of controversy on the eligibility of former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR) to be a candidate at the presidential elections due shortly – most probably in December 2019. This hinges on whether or not he has lawfully renounced his US citizenship.
Notwithstanding the absence in the public domain of irrefutable documentary evidence of renunciation, Gotabaya was anointed with much fanfare as the presidential candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) by his elder brother and leader of the party former President Mahinda Rajapaksa at its convention held on 11 August. Although from the looks of it based on realpolitik, GR appears to be the frontrunner, it is by no means a done deal due to inter alia strong opposition to him from the 30% minorities and part of the 70% Sinhala-Buddhist vote going the way of the UNP and JVP candidates. Nevertheless due to GR’s perceived image as a no-nonsense national security ‘champion’, he is most likely the strongest ‘beneficiary’ from the Easter Sunday carnage. Even some portion of the traditional UNP catholic vote could go to GR.
Astounding Assertion
Into this conundrum steps in US Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz who at a press conference held a few days ago made an astounding assertion that hugely compromises the integrity of the US Federal Register which lists persons who have lost their US citizenship. This in particular applies to the Federal Register of the Internal Revenue Service which as recently as 15 August 2019 listed persons “losing United States citizenship …… during the quarter ending June 30, 2019.”
This is in the context of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s name not being listed among those losing their US citizenship. Has the US ambassador given a lifeline to GR’s candidacy by stating:
“Federal Register could often be months behind the recording of one’s renunciation of citizenship” (Ref. ‘Daily Mirror’ 20 August 2019)
SOFA & MCC
Although in stray cases there could possibly be a delay in the transmission of renunciation data applicable to remote locations in the world where communication is slow and inefficient, it could hardly be argued that Sri Lanka is one such place. For example, in the aftermath of the recent Easter Sunday carnage, were not video clips uploaded and shown on CNN within a matter of minutes?
Is it not reasonable to surmise that the US Embassy in Colombo which is working enthusiastically to have in place in Sri Lanka controversial agreements such as the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) would have in place state-of-the-art communication equipment? Hence is it not reasonable to assume that information relating to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s renunciation of citizenship which purportedly took place in May 2019 would have been transmitted to the relevant US state agencies promptly? Are we to assume that the names published in the US Federal Register on 15 August 2019 do not include persons whose expatriation of citizenship took place in May and June 2019? In the event that such names do appear, what is the rationale for discriminating against Gotabaya Rajapaksa by deferring the publication of his name?
Does not the question also arise as to why the US takes the trouble to publish data on a quarterly basis if it is neither authentic nor complete?
Conclusion
It is telling that the notification published in the Federal Register by the Internal Revenue Service does not contain a disclaimer relating to its accuracy.
Ambassador Teplitz as per the media report contradicted herself at the press conference when after commenting on Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s name not being in the Federal Register she later “declined to comment on specific cases of renunciation”! (‘Daily Mirror’ 20 August 2019)
The upshot of the ambassador’s astounding assertion is that in the future it will be difficult for countries and people to place confidence in the integrity of US official data.
The million dollar question is – why is the US Ambassador seemingly bending over backwards to give an IMPROBABLE reason for Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s name not being included in the Federal Register? Is she being disingenuous?
Amarasiri / August 21, 2019
Amrit Muttukumaru,
RE: Why Is US Ambassador Undermining Her Government’s Own Document?
Why? Why? Why?
“This in particular applies to the Federal Register of the Internal Revenue Service which as recently as 15 August 2019 listed persons “losing United States citizenship …… during the quarter ending June 30, 2019.”
So there is lag.
So, as of June 30, 2019 Gotabaya Rajapaksa , member of the Rajapaksa Mafia, is still a US Citizen.
End of next quarter is September 30, 2019. It will be published around November 15, 2019. When are the nominations accepted? Is the denunciation of the US citizenship not valid until published in the Federal Register? Will the Elections Commissioner accept the nomination without official proof that GR is not US Citizen?
Do the country’s apply to the Rajapaksa Mafia?
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S. Modaya / August 21, 2019
Amit: Alina Nitwitz should be sent packing back to USA.
She has been weaponizing Buddhism – visiting Buddhist monks after the Saudi – US owned and operated IS attacks – to sell SOFA and interfering in domestic affairs and violating the US constitutional separation between church and state.
Any other self respecting Foreign Ministry would have summoned Alina Nitwitz and given her marching orders! But this is the Miracle of Modayas!
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Spring Koha / August 23, 2019
Amarasiri
US Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz is just doing her job as any ambassador does – to lie abroad for her country.
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N.Perera / August 25, 2019
She now shitting, she represents the world”s number one human butcher. Dropped Atomic bombs to Japan, killed unarmed civilians during the Vietnam war.
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JD / August 21, 2019
I think Muthukumaru’s argument is not in place. USA is known very well to do both side of the act. That is they attack some one saying Terrorist. but, they negotiate with them inside a backroom. that kind of acts are very common.
The important thing is Mangala signed an agreement with MCC in 2016. Defence Ministry signed a comprehensive ACSA agreement of 83 pages in 2017. This was supposed to sign in 2018 September or October. The govt was supposed to SAY OK (No need of signing) to SOFA-VFA agreement. If any one says OK to SOFA, that will be the end of a peaceful Sri lanka. Anyway, they one some guarantee on that in order to allow anyone to be the President That is what is happening. I here, now, they are have asked former Army camp(s) for them (e.g Weerawila, Pallekele or some upcountry locations for communications towers etc). Think about giving diplomatic impunity to mercenary forces. That is a possibility.
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K.A. Sumanasekera / August 21, 2019
Why would Ambassador Alaina commit perjury to protect Nandasena, when the New Wave flooded the whole GF and up to CPC..-
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I don’t think Mr Muthujkumara has either read Dr Kumar’s piece or seen the Sea of Masses from Galle Face to the Chinese Port City of Mahavamsa to elect JVP Prince Anura Kumar as the Common President of the new Coalition of the JVP and Dr Ranil’s Elite. Anglican , Vellala, and the new Ally Wahabi UNP Faction….
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Native Vedda / August 23, 2019
KASmaalam K.A. Sumanasekera
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“Why would Ambassador Alaina commit perjury to protect Nandasena, …………………)
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Remember Nandasena National Hangman Dr Gotabhaya (DSc) is their man in this island, in SLFP, SLPP, in Defense Ministry, hold over Security forces, ……………………..
If she doesn’t lie for an American fascist who else will?
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Do you know just after the National Hangman had successfully wiped off Southern Terrorists how he was granted green card and lifted him off to safety in the USA as they always did to their cronies, agents, bootlickers, butchers, ……………?
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This is too much for you, go to sleep.
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kebab / August 21, 2019
The ambassador is stating a truth, bureaucracies are slow and are months behind events. If this was in Sri Lanka could be years behind or even never ! Just see how long you have to wait for tax refunds-for ever !.
Not everything is a conspiracy . For US, Sri Lanka is so insignificant all this conspiracy theories are painfully comic.
For the Rajapakses this is a good lesson that they may be treated like gods in this country but outside only a piece of dust
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Craig / August 21, 2019
The U.S. is just waiting for GR to become a liability. Then he will be dropped like a hot potato. Until then they will play this geopolitical game of cat and mouse. The problem here is that most journos of today are incapable of asking the right questions.
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Adrian / August 21, 2019
Americans of Sri Lankan origin should write to the Senate and House Foreign Relations committees requesting that the ambassador be summoned before the committees to explain this palpable falsehood in support of a person against whom war crimes allegations have been made.
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Ananda / August 21, 2019
They need a mole to get the SOFA & MCC legalized.
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Mano / August 21, 2019
I think US is dragging its feet fearing a certain defeat of GR and looking for a better bait. WHO is the shark in waiting to surface for the PR?
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Jehan / August 21, 2019
Gota is the new US point man, who already has promised Trinco port to the US. He is the dictator US wants , as it’s easy to work with dictators than democratic leaders. List of US puppet dictators from Saddam/MBS/Mabutu Mobutu Seko etc…. is very long.
He will perpetuate a efficient killing machine. That’s where SL is heading with this war criminal. He will be eventually brought to ICC , and will be jailed or killed by the US masters, as we have seen with all dictators of no use.
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anonymous / August 21, 2019
Mr. Muthukumaru,
Are you surprised?…….don’t be. Isn’t this enough evidence?
Remember the Bush administration’s response to 9/11?
“On Sept. 8, 2002, just a year after the terrorist attacks on New York City, then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told CNN: “We don’t want the smoking gun (of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction or WMD) to be a mushroom cloud.”
The nation was still raw — fertile ground for the Bush administration to make the case that weapons of mass destruction should never be allowed to fall into the hands of terrorists.
But were there actually WMDs in Iraq? And what was that country’s tie to the 9/11 attacks?
The plan then-President George W. Bush had was twofold: Argue that the government of dictator Saddam Hussein had ties with al-Qaeda terrorists, and that Saddam had chemical and possibly biological weapons, and the potential for developing a nuclear bomb.
That plan led to the invasion of Iraq. Now a reader wants to know: Whatever happened to those WMDs cited by Bush to justify the war? ”
[USA TODAY Published 4:59 PM EST Feb 14, 2019]
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NonResident / August 21, 2019
Why is everyone wasting their time discussing a non issue re revocation of citizenship? The state department website very clearly lays down what needs to be done for a US citizen to renounce citizenship. It also very clearly states that once citizenship is renounced it cannot be revoked and you will be stateless if you do not have citizenship in another country. If you are stateless after renouncing, then you are not a citizen of US after renunciation. The question is: did Gota follow the procedure prescribed by the US state department in order to renounce his citizenship? If he had he is not a US citizen anymore, if he has not then he is a US citizen. There is no reference to the name being published in any list for a US Citizen to renounce citizenship! Why is everyone looking for a list? the list must be an administrative requirement and not legal requirement of renunciation.
Check out this link on what needs to be done for a US citizen to renounce his citizenship, there is no reference to any list being published to confirm renunciation:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/us-citizenship/Renunciation-US-Nationality-Abroad.html
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K.Pillai / August 21, 2019
US still flaunts the ‘neither confirm nor deny’ policy regards their warships carry nuclear arms or not. They are stretching this policy to trivial cases as to whether a person’s renunciation of US Citizenship has been approved or not.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa says he has renounced the US Citizenship but has yet to divulge how, when, where and why.
Is there more to it?
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An aside: Has Gotabaya told Gnanasara Thera why it took so long to recover from a routine surgery?
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Elder buffalo / August 21, 2019
Very weak argument. It is as she said it is- no more, no less
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Eddie Wijesuriya / August 21, 2019
Ambassador teplitz is a troublemaker in every country she served in. She is a manipulator, which is clear from her statement regarding gota’s . U. S citizenship being renounced. The . U. S is secretly backing gota, and will make use of him. The . U. S works in strange ways. Just wait and see. They will ensure gota’s victory.
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Ruwan Silva / August 21, 2019
Hi Mr.M all this debate will be not necessary if you come forward and contest .As the only clean candidate you will have a cake walk US will try to befriend you
Please announce your candidature
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Estate Labourer / August 21, 2019
The US will even enter into a pact with the Devil or Satan or the Grim Reaper if it believes it will serve the national interests of the US. Deep inside, the Americans can be really diabolical but they are very careful to camouflage it.
Two or three years ago when some two bit politician claimed that Volkswagen was going to open a car factory in this country the German Embassy, immediately and without any prompting issued a rebuttal denying any such plan or project.
But the US is now playing a cat and mouse game and their officials are making only oblique comments about Gotabaya’s dual citizenship status. Why cannot they be straightforward and come clean without being so coy about this matter?
I tell you that these Americans are real scoundrels of the worst order!
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Goviya / August 22, 2019
If the US wishes to enter into a pact with the Devil, Satan or the Grim Reaper that is OK with us. We just don’t want it to enter into a pact with Gotabaya Rajapakse, who is far worse than those three. If that happens Sri Lankans will be caught between American jackboots on one side and an evil dictator on the other side.
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Mallaiyuran / August 21, 2019
Amrit Muttukumaru has failed to clearly establish what procedural code Ambassador breaking by not confirming the accuracy of the list? Is that Vienna Convention or Lankawe Law or American law he is applying to the Ambassador.
Let me ask a question from Mr. Amrit Muttukumaru: Is that Ambassador Alaina standing for election or Old Brother Prince is standing for election? Why wants he have verified her integrity or he wants to call her “disingenuous”. The man standing for the election said he has the certificate. But Amrit Muttukumaru wants to have the Ambassador to confirm if he really has certificate. Embassy has said that it cannot get into that as it is private matter. A list is published when a citizen is accepted. Another list is published when he/she leaves. If information is published, Mr. Amrit Muttukumaru has equal right to access it. In all other times, Amrit Muttukumaru has to make sure if there are procedures to verify a person’s status. Instead, Amrit Muttukumaru cannot make it a public media discussion to label a foreign country diplomat as disingenuous.
Doesn’t this make one to wonder if Amrit Muttukumaru has any familiarities with office procedures?
Can I ask another question Amrit Muttukumaru? Is that 19A saying that in Lankawe election, the candidate should have his 2nd citizenship cancelled or it is American constitution saying that if one Lankawe citizen wants to stand in their election, US immigration department should have promptly issued the revocation of citizenship and has it published?
(Amrit Muttukumaru has to know that he cannot try to block any deals America wants to have with its citizen. But it is Aanduwa’s responsibility to get the truth from its citizen, and if the deal is improper, lodge a complaint at the embassy.
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John / August 21, 2019
Why are ambassadors, high commissioners, and fake human rights activists undermining Sinhala-Buddhist Sri Lanka’s sovereignty by sticking in their snotty noses???
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gamini / August 22, 2019
America’s slip is showing. America got VP to bury all the weapons of the LTTE abandon their stronghold Kilinochchi and got them assembled on the beachfront so that the Rajapaksas could annihilate the lot. Then they started to accuse MR for excesses committed and offered the very man Shavendra Silva safe have at the UN head office in New York. The Americans staged a drama at the UN in Geneva threatening to pass a Resolution against Sri Lanka passing sanctions just to appease the Tamil Diaspora. Now Shavendra Silva has been allowed to come back after the heat of the war has died down and has allowed him to be appointed as the Army Commander. After Shavendra Silva has been appointed the Americans and their allies are protesting to show the world that they are against the appointment which is a total facade. If they were to deal with Shavendra Silva they had ample opportunity but bluffed. The Americans sent Robert Blake and Akashi to bolster Gota’s political campaign. When Avant Guard got exposed selling arms to Boko Haram and the Somali Pirates the Americans never raised issue but just kept quiet, as Gota and Nissanka Senadhipathy of Avant Guard were doing the Gun Running business for the Americans supplying arms to the Terrorist Organisations in the Region. The Americans are trying to spread a fear psychosis that we are highly vulnerable for an ISIS attack, for them to plant themselves a base in this country. The situation is becoming curioser and curioser.
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Raj / August 22, 2019
“Federal Register could often be months behind the recording of one’s renunciation of citizenship” (Ref. ‘Daily Mirror’ 20 August 2019).
What else she was supposed to tell the media? Unlike some Sri Lankan nationals living abroad who write constantly to certain websites she told the truth.
Mr. Muttu,
You wanted her to lie; like some of you have been doing after the Nanthikadal debacle?
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