{"id":190608,"date":"2018-05-17T05:16:21","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T23:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=190608"},"modified":"2018-05-24T19:16:49","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T13:46:49","slug":"question-number-one-gota-a-wanker-over-his-concerns-of-public-sector-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/question-number-one-gota-a-wanker-over-his-concerns-of-public-sector-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Question Number One: Gota A Wanker Over His “Concerns” Of Public Sector Corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

Corruption cases against Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/a> currently in court considerably dampen enthusiasm over his recent tirade against public sector corruption.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/p><\/div>\n

Gotabaya, who is widely expected to run for President, speaking at a Viyathmaga<\/a> event last Sunday (14th) underlined pubic sector corruption as one of the factors that need urgent attention. He was unveiling his \u2018Vision 2030\u2019 which is essentially a policy statement of Viyathmaga, an organization many believe was put together to promote Rajapaksa\u2019s probable candidacy.<\/p>\n

The following are three questions that Rajapaksa no doubt would have to answer at some point in his campaign:<\/p>\n

a) As the Chief Accounting Officer of the Defence Ministry, did he not know that there was a US $ 7 million difference between the Government of Sri Lanka’s payment to Bellimissa<\/a> Holdings (a non existent company) said to be in UK and Bellimissa Holdings\u2019 payment to Ukrinmarsh, the Ukraine government arm that sold the MiGs<\/a>?<\/p>\n

b) What happened to the file connected with this purchase which was in the custody of the Sri Lanka Air Force that has since gone missing?<\/p>\n

c) Why is he not facing Court to answer these charges but resorting to delaying tactics ?<\/p>\n

Related posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Academic Exposing Corrupt War Procurement Tender Process Threatened By Rajapaksa Government (December 07, 2013 Colombo Telegraph<\/em><\/a>)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rajapaksa Government has commenced a campaign to threaten and intimidate Sri Lankan academic Dr. Thrishantha Nanayakkara<\/a> who exposed for the first time the tender procedure about the controversial MiG 27 purchase by the Defence Ministry in an article he wrote<\/a> in the Colombo Telegraph recently.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Thrishantha Nanayakkara<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr. Nanayakkara\u2019s family in Sri Lanka have been visited by military intelligence officials who have urged him to stop writing, the Colombo Telegraph learns. He has since de-activated his Facebook account.<\/p>\n

Repeated attempts made by Colombo Telegraph to reach Dr. Nanayakkara have proved futile.<\/p>\n

Dr. Nanayakkara is a Senior Lecturer at the King\u2019s College London, where he is attached to the Centre for Robotics Research. As an ex-academic at the University of Moratuwa, Dr. Nanayakkara has served on the technical evaluation committees at the Defence Ministry run by President Rajapaksa\u2019s brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The controversial MiG 27 deal was first revealed by Sunday Times Defence Correspondent and Senior Journalist Iqbal Athas<\/a> in December 2006 and further exposed in The Sunday Leader then edited by murdered Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya 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 Gotabhaya Rajapaksa\u2019s reign in Sri Lanka\u2019s mainstream press.<\/p>\n

In a recent article published in the Colombo Telegraph, Dr. Nanayakkara claimed that the Ministry of Defence calls on academics to sit on Technical Evaluation Committees for defence purchases, gives them less than 24 hours to review documentation and then finally blames academics when things begin to go wrong.<\/p>\n

In his latest article, Dr. Nanayakkara notes that it was very unfortunate that the Ministry of Defence itself took to exposing the names of professionals and the recommendations of those TECs when things went wrong. \u201cIt seemed to us that the professionals who were kept in the darkness whole throughout the TEC process were just used as a cleansing shield in the event things go wrong. I am not alone in this concern. One can check with any academic in the University system in Sri Lanka on this,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Responding to the fraud said to have taken place when purchasing MIG 27 fighters for Sri Lanka Air Force, the Ministry of Defence exposed the names of the Technical Evaluation Committee.<\/p>\n

To read all about the MiG deal click here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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