{"id":99244,"date":"2013-08-07T21:44:17","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T16:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=99244"},"modified":"2013-08-13T01:20:29","modified_gmt":"2013-08-12T19:50:29","slug":"casino-kings-henchmen-intimidating-me-opposition-lawmaker-dr-harsha-de-silva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/casino-kings-henchmen-intimidating-me-opposition-lawmaker-dr-harsha-de-silva\/","title":{"rendered":"Casino King\u2019s Henchmen Intimidating Me: Opposition Lawmaker Dr. Harsha de Silva"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNP MP Dr.\u00a0Harsha De Silva<\/a><\/span> has made an official complaint in Parliament that the associates of Australian casino mogul James Packer<\/a><\/span> had been engaged in attempts to intimidate him.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Harsha de Silva<\/p><\/div>\n

De Silva, a national list MP for the main opposition UNP has been a vocal critic of the Rajapaksa Government\u2019s tax holiday for a massive casino project proposed at D.R. Wijewardane Mawatha in Colombo.<\/p>\n

The UNP MP told parliament today that highlighting the Government\u2019s controversial deals had invited threats and intimidation for opposition parliamentarians. He said that he had been intimidated recently at a television station by \u201chenchmen of the casino king who had vested interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the incident had taken place at a local TV station while he was waiting for a debate to start.<\/p>\n

\u201cA goon touched me to ask me what my next move was on the casino expose,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

De Silva charged that if something were to happen to him, James Packer should be held responsible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis incident confirmed the danger for those who reveal bad deals between the Government and Casino King James Packer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

De Silva said that two of James Packer\u2019s company officials had been in Colombo last week. The UNP MP said that the officials had been negotiating for tax breaks with Government officials for the proposed casino complex.<\/p>\n

related posts;<\/p>\n

Unbelievable $1 Billion Tax Breaks: Sydney Casino Man Is Given A Sweetheart Deal To Build A Casino In Colombo<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":99246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nCasino King\u2019s Henchmen Intimidating Me: Opposition Lawmaker Dr. Harsha de Silva - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/casino-kings-henchmen-intimidating-me-opposition-lawmaker-dr-harsha-de-silva\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Casino King\u2019s Henchmen Intimidating Me: Opposition Lawmaker Dr. Harsha de Silva - 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