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| Friday, 5 March 2004 |
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| Freedom Alliance charges: Most corrupt Government in history by Uditha Kumarasinghe The Freedom Alliance yesterday accused the UNF Government of the last two years of being arguably, the most corrupt Government ever in the history of Sri Lanka. "The scale and the speed at which the country and its poor were robbed would dismay even a confirmed cynic," former PA Parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera told a media briefing at Taj Samudra hotel yesterday. "The UNF Government, with due apologies to Abraham Lincoln, is of the corrupt, for the corrupt and by the corrupt. On April 2, they will get their wages," he said. He said bribery and corruption was being carried out by many Ministers in a very bold and decisive manner. The much talked of peace dividend remains mysteriously elusive to the majority of the people. What everyone is asking today is who stole the peace dividend? Samaraweera said. On display was a ruthless and relentless pursuit of private wealth through the abuse of public office. For the UNF stalwarts, the task of making millions disappear into thin air was a fine art that they practised with consummate ease, he said. He charged that an overwhelming majority of Government Ministers feasted on the 'opportunities' available. The rest, in connivance or in approval, turned deaf, dumb and blind when it all happened around them. Samaraweera said: "It is hardly surprising that under the UNF Government, the country earned a dubious distinction of being an exception, when 130 countries became signatories to the UN Convention against Corruption in December 2003. Earlier, the same UNF Government avoided endorsing an Action Plan for the Asia Pacific region to fight corruption at the fourth regional meeting of the Asian Development Bank and the Organisation for Economic and Co-operative Development (OECD) initiative. He said 21 countries of the region including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh ratified it with the sole exception of Sri Lanka. Being a signatory would have made it obligatory for the Government to put in place laws and regulatory mechanism to prevent corruption. Large-scale siphoning of public money has seriously jeopardized the economic well-being of Sri Lanka. That is for the present, but the future too is in peril. The corrupt cabal at the UNF seems to have shed all fear or shame. Under the Tax Amnesty Law-2003, thousands of defaulters who were facing recovery proceedings on account of duty-evasions were let off, he said. An estimated more than Rs.200 billion, due to the Government from fraudsters such as smugglers, bootleggers, drug-runners and money launderers were waived off. " Just to understand the enormity of the size of this scam, here's some comparison," he said. "The amount is similar to Sri Lanka's total Foreign Exchange reserves, our annual borrowing from Japan Aid Consortium is Rs.100 billion, expenditure on Defence for 2004 will be Rs.54.4 billion, expenditure on Education for 2004 will be Rs.23.9 billion, expenditure on Health for 2004 will be Rs.21.7 billion and the fertilizer subsidy after a death-fast by farmers was Rs.3 billion." However, President Kumaratunga advised the Government against this patently malafide move through a Cabinet Memorandum. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe persisted regardless. The UNP even extended the deadline to help some laggards to squeeze in, he said. Samaraweera said though 'Tax Amnesty' dwarfs the other scams as routine pilferage, these scams are, by no means, small change. This includes the bus privatisation scam, Sathosa scam, Development Lottery scam, Bank of Ceylon Building scam, Yasoda scam, Fisheries scam, Coast Restoration scam, Road-building scam, Oluvil Port scam and Rehabilitation Funds scam. Therefore, the UNF Government have delivered a record-breaking performance at being corrupt. They worked very hard at it. They did not miss any opportunity to rob. He said: "The irony is that this Government came to office on the promise of Regaining Sri Lanka. What it actually did was to Rip-off Sri Lanka. MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardena said the violations of the present Government in relation to financial regulations and tender procedures is unprecedented. They have no regards to tender procedures and an accepted norms of financial regulations. Gunawardena said the sale of Sewanagala which was valued by Government Valuer for Rs. 1000 million was reduced to Rs. 450 million in order to give it to one of the party cronies. In addition, Rs. 1400 million bus deal announced by the Government as the biggest investment became a total fraud. The Supreme Court made an order that the whole tender procedure and the candidate chosen were not eligible under the law. Finally the Cabinet had to make a decision to cancel it. However, the Government failed to answer this issue of the violation of tender procedure which was brought before Parliament. I would specifically say this was the reason why the Government did not sign the UN Convention. Because, they would be answerable to the international community regarding the norms that they have laid down in running financial management, he said. The Government has exposed its total corruption as well as the fraudulent manner in which they have held their partymen in the sale of public assets by depriving the local businessmen who were interested in takeing over some of the ventures of the national economy, he added. |
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