Those who came to power promising good governance and against fraud and corruption is carrying out a malicious disinformation campaign against the JVP and its leaders to protect real fraudsters says the Information Secretary of the JVP Vijitha Herath.
He said this at a press conference held at the head office of the JVP at Pelawatta today (11th).
Speaking further Mr Herath said, “As soon as this government came to power it committed the infamous bond scam and it was first revealed to the country by the JVP. What the government should have done was to remove the Governor of Central Bank immediately and carry out a fair investigation. However, the government got involved in concealing the crime. Later, the Committee On Public Enterprises (COPE) headed by Comrade Sunil Handunneththi carried out an investigation and there were several conspiracies carried out to sabotage the investigation. However, COPE was able to complete the investigation successfully despite the infamous ‘footnotes clique’ coming out with footnotes attempted to protect the corrupt. What should have done after the investigations were over was to make the reports available to the Attorney General and activate legal procedures.
However, this didn’t take place and the President appointed a Presidential Committee and its investigations too revealed more information that had not been revealed regarding the bond scam. The individuals who had taken money from Perpetual Treasuries and Mendis Company were not fully revealed as the complete report was not presented. However much we queried about it there was no agreement to publish the complete report. However, Attorney General has said the whole report could be made available now and we demand that the whole report should be made available for perusal.
Investigations were not held regarding how Perpetual Treasuries was able to earn so much profit and a second commission should be appointed and investigations should be carried out regarding the rest of the transactions. On 3rd January the President addressing eh Nation stated three bills would be brought in to recover money from EPF lost due to the bond scam. However, not a single bill has been brought in.
The first volley against this scam was fired by the JVP. It was the JVP that took the initiative for the investigations against the scam. In such a situation a mudslinging campaign has been started against MPs who mediated to reveal the bond scam. Certain sons-in-law too have been accused of taking money from Perpetual Treasuries. As the closest associates have been involved in the scam there is an attempt to use a cat’s paw. Baseless accusations have been aimed at Comrade Nalinda Jayatissa using Maithri Gunaratna as a cat’s paw to protect the son-in-law. The accusations aimed at Comrade Nalinda Jayatissa that money had been given to him through one Mahesh Senanayaka, a journalist, to sabotage a workers’ struggle in a distillery at Payagala through a trade union attached to the JVP is a blatant lie. We vehemently deny this false accusation. There is no such JVP trade union in a distillery at Payagala nor has there been such a workers’ struggle. We would like to emphasize that real fraudsters cannot be protected by slinging mud at the JVP. Maithri Gunarathna had said to produce an affidavit if no transaction had taken place. We would like to tell him clearly that it is the accuser who should prove that money has been taken.
While investigations were being carried out the names of Dayasiri Jayasekera and Sujeewa Senasinghe surfaced. The cat’s paw is used to conceal those associates who are on the list of money takers and especially to protect the son-in-law who had taken money from Perpetual Treasuries. We know that Maithri Gunaratna does the job of the cat. As such, we ask the President to reveal the pages that have been concealed. Also, we ask him to appoint a second commission. We ask him to bring the three special bills to parliament. We would never allow concealing real fraudsters by slinging mud at the JVP. We are prepared to expose the illegal transactions that have taken place. We would reveal how this company received illegal profits. The four members of our party in COPE contributed to exposing the culprits. It was the members of the JVP that prevented the investigations from being swept under the carpet.
JVP Parliamentarian Dr Nalinda Jayatissa addressing eh press conference said, “The banner against fraud and corruption was always raised by the JVP. That was why when Comrade Sunil Handunneththi was appointed the Chairman of COPE people had confidence that frauds and corruption would be revealed. We have not blemished this trust. During COPE investigations into the bond transaction, there was a lot of pressure on the officials of the Central bank and the Audit Department. In spite of that, a report was prepared with the participation of the Auditor General. The footnote clique applied immense pressure on COPE Chairman and the Auditor General. However, we were able to stand straight and carry out our duties. We saw how the MPs who represented the JO and the UNP in COPE acted partially towards many enterprises investigated by COPE. We saw how an MP from the SLFP acted partially to the Lotteries Board and an MP from the JO acted partially to the Ministry of Health when investigations against them were being carried out by COPE. Those who were involved in such frauds are not carrying out a programme to divert attention away from real fraudsters.
After 48 hours of the revelation of MPs who had received telephone conversations from Aloysius, a certain website published a list. This website belonged to a UNP Minister who had been accused of the scam. Also, the parliament received a CID report. 5 MPs who were members of COPE had been accused of receiving telephone calls. However, none of the JVP MPs had received any telephone calls. However, these groups who are connected to the fraud are slinging mud at us. When Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekera mentioned about a list of 118, certain websites published a false list of names. It is as another step of these vilifications that Maithri Gunarathna had said I had received money through journalist Mahesh Senanayaka.
The names of Dayasiri Jayasekera and Sujewa Senasinghe were revealed from this list. While it is so, Maithri Gunarathna has fabricated a story without any basis. We totally reject this story. Thieves cannot be protected by such wretched, sinister moves. We know who is behind Maithri’s voice. We like to ask the President as to what happened to the sword he said he would brandish. Did the President brandish the sword against thieves during the past four months as he had promised at the last election? According to what we know the sword had been used to cut away the names of his associates who have been exposed by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. I have sent a letter of demand to Maithri Gunarathna demanding Rs. 500 million for the defamation of my character. Also, we expect to take complete legal action against the statement. Also, we would like to say the fraudsters would not be allowed to sling mud at reasonable people. Swine in cesspits smeared with feces attempt to smear it on others as well. As there are SLFP and UNP MPs in the list they are trying to generalize the situation by stating MPs from other parties too are in the list. We would like to emphasize that the voice of the people who are against frauds and corruption cannot be silenced by such futile acts. I don’t think the mudslinging was aimed personally at me. We consider it as an attack against all those who are against fraud and corruption.
Also, I would like to make a special request from media institutions not to give media publicity to baseless as well as irresponsible statements imbeciles make at various places and not to support the move to stifle the voice of the people who are against fraud and corruption.
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