(Lanka-e-News- 07.July.2016, 10.30PM) Minister Lakshman Kiriella has sent a reply lastday (05) in response to the report of Lanka e news on 23 rd June under the caption ‘Kiriella and Daya Gamage share loot of Rs. 3.63 Billion.! Cabinet misled and ethics relegated to dustbin….’
. It is indicated in his letter that all documents and files in connection with that contract were forwarded to the Attorney General’s (AG) department. A copy of his letter is appended , and in that extraordinarily short letter the following have been stated……
This relates to your news website report on the tenders pertaining to several projects awarded by the Road Development Authority (RDA)
We wish to inform that all the documents and files of two projects of the RDA being carried out under the supervision of Asian Development Bank that were awarded to Olympus Construction (Pvt) Ltd. whose Directors are minister Daya Gamage’s son and daughter have been sent to the AG’s department , and in future those activities will be carried out in accordance with the AG’s advice .
Lakshman Kiriella M.P., Attorney at Law
Leader of the House , S.L. Parliament
Minister of Higher Education and Highways
Before we received the people’s representative Lakshman Kiriella’s letter , we received a long letter on the day the news report was published from an individual who does not know proper Sinhala but called himself as the media secretary, and the tender procedure was explained in that letter.
Though we assumed this tender award was legally secured abiding by tender procedure, and we did not question the tender procedure , yet the media secretary via his letter who confirmed his ignorance of Sinhala language and betrayed his lack of understanding too, by writing on and on about that same issue, though in our report our questioning revolved around entirely another issue….
‘ Minister Lakshman Kiriella should have informed the Cabinet ahead before the tender award was submitted to the Cabinet for approval ,that the owner of the Olympus Construction (Pvt) Ltd. is within the Cabinet , which he did not on the 3 rd of June. In the circumstances this was obviously a deception practiced to mislead the Cabinet.’
We clearly and abundantly questioned only on that issue. In the letter of the media secretary it was only mentioned , no Cabinet minister had connection with the Olympus Construction Pvt. Ltd. Yet in the letter of Minister Kiriella today , Minister Daya Gamage’s son and daughter are Directors in that entity , meaning that this individual who calls himself the media secretary and knows no proper Sinhala has used his deceiving talents and bluffing propensities to mislead by relying on gobbledygook.
Let us before going any further make some comments regarding the secretaries who multiplied like marmots and proliferated after the advent of the government of good governance. There are of course a few educated media secretaries with multilingual abilities . Our criticisms are not directed against them
The government of good governance , created another group called the State ministers in addition to ministers and deputy ministers. Unfortunately , all these ministers have a group of media secretaries who are brutes courting disaster to the country .A majority of these brutes are the morons and minions of the ministers , and were engaged in their election campaigns –their ‘masters’. These are the illiterate minions and stooges who know only to toady to their ‘bosses.’ Even if his ‘master’ goes to the latrine , he writes about that and publishes a photograph via the media with himself in it carrying the bucket to wash down the political ‘master’s excreta.
Such are these media coolies who are maintained on public funds , and have become a burden to the people and a pest to the media Institutions they serve. In the past , only the minister had a media secretary , and he /she was tasked with gathering with responsibility what were published by the media and presenting to the minister for his attention , and disseminate the news via the media whenever the minister did anything which was of importance to the public.
However the present lickspittles or so called media secretaries , are a breed that knows only to bootlick and survive only on that. They have started the practice of making media statements now and then on behalf of their ministers to fulfill cheap agendas.
May we emphasize ,the people cast their votes to the elected ministers and not to their moronic minions described as media secretaries . Hence Lanka e news as a media website that thinks and acts most responsibly deems it is not worth reproducing the stupid stories of the media stooges who have made only bootlicking and fawning on their political bosses their favorite occupation . We only publish the statements of the media secretaries of the president , Prime Minister and the speaker , as well as the secretaries of the ministries.
Now let us revert to our earlier subject matter ..
After Kiriella’s so called secretary’s influenza pestilence , minister Daya Gamage spoke to Lanka e news and offered an explanation. Since he said it is for the information of Lanka e news only , not for publication , we took no interest in publishing it. Daya Gamage went on to explain that he and his wife Anoma Gamage were the Directors of Oympus Construction Pvt. Ltd. and they resigned separately , and now his son and daughter are its Directors.
In defense of the failure to inform the cabinet , he said , on the 3 rd of June when the cabinet paper was tabled , it is true he remained silent , but after it was taken up for discussion , he left the weekly cabinet meetings , and as he is a newcomer , the others thanked him over it. He did not pay any commission to Kiriella to secure this tender , he added.
No matter what defense Daya Gamage advances, ministers resigning from the Director posts , and using their political influence to secure tender awards worth many billions of rupees in favor of the companies of their children is absolutely unethical .
A case in point is the incident that took place in England many years ago. A Minister was charged with over speeding . Since the minister will get trapped if he pays the fine , the fine was paid in respect of the vehicle number of his wife.
However when the cat was out of the bag , ( By that time the government changed , and his ministerial portfolio too was scrapped) charges were still mounted not only against the minister but even his wife , that by furnishing wrong information to the government , as a minister he was guilty of criminal breach of trust.
The old couple were sentenced to 8 months in jail , and they served their sentences together . When the ethical code applying to people’s representatives is such , securing many millions worth tenders using the companies of children is absolutely unethical and unpardonable.
Kiriella who gave a belated reply said in his letter , the son and daughter of Daya Gamage are Directors of Olympus Construction Pvt. Ltd. , and the relevant files and documents have been forwarded to the AG’s department for its instructions .Based on the instructions , measures will be taken thereafter , he stated.
Kiriella’s action is nothing but a whitewashing effort after the charges have been mounted because he ought to have obtained the AG’s advice not after but before the cabinet paper was tabled, or at least before the cabinet paper was taken up for discussion by the Cabinet.
It is not unusual for ministers to seek AG’s advice pertaining to cabinet papers . That is , if it involves a legal issue securing AG’s advice in that connection or if the proposal concerns financial transactions , the relevant AG’s advice is again sought. The AG does not act as a judge in those circumstances , and is only an advisor .
Lakshman Kiriella was seeking legal advice in relation to the awarding of the Rural roads development tender to Olympus Construction Pvt. Ltd. on a matter which has been concluded and finished. May be Kiriella despite being a lawyer does not know seeking advice on what is concluded is unavailing, since AG is not one who makes judgments.
In our preliminary report our allegation was , Lakshman Kiriella misled the Cabinet by failing to inform same of the relationship that existed between Daya Gamage who is a member of the cabinet and Olympus Construction Pvt. Ltd. before the paper was submitted to the Cabinet. Though Kiriella has tried to explain in so many words so many things , he has not given an answer to this simple allegation .The letter of Minister Kiriella is hereunder……
Connected report ..
Kiriella and Daya Gamage share loot of Rs. 3.63 Billion.! Cabinet misled and ethics relegated to dustbin
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by (2016-07-07 17:18:08)
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-- by Perumal on 2016-07-08
