-By Captain-10 writes
(Lanka-e-News - 16.Sep.2025, 7.30 PM)
The Attorney General had filed an indictment in the High Court in 2016 under the Public Property Act against the former chairman of RADA, Tiran Alles, former chief operating officer of RADA, Saliya Wickramasuriya, former accountant of RADA, Jayantha Dias Samarasinghe and former LTTE member Anthony Emil Kanthan, alleging that the North and East Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA) was established to construct houses in Trincomalee and Batticaloa as part of the government project called ''Jayalanka'' to construct houses for the people of the North and East displaced by the 2004 tsunami. The agency had misappropriated Rs. 124 million in government funds without constructing any houses.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was sworn in as the 5th President of Sri Lanka on November 19, 2005, claiming that it was for the development of the North and East regions due to the tsunami disaster that severely affected Sri Lanka on December 24, 2004, established this RADA institution, which could be used for theft, 9 days later, on November 28, and appointed Tiran Alles, a close confidant of the Rajapaksa government, as its chairman. (As soon as the final election results were released, showing that Mahinda Rajapaksa had won the 2005 presidential election, Mahinda hugged Tiran, saying, "Brother, you lifted me up.")
The primary purpose of establishing RADA was to rebuild houses in the North and East that were destroyed by the tsunami. However, investigations have revealed that although the government allocated funds for the construction of 1,200 houses, not a single house has been built. Accordingly, there was suspicion in political circles that part of that money had gone to the LTTE and another part to Tiran Alles' pocket.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa requested that Tiran Alles meet Basil Rajapaksa with anyone who could establish a connection with the LTTE prior to the 2005 presidential election. Accordingly, Tiran Alles was able to organize a meeting between LTTE member Emil Kanthan, a friend of Tiran, and Mahinda's brother Basil Rajapaksa.
The meeting between Basil Rajapaksa, the head of Mahinda Rajapaksa's 2005 presidential election campaign, and LTTE member Emil Kanthan was held at Tiran Alles' office in Ward Place. At that time, Basil Rajapaksa proposed to the LTTE that they lead the people of the North and East in boycotting the elections to secure the victory of his brother, then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. (There was speculation that if the people of the North and East voted, they would go for former Prime Minister Ranil, Mahinda's opponent in the presidential election.) And that the LTTE could be given whatever it wanted so that it would not attack anyone in the Rajapaksa family.
Accordingly, Emil Kanthan had informed Basil Rajapaksa that the LTTE organization needed money and boats. Accordingly, Tiran Alles revealed in a press conference after a hand grenade attack on his house on January 22, 2010, that a huge amount of money was initially given to Emil Kanthan as an advance in large travel bags.
A month after the establishment of RADA, on December 30, 2005, Tiran Alles and Saliya Wickramasuriya, along with Emil Kanthan, who worked for the LTTE faction, went to Kilinochchi and held discussions with the LTTE regional leader of Kilinochchi named ‘Puwannan Iniyawan’.
They then accompanied Iniyawan and held discussions with the Divisional Secretaries of Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, and Batticaloa, requesting lists of names to build houses for the people affected by the tsunami. The selection of a contractor to build houses for those individuals was made by LTTE regional leader Puwannan Iniyawan and RADA Chairman Tiran Alles, outside of government procedure.
Tiran Alles and Emil Kanthan, along with 'Ananda Shanthikumar', formed a company called B & K Holdings as a consultancy company for this project. 'Ananda Shanthikumar' and his sons, 'Gajan Kumar', 'Kisho Kumar', and 'Barkav Shanthikumar' were appointed as its directors. This company was registered on 27 December 2005 as a company by L.M. Management, the secretaries who also registered Tiran Alles' other companies.
B & K Holdings, which was registered on 27 December 2005, participated in the discussion on the construction of houses held in Kilinochchi on 30 December.
RADA has appointed B & K Holdings as the consultant for the project, disregarding the tender procedures that should be followed by government agencies when awarding contracts. Meanwhile, B & K Holdings has also opened two accounts with Hatton National Bank and Commercial Bank.
While B & K Holdings is working with RADA as the consultant for the tsunami housing project, another company, G S Builders & Consultants, was established on December 30, 2005, to provide house construction contracts. That company has not been registered. But both the aforementioned 'Shanthi Kumar' and 'Gajan Kumar' have been used as partners in it.
Thereafter, RADA has selected this G.S. Builder & Consultant to act as a consultant for future development activities and has requested that they nominate three companies for house construction activities.
This is where the wonderful drama comes in. When G S Builders & Consultants nominated three companies for the above construction work, they selected B & K Holdings and two other unregistered companies. Later, RADA selected B&K Holdings for the construction of the houses.
A person named ‘Dils Abeysuriya’, who was a government official on the tender board, has told the police that since the government tender procedures were not followed in awarding this tender, this tender cannot be awarded, and that he can only recommend the lowest prices. Saliya Wickramasuriya, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of RADA, has acted as the chairman of the tender board, while a person named ‘Koushalya Rajapaksa’ and a government official named Diles Abeysuriya have also acted as the others.
Later, without considering the matter, a company named B & K Holdings was selected to award this tender, and they received funds from the government without undertaking any construction. The Finance Director of RADA, Jayantha Dias Samarasinghe, has issued cheques for vouchers without adhering to any government financial regulations.
A project to construct 400 houses in the Trincomalee area was carried out from February to April 2006, and vouchers have been presented, along with money received from four cheques. However, not a single sod of soil has been cut to construct a single house.
Another similar fake company has been established in Batticaloa, claiming to be involved in house construction. Its name is Everest Civil Engineering. It was registered as a partnership with the Western Provincial Council on 23 February 2006. Its partners are 'Kandasamy Sothirajan' and 'Karupayaiya Sasikumara'. Both of them are LTTE members and school friends of Emil Kanthan, a resident of Vavuniya.
This Everest Civil Engineering company also had two accounts in Hatton National Bank and Commercial Bank.
Similarly, Everest Civil Engineering Company has also been awarded a tender to build 400 houses in Batticaloa without following any government tender procedures. They have also obtained about Rs. 125 million from 9 cheques without building a single house by submitting forged documents.
For this, the signatures and recommendations of the Divisional Secretaries have been obtained by force. The statements provided by the Divisional Secretaries to the police indicate that, due to the political influence of Tiran Alles and the fear of the LTTE organization, the Divisional Secretaries took steps to obtain the relevant signatures and recommendations.
As of June 2006, allegations had been made against RADA, claiming that no construction had been carried out and that government property and funds had been misused. While the allegations were being made, Saliya Wickramasuriya resigned from RADA and assumed the position of Chairman of the Ports Authority.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa, then Minister of Economic Development, submitted a special cabinet paper on August 26, 2006, and provided more than Rs. 757 million to RADA through the Treasury.
Later, 'Chandra Kanthi Fernando', who was the Chief Executive Officer of RADA, negotiated with Everest Civil Engineering Company and terminated the contracts with them on September 23, 2006. The termination agreement was signed by only 'Saliya Wickramasuriya', 'Jayantha Dias', and 'Gajan Kumaran', while fake signatures were used for the other three.
The complaint regarding this serious fraud was first filed on February 28, 2015, after Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated and the Maithripala-Ranil Yahapalana government came to power. Accordingly, the facts were reported to the Fort Magistrate's Court on March 26 through Report B/642/2015.
Before the police submitted further investigation reports to the court, reiterating the truth of the saying "a banana tree jumps over a fence before a thief", Tiran Alles bypassed the Court of Appeal and directly filed a Fundamental Rights petition with the Supreme Court of the country, requesting an order to prevent his arrest. The Supreme Court granted an interim injunction, preventing his arrest until the hearing of the petition for Fundamental Rights.
The Supreme Court granted such a surprising interim injunction while considering a fundamental rights petition filed by Tiran Alles. While a lower magistrate's court was conducting preliminary investigations into such a large-scale theft, whether a prime accused in the case could file a fundamental rights petition with the Supreme Court, and after such a filing, the Supreme Court issued an interim injunction not to arrest Alles and not to hand over the indictment until the Magistrate's hearing in the case was completed, was also a hot topic at the time.
In this way, Tiran Alles' obtaining an interim injunction allowing any thief or murderer in the country to file a fundamental rights petition with the Supreme Court while a case against him was being heard in a lower court, and to avoid arrest and punishment, was a hot topic of discussion in the political and legal circles at the time.
The fundamental rights case number SC/FR/171/2015 filed by Tiran Alles in the Supreme Court was first called on 27 May 2015 and after that, Supreme Court Justices Eva Wanasundara and Rohini Marasinghe, who adjudicated the case, adjourned the matter 16 times until 10 October 2016 without giving a verdict, as the "Lanka e News" website reported with facts at the time.
While the other suspects in this grand theft, namely 'Shanthikumar Gajan Kumar', 'Anandi Shanthi Kumar', 'Kandasamy Sodhiraja', 'Rohan Saliya Abeysinghe Weera Wickramasuriya', 'Ponmudi Sri Hara Sudan', 'Emil Kanthan', and 'Jayantha Dias Samarasinghe', were arrested, remanded, and later released on bail, the Supreme Court had acted not only to prevent the arrest of the main suspect, Tiran Alles, but also to save him from being indicted.
After the investigations conducted by the Police Financial Crimes Division, which was established to investigate financial fraud and corruption during the Rajapaksa regime during the Maithri-Ranil Yahapalana government, the Attorney General's Department tried to escape the case filed by the High Court through the Supreme Court, but based on the submissions made by 'Deputy Solicitor Yasantha Kodagoda' on behalf of the Attorney General's Department, the final decision of the bench headed by the Chief Justice was that it was lawful to hand over the indictment to Tiran Alles and others.
Accordingly, Colombo High Court Judge Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena filed an indictment against RADA Chairman Tiran Alles, Chief Operating Officer Saliya Wickramasuriya, Accountant Jayantha Dias Samarasinghe, and LTTE member Anthony Emil Kanthan on November 2, 2016, and ordered the remand of the other three, except for Emil Kanthan. Since LTTE member Emil Kanthan could not be arrested, a red warrant had been issued for him through the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).
The approach of Tiran Alles’ personal lawyer, President’s Counsel Nalin Ladduwahetti, and President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva, who appeared in the case on behalf of Tiran, is very different. While presenting legal arguments, they are also very good at selecting the judges they want to hear their client's case, or, in legal parlance, Bench fixing.
Accordingly, Tiran's lawyers immediately filed a revision bail application with the Court of Appeal to obtain bail, and for this, they had generously received the support of the infamous former President of the Court of Appeal, Judge Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne, who was known for Bench Fixing in the Court of Appeal. Accordingly, as soon as the bail application was received, it was taken up for hearing the next day. The two judges of the Court of Appeal, H.C.J. Madawala and C.T.B. Dehideniya, who had been remanded for only 06 days, ordered High Court Judge Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena to immediately release Tiran Alles and the other two on bail on 08 November 2016.
The Attorney General's Department presented the main government witness in the case in which the RADA robbers were granted bail on November 8, 2016, and summoned before the High Court two days later, namely 'Chandra Kanthi Fernando', who was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RADA.
While this case was being postponed for a long time in the High Court, the masterminds of the Easter attack, led by Tiran Alles, were able to defeat the Good Governance government in a grand conspiracy and make Gotabaya Rajapaksa the President on November 16, 2019.
After Gotabaya became President, Tiran Alles was able to turn everything upside down. The Attorney General's Department was used to abolish the Financial Crimes Division of the police and take over the Attorney General's Department, and to suppress all the cases filed against the Rajapaksas and their allies.
On July 10, 2020, 8 months after Gota's government was formed, former RADA CEO 'Chandra Kanthi Fernando', who changed her original position as a government witness before High Court Judge Pradeep Hettiarachchi, said that she had not seen any of the original checks (originals) that were the basis for the indictment against the defendants, and had only seen photocopies of those documents.
Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris stated that the prosecution's case has been compromised by a key witness who has changed her previous position, and as a result, the Attorney General's Department cannot proceed with the case. He informed the High Court that the Attorney General will investigate the steps that can be taken against this witness, who initially served as a government witness but later changed her position.
However, after the Attorney General’s Department informed the High Court that the case would not be further pursued based on the testimony of RADA CEO Chandra Kanthi Fernando, the High Court acquitted all the defendants, including Tiran Alles.
However, the same Attorney General’s Department that filed the complaint against Tiran Alles for misappropriation of public funds did not take any legal action against the prosecution’s main witness, who changed her original position and testified in a manner favorable to the defendants. However, anyone following the case would have understood that the prosecution’s lawyer, Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris, manipulated Chandra Kanthi Fernando’s testimony to favor the defense, with the aim of acquitting the defendants.
When the main witness for the prosecution changed her original position in court, it was striking that Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris did not raise any objection on behalf of the Attorney General's Department, despite having ample grounds to do so. (It is worth considering that Dileepa Peiris behaved in this way during Gota's time, even if it is like Buddha Pooja today)
On July 10, when the RADA trial was being held, the notorious 'narcotics' police inspector Neomal Rangajeewa forcibly dragged photojournalist Akhila Jayawardena of Tiran Alles' own newspaper, ''Mawbima'', to the police station of the Colombo High Court, threatened him, and staged a drama of removing the memory card from his camera.
This pre-planned and carefully staged drama was front-page news on both the mainstream and social media, so the verdict in the RADA case heard in the High Court that day received very little media attention. Neomal Rangajeewa is a prime suspect in the infamous Welikada Prison killing case. He will appear before the Colombo High Court on July 10 to attend the hearing. Rangajeewa is a friend of Tiran Alles.
After Gotabaya Rajapaksa became President, the investigations into the Easter attacks and all the cases filed by the Yahapalana government against the Rajapaksas and their allies were suspended, and the Attorney General's Department did not take any action against it. However, the Attorney General's Department can, if it chooses to, re-examine the RADA case, the largest bribery or corruption case in Sri Lanka's history, even if all the evidence is present.
If the RADA case was dismissed due to a contradiction in one piece of evidence in the complaint, the Attorney General's Department should have been aware that there are cases where dismissed cases were re-examined, even if we did not explicitly state so. For example, we will recall just one case. That is the case against former Deputy Inspector General of Police Vass Gunawardena.
The RADA case was suppressed according to the political interests of the time. Those political interests have now been ended by the people. Accordingly, the current Malima government should have the political interest to satisfy the people's aspirations to re-examine this biggest bribery and corruption case in Sri Lanka's history. If the people's aspirations are properly understood, the Attorney General's Department should also share that interest.
If the Malima government, including President Anura Dissanayake, genuinely has an interest in dispelling the 'mistaken perception' among the people that the Malima government is not taking action against Tiran Allas, then they should take practical steps against the largest bribery and corruption scandal in Sri Lanka's history. If the Attorney General hesitates to file a case, we would like to remind everyone that the Commission to Investigate Bribery and Corruption also has the same ability.
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by (2025-09-16 14:01:58)
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