Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna national organiser and MP Namal Rajapaksa told Parliament that corruption and scams are rampant across multiple sectors under the present administration because President Anura Kumara Dissanayake “remains blind to them.”
He made the remarks while joining the parliamentary debate on petroleum resources development on Tuesday, Hiru News reported.
The charge sheet
Marking two years of the government, Rajapaksa alleged the President travels the country making new promises that cannot be fulfilled, while staying silent on three specific matters:
- the Presidential Secretary releasing 323 containers from the port;
- the Finance Ministry Secretary crediting USD 2.5 million to the wrong account;
- racketeers siphoning off one billion dollars over the past two years.
He said compensation promised to people affected by the Ditwah storm has still not been paid, and pointed to farmers going unpaid for harvested paddy and fertiliser failing to arrive on time.
Citing the International Monetary Fund, he said 43 per cent of graduates in the country lack employment, and demanded the government fulfil its promises to graduates and the public “instead of delivering 84,000 false claims.”
Context the filing leaves out
He is speaking from remand custody. Rajapaksa has been held since 4 September, when CIABOC arrested him over the Airbus aircraft procurement and an alleged Rs. 100 million bribe. He was further remanded until 29 September, with a separate Colombo Fort case running to 23 September. The arrangement under which he attends sittings from remand was established earlier this month, when he was brought to Parliament on a prison bus. Hiru’s filing does not mention his custody.
Two of the three items are already before Parliament. The 323 uninspected containers are the subject of a select committee whose majority blocked an opposition bid to summon the President and Minister Bimal Rathnayake.
The USD 2.5 million is contested in its framing. Our earlier coverage records the sum as the Treasury cyber heist — an external theft — with the Opposition Leader alleging a cover-up and pointing to conflicting accounts from senior officials. Rajapaksa’s description of it as a payment credited to the wrong account is his characterisation, not an established finding.
Hiru renders the storm’s name as “Ditwa”; this desk and every other outlet use Ditwah.
Still unanswered. The filing gives no government response, does not identify the IMF document behind the 43 per cent figure, and does not explain what the “84,000 false claims” refers to. No other verified newsroom had carried the speech at the time of writing.
