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CAA Director to quit citing political pressure

19 Sep 2021

  • Claims he received death threats
By Buddhika Samaraweera Claiming that he has come under pressure from certain politicians when carrying out his duties and the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) activities independently, CAA Executive Director Thushan Gunawardena has decided to resign from his post and will officially submit his resignation this week. Joining the “Truth with Chamuditha” YouTube programme, he claimed that he had even received death threats for carrying out his duties properly and said that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has, on a number of occasions, been informed of the matter in writing. However, he said that no proper investigation has been carried out in that regard. He said that when a sum of Rs. 400,000 was given through the CAA for the International Consumers’ Day celebrations last May, a note was made to the effect that the said amount of money should not be used for political purposes and added that a Minister and a State Minister were at loggerheads with him after the incident. Gunawardena said: “Then they had even gone and told the Cabinet of Ministers that someone they had appointed was working against them. So I tried to explain the fact that I made the relevant note which said ‘Use that money for something useful for the consumers instead of political purposes’ was for everyone’s safety. However, they carried out a huge campaign to make me leave.” He also said that he had received the first call about the much-talked-about garlic scam and that several Lanka Sathosa officials had been involved in the incident, after which he had received various pressures and even death threats to resign for the intervention in investigating the matter. “I received information from someone from Sathosa that this scam was taking place. Then I immediately sent a team of CAA officials to the location and they had taken photographs of all the forged invoices and other relevant documents. After this, I was once again told to resign as I was working against the Minister. What I said was that a fair investigation should be carried out by the CID into this,” he said, and when questioned as to who is the minister he was referring to, Gunawardena did not mention it. According to him, the Lanka Sathosa has sold garlic at lower prices than the regular prices and purchased them back at higher prices. Claiming that many high level individuals were involved in it, he pointed out that the officials involved in similar incidents have been suspended several times but they have been re-appointed when the incidents are forgotten among the public. “Not only the suspect who has been arrested so far but also those above him are involved in this incident. But officers who are suspended for things like this will be reinstated once the public forgets,” he said. He also alleged that a State Minister was planning to sign some agreements with traders and the companies that import wheat flour, sugar, and cement in a way which is adverse for the CAA and the consumers, stating: “If those agreements were signed it would have been very disadvantageous to the CAA and therefore I did not sign them. My signature is essential for them to be signed but I opposed the signing of such agreements.” Gunawardena said he had tried to curb fraud and corruption as much as possible but had decided to resign as it was clear that it could not be done with the intervention of politicians.  His resignation is the latest in a series of recent resignations of top-level Government officials. On 15 September, the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) Chairman Dr. Jatal Mannapperuma tendered his resignation from the post citing “several reasons” for his decision, but refused to specify any reasons to the media. “No one would resign without a reason. There were several reasons for my resignation. I don’t like to talk about them to the media though,” he explained when The Morning contacted him. However, sources indicated that Dr. Mannapperuma was unhappy about several decisions taken by those above him with regard to the agricultural sector and the current trajectory of the sector. Meanwhile, two other high ranking officials in the Ministry of Agriculture have, in the recent past, resigned within a short period of about seven months. The former Ministry of Agriculture Secretary, Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Sumedha Perera resigned last February citing personal reasons and subsequently Rohana Pushpakumara was appointed to the post left vacant due to Perera’s resignation. However, after serving in the post for a short period of about four months, Pushpakumara also resigned from the post on 5 June 2021, after which Prof. Jayasinghe-Mudalige was appointed to the said position. In addition, several other top-level Government officials of other sectors recently resigned from their posts. Recently, National Zoological Gardens Department Director General Ishini Wickremesinghe resigned from the said post and Executive Committee Member of the Association of Medical Specialists of Sri Lanka (AMS) and Senior Consultant Anaesthetist Dr. Asoka Gunaratne also resigned from the Health Ministry’s Covid-19 Technical Committee, which is tasked with making recommendations with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic control measures. This came in the wake of the resignation of Senior Consultant Physician at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama from the same Committee.


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