- Senarath to replace P.B. as Prez Secretary, Anura to become PM’s Secretary
- India’s $ 400 m swap and $ 500 m fuel credit line arrives this month
- Basil to make second Indian trip this month, expected to meet Modi this time
- G-10 and SLFP emerge as key agitators within Govt., SLPP hits back at detractors
- Pathfinder, other analysts warn of crises and possible sovereign default in 2022
- President explains to media heads how his policies prevented even worse outcomes
A new year has dawned once again, amidst a mixture of fear and hope. Fear due to the economic crisis faced by the country that is expected to reach a peak around March this year and hope because Sri Lankans are now compelled to cling to hope, however futile, as a means of getting through the day.
Nevertheless, the New Year dawned with some real hope surrounding the receipt of the $ 400 million Indian swap facility and the $ 500 million Indian credit line for fuel. Both financial facilities are to be finalised this month, giving some respite to the country.
The last week of 2021 saw a key change in the Government, with the resignation letter submitted by President’s Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera being accepted by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday (27 December) and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Secretary Gamini Senarath being tipped to be the next President’s Secretary. Senarath is expected to assume office in his new role this week, while Irrigation Ministry Secretary Anura Dissanayake is to assume duties as the Prime Minister’s new Secretary.
Several media outlets reported over the past few weeks that Dr. Jayasundera had submitted a lengthy resignation letter, highlighting the obstacles he faced in his position. The resignation follows continued conflicts between Dr. Jayasundera and the Cabinet of Ministers, with many ministers going on record stating that there were officials within the Government who wielded greater power and influence than the ministers and who were responsible for the crisis facing Sri Lanka at present.
However, President Rajapaksa has defended Dr. Jayasundera, saying it was unfair to single out a person and level criticism against him.
Dr. Jayasundera is expected to function as an Advisor to the President as well as a Senior Advisor to Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa. Basil had, in fact, informed the President on a previous occasion that he would appoint Dr. Jayasundera to a senior post at the Finance Ministry if he were replaced as President’s Secretary.
Basil, who was in the US on a personal visit, returned to the island last morning (1) amidst these changes and more impending changes this month. The Finance Minister’s departure on a personal visit amidst the multiple crises faced by the country was criticised by many, including members of the governing party.
It appears that Basil’s actions and the criticism they have gathered have made Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa think twice about his visit to Dubai that was to commence today (2).
Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s anticipated visit to Dubai, to attend the Expo 2020 Dubai, was cancelled and his Chief of Staff Yoshitha Rajapaksa told the media that the cancellation was to enable the Prime Minister to remain in Sri Lanka to help resolve the pressing economic issues in the country.
“Considering the present economic situation at home and the issues that need to be addressed, the Prime Minister decided not to undertake his visit to Dubai, scheduled for next week. He was invited by the UAE Prime Minister to attend the Dubai Expo as Chief Guest on 3 January, but he will be unable to attend. The Prime Minister has pressing issues to address and is optimistic the economic situation will improve next year,” Yoshitha had told the media.
Government members meanwhile are also anticipating a reshuffle in senior offices of the administration prior to the recommencement of Parliament sessions on 18 January.
However, a highly-placed source noted that carrying out a Cabinet reshuffle at the present time would not serve the anticipated outcome. “Given the crisis faced by the country, reshuffling portfolios between the existing members of the Cabinet will not serve to build confidence among people. If a minister has failed in one portfolio, there is no guarantee that the respective minister will succeed in another portfolio,” the source explained, adding that giving Cabinet portfolios to a few among the young state ministers could result in dissention among the other young state ministers.
Meanwhile, the Government last week faced a difficulty in issuing Letters of Credit (LCs) to procure two shipments of fuel that had arrived at the Colombo Port mid last week.
The Central Bank had to finally intervene on Friday (31 December) to get the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) to issue the relevant LCs for the shipments to commence unloading the stocks of petrol and diesel that were stuck at port.
It is learnt that BoC had refused to issue LCs to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) after the Central Bank had issued a warning letter to the BoC stating that the bank’s single client exposure in relation to the CPC was dangerously high.
However, the CPC has explained that as a State entity supplying fuel to the nation, it was engaged in an essential service and the BoC had to therefore take into account this unique situation.
The situation resulted in the country being placed on the verge of a petrol and diesel shortage.
The constant delay in issuing LCs for fuel shipments will eventually deter the few remaining suppliers of fuel to Sri Lanka. The delays result in suppliers losing confidence in the CPC and Sri Lanka while also facing issues in their (suppliers’) shipping manifests.
As for Sri Lanka, the Government has to face additional costs due to delays in unloading the shipments.
Amidst efforts to maintain dollar reserves, the Energy Ministry on Thursday (30 December) announced that the Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery would once again be temporarily closed down from Monday (3) till 30 January due to the dollar crisis and the difficulty in purchasing crude oil.
The refinery is to be reopened once Sri Lanka enters into an agreement to secure crude oil on credit.
Dollar crisis
While negotiations with the Indian Government on securing three financial aid packages amounting to $ 1.9 billion were reaching a final stage, the People’s Bank of China released a receipt of the Chinese yuan 10 billion (equivalent to $ 1.5 billion) currency swap to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) on Wednesday (29 December), increasing Sri Lanka’s official foreign reserves of Sri Lanka to $ 3.1 billion, according to the CBSL.
CBSL Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal announced on Wednesday via his official Twitter account that due to the receipt of recent foreign exchange inflows, the official foreign reserves position of the country had approximately reached the aforementioned level and would remain at that level until the end of 2021. However, neither Cabraal nor the CBSL in its press release issued last week specified the exact source of the recent foreign exchange inflows.
Senior Government sources confirmed that the increase in the country’s official reserves was due to the receipt of the ¥ 10 billion swap from China.
In addition, as Sri Lanka’s major imports are sourced from China, India, and the UAE, the Chinese yuan facility could be utilised to make payment for the imports.
The Government has now reached the final stages of securing the $ 400 million and $ 500 million facilities from India. It is in such a backdrop that Finance Minister Rajapaksa is slated to visit India on 10 January, leading a Sri Lankan delegation to a summit in Gujarat.
The Finance Minister is expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to try and finalise terms for the Indian aid package. Basil failed to meet Modi during last month’s visit to India after the Indian Prime Minister had to cancel the appointment at the last minute.
However, Sri Lanka’s foreign currency troubles have been worsening since last June with the increasing prices of global commodities led by oil prices starting to exert pressure on the country’s import bill amidst high liquidity inputs as well as the loss of inflows from tourism, worker remittances, and direct investments, which together had amounted to approximately $ 13.5-15 billion in both 2020 and 2021.
It is in this backdrop that former Central Bank Deputy Governor and economic commentator Dr. W.A. Wijewardena had stated that Sri Lanka was entering the new year with a double whammy of acute shortages in liquidity in both domestic foreign exchange and rupee markets, compounded by the soaring consumer prices as a result of the still dovish monetary policy stance of the Central Bank.
“SL is to enter 2022 with a double whammy: no forex and rupee liquidity in banks,” Dr. Wijewardena tweeted last week.
Dr. Wijewardena had also stated that the shortage in the domestic money markets which rose to Rs. 355.55 billion at the previous week’s market close had also exacerbated the challenges as the CBSL was now forced to meet that requirement daily under its Standing Lending Facility (SLF) rate at 6%.
“CB must now fund both the Government and the commercial banks to keep the system going,” he had added.
Dr. Wijewardena had further noted that the current outcomes in the economy were due to “controlling both interest rates and exchange rate artificially”.
“According to reports, banks are acquiring one-month spot swap dollars with a promise to receive 192.25 for 200 in one month implying $/Rs. rate of 208,” he had added.
The Pathfinder Foundation meanwhile issuing a statement recently has stated: “Foreign revenues in the next couple of years are extremely unlikely to be sufficient to service external debt obligations, while supporting the essential foreign exchange (forex) requirements of the economy. Known external debt repayments amount to $ 26 billion over the next five years. It is unrealistic to expect to repay about $ 5 billion per year, particularly in the next 12-24 months, when foreign inflows are unlikely to increase on the scale necessary to service debt and finance imports necessary to meet essential needs and support the growth of the economy, particularly as the downgrading of Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating has excluded it from international capital markets. Countries protect access to these markets scrupulously to have the capacity to roll-over debt and avoid such a predicament.”
Referring to debt restructuring, the Foundation has stated: “There is now a strong case for considering debt restructuring to release foreign exchange to meet the needs of businesses and acquire the essential needs of the people, such as food, fuel, and pharmaceuticals.”
Responding to the justification presented by certain members of the Government for not pushing debt restructuring, Pathfinder has noted: “The most significant disadvantage of restructuring external debt is an immediate loss of access to international capital markets. This is now completely irrelevant for Sri Lanka as market access was lost when the economy was downgraded to a CCC rating. It is now even lower, at CC. As a result, Sri Lanka can no longer borrow in international markets.”
Responding to a question on the foreign exchange reserve crisis, Chief Government Whip Minister Johnston Fernando meanwhile had said at a public gathering that there were speculations of loss of reserves and a resultant collapse of the economy and thereafter the Government, but that this would not take place.
“We will not let that happen. We are capable enough to steer our way out of the forex reserve problem. The Opposition is happy to hear of the dwindling of forex reserves and are daydreaming of a possible collapse of the Government. They also seem to derive a perverse happiness to see temporary food shortages and price increases. They think that just because prices increase, people will turn to them and vote for their parties. They underestimate the intelligence of people who know that these sudden price changes were because of certain dents in our supply chains in the economy owing to the pandemic and recent lockdowns.
“These are very temporary issues. Once the supply chain is error-free, it will function better than it used to and none of these problems will exist. It is sad to notice that the Opposition has such degenerate thinking that they do not see that the country’s economy should be protected, because this is their country too. The rest of the country however hopes only that this problem will be over soon and the nation will prosper,” the Minister has said.
In order to attract dollars to the country, the CBSL had announced prior to the Christmas holidays that it had decided to extend the worker remittance incentive scheme, which offered an additional Rs. 10 for each dollar converted, through January 2021 from an earlier end date set at 31 December 2021.
The announcement came amidst some growing confusion as the operating instructions were issued at the beginning of December, which led some banks to interpret it differently.
However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stated that the Sri Lankan Government has not approached the Fund to discuss possible assistance, adding that the Fund was prepared to discuss if the Government was interested in doing so.
A staff team from the IMF visited Colombo from 7-20 December 2021 to conduct the 2021 Article IV consultation with Sri Lanka. Under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds regular bilateral discussions with all member countries to review economic developments and policies.
However, President Rajapaksa during a meeting with newspaper editors last week had expressed that he was not opposed to the idea of discussing options with the IMF to see whether the conditions were agreeable to Sri Lanka or not.
The President had told the editors that even United National Party (UNP) Leader MP Ranil Wickremesinghe had told him the Government should initiate a discussion with the IMF. The President had added that initiating a discussion did not necessarily mean the Government would agree to the conditions laid down by the IMF.
The CBSL meanwhile did not hold the press conference, as stated earlier, to update the public on the current status of the proposed foreign exchange inflows set out in the CBSL Six-Month Road Map before the end of the month.
A highly-placed source in the CBSL, who wished to remain anonymous, had told the media last week that there were no plans last week to conduct a presser to provide an update on the current status of the inflows promised under the CBSL Six-Month Road Map.
There have been requests from the public and the business sector to disclose how the Government and CBSL will address the prevailing economic situation in the country.
In its Six-Month Road Map, the CBSL had disclosed that it would be receiving $ 11.45 billion in forex inflows over the period from October to December. From the above-targeted foreign inflows, the Government of Sri Lanka and the CBSL will negotiate for $ 3.9 billion. Of the remainder, $ 6.95 billion includes forex inflows to the domestic forex market with contributions mainly from merchandise exports ($ 3.3 billion), worker remittance ($ 1.8 billion), and service exports ($ 1 billion).
Seeking extensions
Meanwhile, extensions have been sought by the Sri Lankan Government on several repayments.
Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd. (AASL) was reportedly looking at obtaining a five-year extension of the grace period for the Japanese yen 29 billion loan obtained from the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) in March 2012 for “Package A” of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) expansion project.
AASL Chairman Maj. Gen. (Retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri has told The Morning Business: “We have informed the Government, JICA, and the Ministry of Tourism that we require the grace period to be extended by another five years and we are currently working on getting it extended.”
However, according to JICA sources, negotiations relating to the extension of the grace period of the loan have yet to commence. Nevertheless, they did admit that they expect negotiations to commence soon.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) has extended the validity of the credit facility it extended to Sri Lanka by three months after the expiry of the first three-month tenure of the credit facility.
The loan facility has been renewed following a request from the island nation, a senior official of the central bank told New Age last week. Bangladesh has extended the credit facility amounting to $ 200 million under a currency swap deal with Sri Lanka.
The BB released $ 50 million as the first tranche under a currency swap deal to support the poorly rated Sri Lanka on 19 August 2021. The second tranche amounting to $ 100 million was released on 30 August 2021 and the final instalment worth $ 50 million was released on 21 September 2021.
As per the agreement, Bangladesh will receive 2% plus London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as interest on the credit amount. If the instalment principal remains unpaid even after six months, the applicable interest will be 2.5% plus LIBOR.
“Our assessment is that Sri Lanka will use the fund for at least nine months,” the BB official had said.
President explains
President Rajapaksa last week met with newspaper editors to discuss the current challenges faced by the country and its people.
At the meeting, the President had listed priorities from his vision that were boosting the local economy, thereby minimising imports and expediting transformation to greater reliance on renewable energy and a green sustainable agriculture.
He had said that considerable progress had been made already in these three areas despite challenges and he was determined to realise the full vision in the next three remaining years.
He had explained that the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences were beyond his and the Government’s control.
Referring to the foreign exchange crisis, the President had explained that when he took office the reserves were around $ 7 billion and Sri Lanka had debt servicing worth $ 6 billion per annum. “Every successive government has rolled over debt and for servicing foreign exchange receipts were used. However, no one saw the pandemic coming and the end result was the country losing $ 10 billion in foreign exchange earnings due to the collapse of tourism for two years. Additionally, our remittances declined too whilst exports faced a setback in initial months,” he had said.
However, the President had noted that despite challenges, Sri Lanka had successfully serviced debt worth $ 12 billion in the past two years.
He had also said unnecessary imports including vehicles and luxury items had to be suspended as a measure to save foreign exchange.
“In parallel, we also focused on discouraging import of items which can be produced or grown locally,” the President had said, citing several products including tiles, ethanol, and saffron. “Due to this move, the local sugarcane farmers are benefitting and sugar mills are active. The income of dairy farmers and growers of minor agriculture crops have increased. All these people form a large community and no one is highlighting these benefits,” the President had further noted.
President Rajapaksa had added that favourable policies adopted by the Government as well as resilience of the private sector had led to exports rebounding to record levels.
Indian support
However, it is reliably learnt that the $ 1.9 billion financial aid package from India will be received by Sri Lanka in several stages starting this month. The aid package included three financial facilities – $ 400 million, $ 500 million, and $ 1 billion.
Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila last Friday (31 December) announced the final agreement reached between Sri Lanka and India on the lease and development of the Trincomalee oil tanks as an Indo-Lanka joint programme.
However, the Cabinet has to approve the signing of the agreement for the process to proceed forward.
“We have been negotiating this for 16 months and we are now very close to finalising the terms of the Trincomalee project with India. We hope to sign the agreement in a month,” Energy Minister Gammanpila had told The Hindu earlier last week.
The Minister had further stated that he had instructed the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) to form a subsidiary company, Trinco Petroleum Terminal Ltd. (TPTL), for the purpose. The move follows President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s nod to setting up the special purpose vehicle ahead of the next Cabinet meeting. “We don’t have a Cabinet meeting this week because of the holidays. We will get the decision ratified in the next one,” Gammanpila had added.
Diplomatic sources have indicated that New Delhi’s nod for the emergency Lines of Credit and currency swap requests from Colombo were contingent on the Rajapaksa administration moving forward on the Trincomalee deal.
The proposal to develop the tank farm as a joint venture project was first included in the Indo-Lanka Accord. An annexure to the Accord has stated: “The work of restoring and operating the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm will be undertaken as a joint venture between India and Sri Lanka.”
Sources from the Indian Government told Black Box that Indian assistance would definitely reach Sri Lanka this month and explained that the delay was partly due to the fact that India had stopped credit lines for commodities some time back and had to recommence the facilities from scratch following the request by the Government of Sri Lanka.
“When Sri Lanka requested, we (Indian Government) had to restart the process. The delay was mainly due to this,” the source said, adding that Sri Lanka would receive all three requests its Government had made for financial assistance.
Dissenting trio criticised
Meanwhile, President Rajapaksa last Monday (27 December) fired a salvo at Ministers Wimal Weerawansa, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, and Udaya Gammanpila over their decision to make separate submissions in third-party litigation against the Government’s agreement with the US firm New Fortress Energy Inc. on the Yugadanavi Power Plant.
During a meeting with newspaper editors, Rajapaksa had noted that the Cabinet of Ministers bore collective responsibility and added that whilst he welcomed constructive criticism it was important for everyone in the Cabinet to remember teamwork.
He had also recalled the judgment by Justice Mark Fernando on a case involving the late Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake against the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa.
Rajapaksa had added that whilst bearing collective responsibility, any member intending to legally challenge a decision must first quit the Cabinet to do so.
Meanwhile, pro-Basil Rajapaksa social media networks have already launched a campaign demanding the immediate removal of leaders of constituent parties of the ruling alliance for breaching collective responsibility. It is also reported that several heads of media institutions have offered their support towards the campaign.
Responding to the President’s statement, Minister Gammanpila stated that there was no necessity for him and Ministers Weersawansa and Nanayakkara to resign from their portfolios as they had not done anything wrong.
However, he told the media that the President could remove them from the Cabinet if he believed they had done wrong by the Cabinet.
“The fact is that the Cabinet paper on the New Fortress Energy deal was not submitted to the Cabinet or properly discussed and passed following the proper process. That is the absolute truth. We decided to state this to the country and the Judiciary. We did that for the sake of safeguarding the country and according to our conscience. We don’t believe we have done anything wrong. There is no reason for us to resign since we have not done anything wrong. If we resign, that would be an acceptance that we did something wrong. If the President believes we have done something wrong, he can always remove us from the Cabinet. We know that. We took the risk to tell the truth to the country and courts. Justice Mark Fernando has said in the case against Gamini Dissanayake and others that the Ministers have the right to discuss an issue outside the Cabinet if an opportunity is not provided for such discussion within the Cabinet. We have now used this right as pointed out by the Supreme Court,” Gammanpila told the media last week.
Ready for defectors
The governing Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is meanwhile seriously considering the possibility of some of its alliance partners going solo at the next elections.
The SLPP alliance’s key coalition partner, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), had also commenced an aggressive party reforms programme to build its political path to contest separately at the next national level elections.
SLFP Leader, former President Maithripala Sirisena last week stated that the Government had messed up issues related to the economy and politics as well as the international community.
“There’s a question on how to build the lives of the people. We have today messed up politics, economy, and social issues, as well as international relations. Many have asked the Government why it hasn’t gone before the IMF to find some form of relief to the existing problems. However, senior Government members say they won’t seek IMF assistance. Let me remind that during my Government, I worked with the IMF. The IMF never imposed any strict conditions on us. I raised objections to some of the harsh conditions they presented saying we were unable to implement them. When we discussed the issues, they understood and accepted it,” Sirisena had said during a public event last week.
Meanwhile, the SLFP’s Senior Vice President Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa has also criticised the conduct of the Government, saying the party (SLFP) as a coalition partner of the Government was facing many issues.
“We are not ready to support the enemy. We are looking at building a dialogue with the people in order to develop an alternate programme,” he had said.
Citing grievances expressed openly by members of the Government including ministers, Piyadasa had said there was dissention and frustration around the Government.
Meanwhile, a group of 10 (G-10) governing alliance leaders have for months joined forces and performed the role of a pressure group from within the Government.
It is in such a backdrop that Chief Government Whip Johnston Fernando had stated that the Government is ready to engage in political horse-trading to replenish its numbers in Parliament if any allied party deserts it.
“Our doors are open. Anyone can leave. We are not going to stop anyone because we can at any time take more than the required number of people from the Opposition. We are ready to face any desertions of allied MPs. There are many in the Opposition side waiting to join the Government. They are ready to join our fold with a single call,” the Minister claimed, in response to a query on rumours of a split within Government ranks by a journalist during an inspection tour to review the progress of construction work of the Badagamuwa Vehicle Parking Terminal and its Health Facilities Centre recently.
“We do not want to see them leave us. We will never forget the allied party MPs who assisted us to build this Government. Their leaving does not mean the Government will collapse. The Government is stronger than ever and has a sufficient supply of MPs anytime we need from the Opposition. Our strategy is not to make announcements of the numbers ready to cross the House to our side, but to put into action an already arranged plan to replenish the number of MPs to keep our present composition in toto,” the Minister said.
There have been open clashes between members of the SLPP and SLFP resulting in Government seniors like the President, Prime Minister, and Finance Minister intervening to keep the peace within the governing alliance.
One country, one law
Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary and Chairman of the controversial One Country, One Law Presidential Task Force Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera has said that he expects to deliver the final report of the Task Force even before the deadline that has been specified by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, according to the Department of Government Information.
President Rajapaksa ordered the Task Force to submit the final report on or before 28 February this year when it was first formed in October 2021.
Ven. Gnanasara Thera has however announced the early submission at the Task Force’s first public consultation in the Central Province which commenced from the Matale Divisional Secretariat (DS) on Saturday (25 December) with the participation of religious leaders, volunteer organisations, professionals, and the general public.
The Thera had added that he hoped to deliver the report before the deadline due to the high level of interest President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had placed in the Task Force.
The Task Force has already completed similar public consultations in the Northern and Eastern Provinces earlier this month and also held a national-level consultation at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo.
The Thera had stated that the main focus would be on delivering a set of proposals that were fair and acceptable for all racial groups.
However, participants in the Task Force’s public consultation held at one of the Divisional Secretariats (DSs) in the Eastern Province had alleged that the discussion was held predominantly in Sinhala, with no proper translators or language interpreters, which severely limited the accessibility of the public consultation.
“They only spoke in Sinhala and there were no translators to translate the dialogue. If a person spoke in Tamil, it was translated with support from the crowd, but this was a very basic translation. Also, there were only about 25 participants at the meeting at the DS,” a participant had told The Morning.
He had further said that a monk from the area, allegedly known to incite tension within communities, had spoken at great length during the consultation.
“While we understand that the concept behind the establishment of the said Task Force is productive, we felt that the consultation was mainly focused on the needs of Buddhists as opposed to those of us who are living in the area.”
However, Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera had told The Morning at the time that there had been no language problems at the public consultations.
“There was no problem at all. Many people could speak Sinhala and even if there was a problem, people in the crowd helped with the language barriers. We also took translators with us,” the monk had said.
He had added that mostly educated individuals had participated in these consultations and that the positive reaction and response to the consultations held so far was overwhelming.
The Task Force was appointed by the President last October to formulate a conceptual framework for the concept of “One Country, One Law,” chaired by Ven. Gnanasara Thera, who has been accused of inciting hate and violence towards the Muslim community. The Task Force garnered criticism from various quarters, including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL).
In August 2018, Ven. Gnanasara Thera was sentenced to prison for six years after being found guilty of contempt of Court for abusing and threatening an officer of the Attorney General’s Department at a Court hearing regarding the case of missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda. However, he only served a few months of this sentence before being granted a full presidential pardon in May 2019 by then President Maithripala Sirisena.