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Pandora Papers: ‘CIABOC probe makes Government’s stance evident’

09 Oct 2021

By Aazam Ameen The Government’s stance on the alleged transactions initiated by former parliamentarian Nirupama Rajapaksa and her husband Thirukumar Nadesan, as revealed through the Pandora Papers files leak, was evident in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s directive to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), The Sunday Morning learnt. “As the Head of the Government, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa immediately ordered an investigation into the issue and demanded a comprehensive report within a matter of one month. Where the Government stands on this issue is evident in the action itself,” Minister of Mass Media and Cabinet Spokesperson Dullas Alahapperuma told The Sunday Morning.  When posed with the question of whether allegations contained within the Pandora Papers against the Nadesan-Rajapaksa duo were more an issue of legality or ethics, as they may have bypassed certain loopholes in the law to freely carry out such transactions, Alahapperuma said that it would be unwise to make such judgements at this stage. “The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) unravelled those documents which were not available in the public domain. The ICIJ is only publishing these records. They did that without passion and prejudice. Their intention wasn’t to pass judgement on the issue. It was part of their professional duty as journalists. Since an ongoing probe is active, I wouldn’t believe that it would be wise to jump to conclusions or be hasty in passing judgment. I believe that we will be in a much better position to comment on this once the CIABOC completes their investigation,” he stressed. The President’s decision to direct the CIABOC to conduct a probe into the matter was met with criticism from several groups, including former Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) Commissioner Ambika Satkunanathan, who tweeted: “Your Excellency, if the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption is an independent commission, you should not issue instructions to it. By issuing instructions, you are illustrating that this commission and other commissions aren’t independent as claimed.” Addressing this, Alahapperuma explained that the President did what he was supposed to do as the Head of State. “The President merely directed CIABOC to probe into it. CIABOC will conduct its investigation as an independent commission. I don’t believe that what the President did was a violation of CIABOC’s independent status. It would have been a violation if he instructed them on how to conduct the investigation, or coerced or influenced it, which he did not do. The President showed accountability as the First Citizen when he asked the country’s only qualified institution to probe the matter,” Minister Alahapperuma told The Sunday Morning.  Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa last week requested the Speaker of Parliament to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to investigate the allegations. When questioned about the request, Alahapperuma responded, saying: “If the Opposition Leader’s true intention was to find out the truth at any cost, then he should have taken this initiative back in 2016 when the Panama Papers were leaked; those documents named a lot more Sri Lankans.” Meanwhile, legal experts refuted the statements made by Alahapperuma in relation to the President’s directives to the CIABOC. “The whole purpose of the CIABOC was to make it independent from the Executive. That is the purpose of all independent commissions. The President has no power to give directions and the commission must form its own view rather than acting on directions. The Government must understand this,” legal experts stated, on condition of anonymity. When queried with the same question of whether such alleged acts committed by the Nadesan-Rajapaksa duo were more of an ethical question rather than one of legality, our sources explained that it was a question of what was morally right or what was perceived as right. However, it was also stressed that such mechanisms can still be abused. “A trust is a legal entity and every trust has beneficiaries. The properties of a trust might not be the properties of the beneficiaries, unless payments are made to beneficiaries,” legal experts told The Sunday Morning. Additionally, concerns were raised about the CIABOC’s ability to conduct such an investigation, as the incidents may have occurred before it was established. “Some of the alleged transactions took place well before the time of the CIABOC or the formation of corruption law in Sri Lanka. The question is whether the CIABOC will be able to investigate this matter which took place before it was even established,” the legal experts opined. When The Sunday Morning contacted Sri Lanka Police Media Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa to find out if any units of the Sri Lanka Police were conducting investigations into the same, SSP Thalduwa explained that he was not aware of any such proceedings. “I have not received any information on this up to date. Nobody has informed me so far. The CIABOC is conducting investigations. It is not ethical for two entities to conduct investigations into the same issue. It is a conflict of interest,” SSP Thalduwa stated. Last Friday (8), Nadesan appeared before the CIABOC to record a statement on the revelations made by the Pandora Papers. As for Nirupama Rajapaksa, officials at CIABOC told The Sunday Morning that she will be summoned on a later date. “Three complaints filed against the couple have already been received by the commission,” officials at the CIABOC said.


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