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Nadesan to Bribery Commission today

07 Oct 2021

 
  • Nirupama to be summoned at later date
  • SJB files RTI request with Election Comm.; seeks Nirupama’s 1994-2015 assets declarations
  • Threatens legal action if info not received or delayed
  • Mujibur slams Nadesan’s letter to President
  • Marikkar claims Govt. misleading public by relegating alleged crimes to 1990s
  By Pamodi Waravita Thirukumar Nadesan, the husband of former Water Supply and Drainage Deputy Minister Nirupama Rajapaksa, has been summoned by the Commission to Investigate into Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) today (8), in relation to the CIABOC’s investigation into the allegations levelled against the couple in the Pandora Papers files leak. “Nirupama Rajapaksa will be summoned at a later date to the CIABOC. Three complaints filed against the couple this week have already been received by the Commission,” officials at CIABOC told The Morning yesterday (7). President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Media Division (PMD) noted that the President has requested a report on the matter from CIABOC within a month. Presidential Secretariat Legal Affairs Director General Attorney-At-Law (AAL) Harigupta Rohanadheera has written in this regard to the CIABOC Director General (DG). However, neither Nirupama Rajapaksa, nor Nadesan, have been named in the letter. Meanwhile, the main parliamentary Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) yesterday filed a complaint at CIABOC, and requested an independent investigation into the matter. “We are also requesting an international investigation, either through Scotland Yard or through another internationally recognised organisation,” SJB Parliamentarian Harshana Rajakaruna told the media outside CIABOC after filing their complaint. SJB Weligama Organiser Rehan Jayawickrama told The Morning yesterday that they have also filed a Right to Information (RTI) request at the Election Commission requesting the Commission to reveal the assets declarations made by former Deputy Minister Nirupama Rajapaksa to the Election Commission between 1994 and 2015. “The Election Commission said that they would respond to our request within the next 14 days. If we don’t get it or don’t get it in time, we will take action in the Court of Appeal regarding the matter,” he added. At the same time, SJB MP Mujibur Rahuman criticised the alleged letter written by Nadesan to the President, where Nadesan had requested the appointment of an “independent investigator (preferably a retired Appellate Court judge) to, without delay, investigate this matter”. In the letter, Nadesan had proclaimed his innocence, as well as that of his wife’s. “Nadesan has only stopped short of naming the investigator that he prefers. These are actions that are done to mislead the public. We are not concerned about when the alleged crimes happened. We just need them to be investigated,” said Rahuman. Speaking in the Parliament yesterday, SJB MP S.M. Marikkar claimed that the Government is attempting to mislead the public by saying that the alleged crimes occurred in the 1990s. “From 2010 to 2014, over $ 2.4 million was transferred to one of Nadesan’s bank accounts in Sri Lanka from Hong Kong. From 2014 to 2015, another account of his received $ 1.3 million. This money came from two Chinese companies, during the tenure of the previous administration under then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, while Nadesan’s wife – herself another Rajapaksa – worked in the Government,” claimed Marikkar. Nirupama Rajapaksa – the cousin of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa – and Nadesan have been named in the recent International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) Pandora Papers file leak. The documents allege that the couple were involved in shell companies (inactive companies used as vehicles for various financial manoeuvres or kept dormant for future use in some other capacity) located in tax havens, which obtained lucrative consulting contracts from foreign companies doing business with the Government of Sri Lanka. Speaking to The Morning on Wednesday (6), Lawyers’ Forum for the People Convenor AAL Senaka Perera questioned how President Rajapaksa can give such instructions to an independent Commission that is supposed to function outside of the Executive branch of the Government. The forum has also filed a complaint regarding the ICIJ’s revelations with the CIABOC yesterday. In 2016, when Basil Rajapaksa was accused of using public funds to build a villa in Malwana, Nadesan was also charged with embezzlement in connection with the incident. Although the pair has since denied any wrongdoing, the legal case into the matter is still ongoing. The ICIJ also revealed that when Nadesan was arrested on embezzlement charges related to this case, he wrote a letter to then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe proclaiming his innocence. He had said that he was unaware until he read news reports that Basil Rajapaksa had built a house on his property. He added that the land was then sold to avoid “harm to his name and reputation”. “I request your good self to appreciate that I have not done anything improper or illegal and to therefore do justice by me. My transactions are transparent and a matter of record,” Nadesan wrote, according to the ICIJ. The ICIJ further said that Asiaciti Trust, a Singapore-based offshore services provider which managed some of Nadesan’s offshore accounts, had stated in confidential electronic mails that as of 2011, Nadesan’s overall wealth was $ 160 million. An analysis by the ICIJ has found that the Asiaciti Trust alone managed assets valued at about $ 18 million for Nadesan.


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