JVP, Govt. trade corruption charges

The battle between the government and the JVP intensified last week with ministers and senior JVP members trading corruption charges and threatening to continue the fight to a finish.

The battle began when JVP Polonnaruwa District Parliamentarian S.K. Subasinghe accused Agriculture Minister Maithripala Sirisena and his brother of manipulating the price of rice in the market. He accused the Sirisena family of monopolising the rice market.

Minister Sirisena responded last week by accusing Subasinghe of collecting money from his businessmen brothers and accused the latter of also accepting bribes.

Sirisena made these accusations at a public meeting in Polonnaruwa.

Sirisena said that Subasinghe was in the habit of collecting money from his brothers and that the mud slinging campaign against him started when one of his brothers had refused to pay a sum of money requested by the JVP member.

He also said the JVPer had requested for a donation of dhal from Deputy Minister Siripala Gamlath, who is also being accused by the Marxists of manipulating the rice market.

According to Sirisena, Gamlath had asked Subasinghe to collect the dhal from a trader in Polonnaruwa and the JVP member had then taken five gunny bags (miti pahak).

He challenged the JVP to file a case against him if the charges were false.

"If anyone decides to attack us politically they would do well to remember that we too would retaliate," Sirisena said in Polonnaruwa.

Meanwhile JVP Politburo Member and Parliamentarian K.D. Lalkantha addressing a party rally in Anuradhapura last Monday hit back stating the JVP was ready for a face-to-face confrontation with the Minister who had accused Subasinghe of collecting money from businessmen.

"They have asked us to come for a face to face confrontation. We are ready. Who is saying this? It is that fellow, Bambuwa, who has said this," Lalkantha said.

The JVPer further said that they did not take notice of what some scum (haalparuwa) had to say.

Lalkantha said that when corruption within the government was being highlighted, their response has been to attack the messenger.

With the battle intensifying, JVP politburo member and Parliamentarian, Anura Kumara Dissanayake last Tuesday addressing a media briefing in Colombo accused the Agriculture Minister of trying to cover up losses incurred by the Fertiliser Corporation by sacking the chairman.

Dissanayake said that apart from sacking the chairman, there were irregularities that have cost the institute millions of rupees.

He said that the JVP had accepted the challenge to come for a confrontation and this was the first salvo.

Meanwhile, JVP Parliamentarian, Premasiri Manage opened another flank Friday, accusing Special Projects Minister, Mahinda Wijesekera and his wife of cheating the government by not making the stipulated payments when engaging in a business endeavour.

Manage said that Wijesekera's wife holds 50% of Bron Bridge Fisheries Private Limited and so far the company had not paid the stipulated 25% of each harvest to the Fisheries Corporation.

Hitting back, Minister Wijesekera accused Manage of earning his living by breaking into banks, giving contracts to kill people and lying to the people.

Manage observed that although the fish caught by Bron Bridge Fisheries Private Limited have to be off loaded in Modera, they are currently being off loaded in Galle, which was against the law.

The JVP member also said that since Bron Bridge Fisheries Private Limited was off loading their harvest in Galle, the local fishermen have been adversely affected since their fish was not being purchased by vendors.

Manage charged that the only intention of Wijesekara and his wife was to get the local fishermen out of the market and create a monopoly.

Responding to the allegation, Wijesekera said that the company had BoI approval and that his wife indeed held 50% of the shares of Bron Bridge Fisheries Private Limited.

However, he said that he was not cheating the government.

Wijesekera explained that the fish caught by Bron Bridge Fisheries Private Limited were not local fish as they are caught from international waters and was mainly for the export market.

According to Wijesekera, the BoI agreement has permitted the company to off load its harvest in Galle. He also said that the company paid Rs.10 lakhs as VAT charges and the profit from exporting the fish is also paid back to the government.