|
|
|
| Sunday, 25 December 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Sports |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Straight Talk by Lal Gunesekera Why no action on Sports Ministry officials found guilty by PIU? Eight persons in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports were found guilty of various offences by the Presidential Investigation Unit (PIU), who recommended four of them to be sent on compulsary leave without pay, while some were to be charge sheeted and even one person to pay back a sum of Rs. 54,823 which is to be returned to the Treasury. This demeaning 24-page report from the PIU and its recommendations were sent to the former Secretary to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, S. Ranugge (now with the Ministry of Science and Technology) after a thorough investigation into allegations on June 20. It was signed by the Director-General of the PIU, A. A. Wickremasinghe. However, Ranugge, has not taken any steps to take action on this report before he was sent to the Ministry of Science and Technology. He sat on this report for over five months, and even went to the extent of meeting former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, just before she relinquished office, in an attempt to withdraw the charges. His request was turned down. The eight persons found guilty by the PIU for various offences include Milton Amarasinghe (Director-General), Dewin Perera (Deputy Director of Sports), M. R. K. Nanadiweera (Deputy Director, Finance), D. K. Jayaratne (Administrative Officer), S. A. D. R. Senanayake (Chief Clerk), Nimal Chandrasiri (stores Manager), Vithanagedara Dayaratne (Athletic Coach) and K. K. S. K. S. Kannangara (Athletic Coach). Derwin Perera, Nandiweera, Senanayake and Dayaratne were recommended by the PIU to be sent on compusary leave without pay, while Milton Amarasinghe, Jayaratne, Chadrasiri and Kannangara were to be charge sheeted with the latter being asked to pay back a sum of Rs. 54,823 and charge sheeted too. Amarasinghe was found to be guilty of 11 charges, Derwin Perera 20, Jayaratne 13, Nadiweera 10, while Senanayake, Chandrasiri, Dayaratne and Kannangara were found guilty of seven charges each. Some of the charges include a link between a bogus tenderer named Sunflower and mass scale financial fraud for a number of years, printing certificates and manufacturing medals far in excess of what was required, etc. The offences were so severe that the investigators (M. M. Kaldeen and W. A. Galappathy) had even consulted the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police. I wonder whether the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Jeevan Kumaratunga, was aware of this PIU report and whether Ranugge had even consulted the Minister on this subject. If not why? If so, Ranugge, too should be taken to task. Ranugge's replacement S. Wirathamulla, is supposed to be a strict disciplinarian and fine administrator. I wonder what he will do with this PIU report and whether the recommendations contained therein will be followed. Wirathamulla has to undo the bad image built by his predecessor, and must not be influenced when taking vital decisions. Best of luck to you. Auditored accounts? The Auditor-General, Mayadunne, had sent a circular to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports that the accounts of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Lanka has to be auditored by the Auditor-General's Department itself. However, it seems that this was not followed. At the annual general meeting of the NOC in November, the accounts for 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 were submitted and Manilal Fernando of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) and Dian Gomes of the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka (ABASL) proposing and seconding them. Carter de Costa and Company (Chartered Accountants) had auditored the accounts of the NOC for the four years mentioned above. They have initialled every page of the accounts for 2001, but have not done so far 2002, 2003 and 2004. They have not even made any observations and stated that they had completed the audits for 2004 in a covering letter, which they had done in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Why? Are these "auditors accounts" for 2004 valid in law and why was only a draft submitted at the NOC annual general meeting? The report of Cmdr (rtd) H.U. Silva, Secretary of the NOC, for 2003 states that Olympic Solidarity had conducted a program called the MEMOS Program where persons actively working full time (I repeat, working full time) in NOC's are given a training upto Masters Degree level in Sports Administration and that our own NOC Secretary was nominated and successfully followed this course and awarded the Masters Degree in Management of Sports Organisations. Also, the accounts show that a sum of nearly Rs. 6 lakhs has gone in for this program followed by Cmdr (rtd) Silva. True it must be money from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that was utilised (or was it?), but then, our NOC Secretary is NOT working full time in the NOC, but is employed as Director of the Sugathadasa National Sports Complex Authority (SNSCA). So, how was he nominated to follow this course? Also how many bank accounts does the NOC need? They have two accounts at ANZ Grindlay's Bank (100102701 and 1005592001) and four at Commercial Bank (103006062 to 103006065)!! HU involved again The controversial Director of the SNSCA, Cmdr (rtd) H. U. Silva, and his cahoots in the SNSCA, are embroiled in another controversy. He is now alleged to have got his hands on some letter heads of the JVP Union of the SNSCA and misused them to slander some high ups within the SNSCA. This was brought to the notice of the JVP trade union headquarter's, who in turn, have made a complaint to the Police. Investigations are going on. To quit? Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga, now Deputy Minister of Tourism, and Sidath Wettimuny, a former elegant opening batsman, are threatening to resign from their posts in the Cricket Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). Ranatunga heads the 10-member Cricket Committee which comprises former Sri Lanka captains and former national cricketers of repute. I understand that the reason is that their suggestions/ recommendations are not taken seriously by SLC for the development of the game. Commissions involved? Three officials of SLC are alleged to be accepting commissions from the purchase of cricket equipment (balls, mattings etc). Is this true and who are they? All will be revealed soon. Who is the committee member of SLC who travels around in an SLC vehicle which he is not entitled to? Also, who is the lucky umpire (attached to the Immigration Department at the Bandaranaike International Airport) who managed to get himself assigned for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the recent Under-23 tournament? He hangs around the headquarters of SLC most of the time. Who is to blame when payments due to umpires officiating at SLC matches are given to the wrong persons? When umpires visit the SLC to receive their cheques, they find them written to the wrong person. This has happened on numerous occasions. What do these umpires do? They collect the cash and hand it over to the correct person. How funny! Howler A much published sports magazine that was launched recently with a lot of fanfare, has failed to live upto reputation. Edited by a New Zealander, who was domiciled in South Africa, the magazine's coverpage itself reveals a glaring howler and contains outdated articles too. That's foreign expertise! Sumithra continues Sri Lanka's Under-19 cricket coach Sumithra Warnakulasuriya deserves a pat on the back. Despite all the odds - he was given "the boot", but when a replacement could not be found, was asked by the Interim Committee of SLC to continue upto the Junior (Under-19) World Cup in February next year. He has fared admirably with his 'charges' been the runners-up to Bangladesh in the Afro-Asian Cup by winning all their other games leading up to the final and also the Tri-Nations tournament where the Lankans again lost to Bangladesh in the final. How come? The two rain affected semi-finals (SSC vs Bloomfield and NCC vs BRC) have already been played on Friday (December 23) as well as the final on Christmas Eve in the Premier Limited-Over tournament. Some strange happenings have been reported. These two "semis" were
scheduled for December 10, but could not have been played due to heavy rain.
The rule clearly states that if rain disrupts the "semis", the team/teams
with most number of wins will go through to the final. So, who changed the
rules? |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
