UNP MP, 'a two birthday boy'

by a Special Correspondent

Another controversy has erupted in the UNP with several seniors alleging that a party MP in the Colombo district who boasts to be the chief financier of the UNP has declared personal information to the state based on forged documents which had made him younger by five years, top UNP sources revealed to the 'Sunday Observer' yesterday.

Sources said the MP in question, reportedly born in 1951 has declared that he was born in 1956, when school records have indicated that he had started schooling in 1956.

The MP had studied at a leading Catholic school in Kotahena though he belonged to a different race and religion. Parliament sources confirmed that the MP had furnished his date of birth as 7.3.1956 when the Member first entered the House in 2000.

A senior Colombo district UNP parliamentarian disclosed that based on this alleged forged birth certificate, the MP who was a former Deputy Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council had proudly claimed at that time he was the youngest deputy mayor to be elected in the history of the CMC.

Under the provisions of the constitution, if any MP is found to have furnished false personal information relating to his bio-data, one could be expelled from parliament through a substantive motion. He could also be indicted under the Penal Code on criminal charges.

Investigations conducted by some UNPers into this alleged forgery scandal have revealed that the MP reportedly has two National Identity Cards mentioning the year 1956(Nos-560674066V and 560666505V).

However, according to entries in his passport, none of these NIC numbers are included. Instead, the Immigration authorities have indicated a reference number (NONIC001070429), a practice followed till the NIC is produced.

This passport had been issued on November 6, 2000 and valid till 6.11.2006.

However, the MP in seeking a nonimmigrant visa from the US State Department to visit Washington DC, in his application dated the same day (6.11.2000) has stated his NIC number as 560666505V.

This DPL passport had been obtained when he was a project minister in the two year government of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. It is further alleged that the MP in his capacity as a project minister of that government had obtained DPL passports for his wife and two daughters for which, spouses of cabinet ministers and deputy ministers are only entitled.

The MP in question is also reported to be driving vehicles without a driving licence,the Colombo district senior UNPer revealed. On November 6,2000, the MP, a then project minister had obtained a nonimmigrant visa till 6.11.2005 from the US State Department (issued in Colombo) to attend former Minister Milinda Moragoda's book launch ceremony in Washington DC.

In that visa application, he had stated his date of birth as 7.3.1956. The NIC number mentioned in that visa application is 560666505V.

Meanwhile, in a lease agreement for a vehicle with the Commercial Bank of Ceylon (Contract No: 7/04/GRA/2076) on July 20, 2004, this MP who had signed as a guarantor has mentioned his NIC Number as 560674066V.

This vehicle was obtained on lease for his former private secretary. The vehicle is now in the custody of the Police following a dispute between the MP and private secretary over the ownership. The case is being heard in the Fort Magistrate's Court.