Siriliya Saviya investigation:

Shiranthi’s moment of reckoning

by Ranil Wijayapala

The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) stirred domestic politics again last week when the former President’s wife, Shiranthi Rajapaksa, was summoned to record a statement regarding alleged irregularity in the bank account of Siriliya Saviya, a charity run by her.

Mrs Shirantha Rajapaksa arriving at the Speaker’s residence. Pic: ANCL library

Siriliya Saviya, a charity registered at the National Secretariat for Non Governmental Organizations under registration number 111201 came under scrutiny of the FCID over financial irregularities on information received that Mrs. Rajapaksa had allegedly given an invalid identity card number when opening bank account number 143100146235069 at the Suduwella Branch of the People’s Bank for Siriliya Saviya.

The news, that Shiranthi Rajapaksa was summoned to the FCID was broken to the media by non other than her elder son, MP Namal Rajapaksa in his tweet and facebook accounts.

“My Mother has always stayed away from politics. Does she deserve this harassment?” MP Namal Rajapaksa queried in his tweet account.

Social media

But his social media blitz to attract sympathy encountered a hiccup when Shaveen Bandaranayake, son of former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake posting a comment to the message questioned the way his father, mother, aunt and uncle who were always out of politics subjected to political vengeance under Rajapaksa regime.

“How must I have felt when my parents were called before the Bribery Commission? How must I have felt seeing them being carted day after day to courts? How must I have felt seeing them being defamed by the government media that you so eloquently manipulated during your rule?,” Shaveen Bandaranayake queried in his response to the face book message of MP Namal Rajapaksa.

Bad precedent

The news stirred the curiosity of the public and also of the media compelling them to throng the FCID office at Kollupitiya awaiting her arrival.

But, things took a different turn, when Police decided to record her statement at a location outside the FCID giving ‘security concerns’ as the reason, putting into question the policy of meting out equal justice among citizens by the Police.

Political parties and civil organizations criticized the Police for treating her differently when conducting investigations.

Jathika Hela Urumaya spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said the move by the FCID had set a bad precedent and can only be described as protecting the corrupt.

Pointing out that it is the duty of the police to remove all those who disrupt the enforcement of the law, Warnasinghe further said that if this continues, the police will no longer be able to produce suspects and accused personnel before the CID, Bribery Commission or the Courts.

The official residence of the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, the elder brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was selected as the venue to record her statement disappointing the media personnel who were waiting at the FCID for hours.

The FCID questioned Shiranthi Rajapaksa for over two and half hours at the Speaker’s official residence.

Issuing a statement, the media coordinator of former President Rajapaksa said that Mrs. Rajapaksa giving a statement to the FCID with regard to the investigation concerning the NGO Siriliya Saviya, said that it was a charity registered with the National Secretariat for Non-Governmental Organizations and is financed by local and foreign donations and stressed that no State funds were used in running the organization.

According to their explanation to the FCID, Carlton Suwa Udana program is a part of Siriliya Saviya and was launched to build a children’s hospital with residential facilities for mothers to look after their sick children and a fund was being raised for that purpose.

The freezing of the account was due to complaints about the irregularities in the accounts of Siriliya Saviya because the authority to withdraw money from the account had been given to S. Rajapaksa, A.M.J.A. Kumari and K.K. Dissanayaka.

Invalid number

According to sources, the account in question had been opened giving Shiranthi Rajapaksa’s identity card number as 222222222V, obviously an invalid number as it does not depict the correct year of birth and also the date of birth.

Usually, the first two digits of the ID gives the year of birth and the next three digits indicate sex and the birth date of the person.

It has been observed that the number of the identity card of the woman who had given her name as A.M.J.A. Kumari was 111111111V and K.K. Dissanayaka has given the identity card number as 587060958V.

It was revealed that there is another account under the name K.K. Dissanayaka at the Suduwella branch of the People’s Bank but with a different identity card number.

According to preliminary investigations the account of the NGO had Rs.43.8 million in its account at the time of freezing. The address of the organization was given as Carlton Bungalow, Tangalle.

Explaining the situation in her statement Mrs. Rajapaksa claimed that political opponents of the Rajapaksa government have alleged that the three people including her, authorized to sign checks on behalf of the organisation had provided ‘false’ national identity card numbers to the Bank.

In the statement to the media, her media coordinator said when the bank account was first opened by officials of the organization a copy of Mrs. Rajapaksa’s passport was given to the bank and the other two signatories Mrs. K.H.A.N. Jeewani Kumari and Mrs. S.K.K. Dissanayake, provided copies of their national identity cards to the bank, the statement explained.

“The names and addresses of all three signatories in the bank’s system are correct but an error has obviously been made in entering the identity card numbers into the computer system.

Checks issued by Siriliya Saviya were not signed by non-existent persons. All three authorized signatories are real people who still serve the organization, the statement further said.According to Police spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekera, the FCID is conducting further investigations on the irregularities of the organisation’s funds and its transactions.

The registration of the Siriliya Saviya at the National Secretariat for the Non Governmental Organisations - Reg No: 111201, Type: L, Name: Siriliya Saviya, Address: Carlton Banglow, Tangalle, Telephone/Fax: 011-4-733200.