'Cabinet ministers turn into multi-millionaires within short eighteen-month period'

The current government's cabinet ministers and others became large-scale multi-millionaires within a short period of one and a half years, and the president must show through actions rather than limiting his parliamentary statements to mere talk, former minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne declared.

He made these remarks while participating in a press conference held yesterday (28) at the political office located on Flower Road, Colombo.

The president arrived in parliament last Friday and made a special statement regarding the country's issues, and although he agreed with the points in the statement issued by the Presidential Media Division that no crime would be allowed to be buried by the sands of time, whether those are happening practically remains questionable, he said there.

The former minister, expressing further views, also stated the following:

"The president says he works according to the people's mandate. However, 323 containers, including two containing narcotics, went out. For the first time in world history, containers marked with red signals (Red Channel) were released. Is this not a fraud? Is the Bribery Commission or the CID not investigating this?

The other thing is the coal theft. The reason for the increase in electricity bills and fuel prices today is not the issue in the Strait of Hormuz, but mismanagement and coal theft.

These are not ones of two or three hundred thousand rupees, but frauds of billions."

Certain ministers who were previously in a very poor condition accumulated assets worth crores by now, he accused here. He questioned how certain ministers who could not buy a vest or an underwear, borrowed clothes from others, and sought financial assistance when visiting the doctor, became millionaires within one and a half years.

A minister who claimed he only possessed his wife's salary is building luxury three-storey houses today and purchasing surrounding lands under his daughter's name, he revealed, adding that although it is illegal in Sri Lanka, a cabinet minister stating that he possesses cryptocurrency in his declaration of assets clearly demonstrates corruption.

Furthermore, two ministers and a chairman joined together and registered a national property under their names using fraudulent deeds, and the magistrate who heard that case was transferred away, he disclosed.

Commenting on the statement made by the president that nearly one billion dollars worth of advance payments were made through the TT system from the year 2023 to date, he said that whether this money went from the government or the private sector and the evidence for it must be presented to the country.

The Chairman of the Public Finance Committee, Harsha de Silva, is scheduled to summon and question the Central Bank Governor and others regarding this matter next week, he also said.

Although it was stated that the Prevention of Terrorism Act would be abolished this year, the government already uses it to detain certain individuals, and since there is no terrorism in the north or south at present, that act must be repealed immediately, he said.

The investigations into the physical attacks and losses of lives of Lasantha, Ekneligoda, Thajudeen, Keith Noyahr, and Upali Tennakoon during the Rajapaksa regime commenced during the Yahapalana government, and since Shani Abeysekera and Ravi Seneviratne who were involved in it then are in the current government, this government, which completes two years in September, must show the newly discovered facts and progress to the country without reciting Jataka stories, he emphasised.

Responding to the president's statement that the opposition is unfamiliar with democracy, Rajitha Senaratne stated that it is a joke for the leaders of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, who caused the loss of 6,661 lives in the years 1971 and 1989 and shot their own leader Vijaya Kumaratunga in the head, to talk about democracy today.

Although Sirimavo Bandaranaike established a Criminal Special Commission and imprisoned Rohana Wijeweera and others then, they were released by J.R. Jayewardene of the UNP government, and if Ranil Wickremesinghe and Wijetunga who came to power thereafter possessed the hatred and anger held by the current rulers, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna would remain caged even today, he recalled.

He further stated that it was because of the democratic governments that existed then that they were allowed to enter parliament in 1994, hold discussions, and contest elections.