Conclusive Proof Mahinda Administration Was Far Less Corrupt Than Present Regime
Posted on September 24th, 2015
Dilrook Kannangara
Corruption allegations were big business during the 2015 January election. It was one of the biggest political slogans played by the UNP-Sirisena camp. However, now there is conclusive proof of their absurdity. Mahinda administration was far less corrupt than the present UNP-Sirisena regime. To quantify, the UNP-Sirisena regime is $7 billion-a-year more corrupt than Mahinda regime.
If Mahinda administration was corrupt as claimed, ending his governance would have saved money; billions according to some of his harshest critics. Where are the savings?
Nothing was saved which conclusively proves Mahinda was no worse in corruption than the UNP regime.
In fact, the situation worsened with the UNP-Sirisena regime. A breakdown of loans of the government explains this well.
By the time Mahinda left office, foreign debt stood at $31 billion and debt from domestic sources was $25 billion. By August 2015, foreign debt has risen by a net of $5 billion to $36 billion. Local debt has risen by $4 billion to $29 billion. In total, within just eight (8) months, total debt has risen by a staggering $9 billion. And what are the new development projects started by the current government to borrow so much? None. Where has this $9 billion gone?
The story doesn’t end there. By the time Mahinda left office, Sri Lanka had a balance of payment surplus of $1.9 billion. By August 2015, that too has been wasted to create a deficit of $0.8 billion. This is a total waste of $2.7 billion. Where is this $2.7 billion?
All in all, a total of $11.7 billion has been wasted by the UNP-Sirisena regime within just eight (8) months. And there have been no new development projects. What happened to this money?
Mahinda borrowed on average $4.5 billion a year since 2005 and corruption would have been significant. However, the UNP-Sirisena regime’s $11.7 billion so far is an excess of $7.2 billion over Mahinda’s average. UNP’s corruption levels are astronomical in comparison.
Corruption cannot be definitively measured. Instead people’s perception of corruption is measured. For instance Transparency International publishes annually the Corruption Perception Index. This fact may explain why people readily believed corruption allegations against Mahinda administration in the run up to the January 2015 election. A larger amount of borrowed funds (90% according to some government sources) were allocated to the north and east depriving 88% of the people who live outside the north and east. Most people saw the steady rise of borrowings, their repayment, resultant high inflation and cost of living burden but didn’t see proportionate returns in the areas they lived or worked. It naturally gave rise to a strong suspicion of corruption in mega scales. Opposition politicians cleverly exploited this suspicion.
If the investment in the north-east was only 10% of borrowed funds and had 90% gone to other areas where 88% of the people live, very few would have believed corruption allegations as they could see commensurate development in their own areas. People cannot be faulted for their assumptions driven by inequitable funds allocation. Although the 2010-2015 regime is guilty of inequitable development funds allocation, it certainly is not guilty of corruption in comparison to the UNP regime.
These numbers are based on Central Bank reports and public statements. It proves beyond all doubt, the Mahinda administration was far less corrupt than the present UNP regime. UNP administration is $7.2 billion more corrupt than the Mahinda administration. With no new development projects to back it up, the wastage of $7.2 billion more by the UNP regime must be questioned by the people. This may also explain why the IMF refused to lend the $4 billion requested by the UNP regime in March 2015.
Without fail, those politicians who promise most vigorously to fight corruption have always ended up most corrupt.
September 23rd, 2015 at 3:38 pm
Dilrook, Thank you for clearing President Mahinda Rajapakse’s name even at this late stage. However you have forgotten the biggest scandal of all committed by the Yahapalanaya group. The Bond scam at Central Bank. My3 had requested Ranil W to remove Arjun Mahendran several times. However he is still there as Governer of Central Bank and the COPE report which was going to be heard by the Parliament was never heard since My3 dissolved the Parliament when it was brought to the Parliament to make sure it was not heard. The President and Ranil W have committed many illegal and unconstitutional acts.
1. My3 installed Ranil W as Prime Minister from the minority party stating that he was forced to do so by India and Britain. This was done while there was already a Prime Minister in Parliament.
2. He installed Shirani Bandaranaiyaka as Chief Justice for a day by passing all normal procedures while we already had a Chief Justice. She then resigned after one day and he installed another one without any due procedure.
3. Ranil W installed a Catholic/Christian Cabinet which proceeded to remove all the appointments done by MR from Govt Depts and Corporations. After complaining bitterly about MR having family members in Govt, MY3 installed his brother as Head of Telecom Dept, while Ravi Karunanaike (Karupaiah) decided to install his BIL who was a Police Sergeant as the head of the insurance corporation.
4. Ranil W brought the Ministry of Finance under him and installed Arjun Mahendran as head of Central Bank and Paskaralingam as head of Treasury. Arjun then pulled a bond scam on which much as been written which is supposed to have cost the country $5000 million. It was a clear case of insider trading. For a similar crime Raj Rajaratnam LTTE financier is in jail in USA.
5. My3 took a court injunction to prevent Central Committee of UPFA from meeting, sacked the two General secretaries. He got information from National Intelligence that UPFA is going to win 113 seats. To prevent his own party from winning and to ensure that UNP wins he wrote a 5 page letter to MR telling him that he will not be appointed as Prime Minister under any circumstances. He then went on tv and read his 5 page letter to reinforce it and sacked 13 members of the CC and appointed his own. All these activities were completely illegal and may be the reason why UPFA lost by a narrow margin. The Election Commissioner or the Supreme Court has grounds to annul the election based on My3’s actions.
September 23rd, 2015 at 4:32 pm
You will never be able to beat the Present Indian Empire Administration Headed by Governor Chandrika, Ranil The Kankaani and Sirisena the Coolie. Take Mahemdran and Mahendran.
September 23rd, 2015 at 10:20 pm
Dilrook as always gives us good analyzes on various issues.We thank you for that. The change that they promised didn’t materialized at all although people expected a miracle to happen. Only thing happened was a good leader,a shrewd leader,popular leader,kind leader send on retirement and uneducated,inexperienced,corrupt,Unpatriotic bunch of traitors took over the country. That’s the only change occurred in this country. The Sinhala stupids didn’t believe the good man and good policies instead they believed in storytellers and liars who hoodwinked the masses with lots of fairy tale stories of Good Governance,Jobs,housing,salary increases,low prices of essential food etc.
If Mahinda continued, my country would have been the wonder of Asia for sure within few years. He had plans to develop the country where no other Govt hasn’t even think of doing it. He did everything for the future generation. This evil lot is trying to destroy what Mahinda did and trying to erase his name from all the big projects he started. Shameless lot. Sira.Chandrika/Ranil is good for a Tele drama.They are very good actors. When Mahinda’s time we lived with some dignity as citizens but now we are like beggars under an occupation of western and Indian bullies. People live with fear and clueless of what will happen next because of uneasiness around us. Murder rate is high,Crime rate is high because of no proper Govt yet after almost one month since elections. I am waiting anxiously till this Govt falls and I pray for it. We have never seen a worst Govt like this in our history. Two jokers rule like Dictators with a dirty Witch (Choura) to assist them.they are there to satisfy the foreigners who brought them to power but not the poor citizens of this country. Stand united to oust them when the right time comes.
September 24th, 2015 at 4:35 am
The fault of defeating pres.Mahinda is definitely with our stupid eletorate. They simply fell for the lies of Sirisena, Pacha Ranawaka and Rathanang the paneethang. Others in the UNP including the Mutt Ranil too did lie but people knew them well and had little credibilty.
Pres.Mahinda had no choice but to develop the north and the east. The two provinces had received no development for decades plus the destruction due to war complled him. No one can find fault with that. What he really failed in was to llok in to people day today lives and their housing which was largely left for the Indians who did a shoddy job of it and Mahinda took the blame.
September 24th, 2015 at 8:46 am
Good to see Dilrook taking this position in defense of Mahinda Rajapakse. We who were not numbed and dumbed into voting for the MS/RW/CBK trio have to agree with Cerberus that it was the voters (who saw only the Mervyn Silva and Duminda connections and forgot all else that had been achieved), who made this happen. The repercussions of the FOLLY will set Sri Lanka back for decades. As Cerberus says the Central Bank scam still remains acceptable to the trio who laid the trap, while they went on a rampage against MahindaR.
Hopefully, Mahinda sees this as the opportunity to have ridden himself of the traitors and will be ready with some able and respected people to resume the track he was set upon, and do it doubly well.
Even if a National Govt was to be the answer to Tamil extremism, the way they accomplished it and the retention of a bunch of crooks is what is turning away the thinking public from this heinous exercise that is being ironically marketed as Democracy.
September 24th, 2015 at 10:15 am
Excellent article by Dilrook exposing Yahap Corruption !!
Where did most of the money go ? To buy People & Media ?
What about the money from the Central Bank scam ? Where did that go ?
Also, what about the container loads of poisonous Glyphosate (leads to CKD) imported by Killi Mahendran go ?
No investigation into that so far, even though Glyphosate is a banned item in Lanka now.
September 24th, 2015 at 2:00 pm
How about the JAMES BOND FRAUD?
I think that explains where MOST money went.
Do you honesty think a Singaporean investment banker with a salary of (equal to) US$200,000 a year would come to SL and take up a job for just US$15,000 a year? And also lose his career prospects? NO! An investment banker KNOWS how to make money and where money is.
That is the MAIN THING.
September 24th, 2015 at 2:52 pm
All the concocted deceit and the piling up of everything wrong in Lanka at the doorstep of the Rajapakses did work sufficiently to put them out of business, and what is worse, to have a group that is truly proven to have played out massive amounts of government funds through the Central Bank fraud still survive without any reprimand.
And now we have an illegal resolution for which the OHCHR has no mandate from the General Assembly, moving forward like a juggernaut into disassembling Sri Lanka. The polarization left behind by this “investigation” will be such that separation may be inevitable….but what comes in-between will be what is searing in its damage.
With HRW brazenly using its foghorn to declare to the world that Sri Lanka does not have the necessary judicial skills for an investigation of this nature, the GoSL is meekly accepting being humiliated internationally by an NGO to the point where resurrecting the nation’s self esteem and dignity for having quelled a terrorist war will be shut away from the history books, while the terrorists will be elevated to look like innocent lambs. And all the while our current leaders will shepherd the events to come, shamelessly cow-towing to the West even as they play out the country’s treasure and simultaneously demonstrate sheer incompetence in handling the machinations afoot.
September 24th, 2015 at 8:21 pm
Every one is writing about how the election was won! The Election Commissioner retired JVP killer, stopped the computer and then restarted it after modifying the result. It was as simple as that! And not the voters.
September 24th, 2015 at 11:10 pm
Who pocketed Rs. 50 m out of Rs. 150 m given by Dhammika? Featured
– Sep 24, 2015
Who pocketed Rs. 50 m out of Rs. 150 m given by Dhammika?
Wealthy businessman Dhammika Perera had attempted to meet UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to handover Rs. 150 million to be used at the general election, but knowing the man very well, Wickremesinghe had refused pointblank to accept the money.
Embarrassed by that, Dhammika had then met ex-president Chandrika Kumaratunga and tried to give the money to her. Just like Wickremesinghe, she too, refused to accept the money.
Failing in both attempts, Dhammika then met a leading figure of the UNP and handed him the Rs. 150 m. Of that money, the UNPer had pocketed Rs. 50 m and handed over only Rs. 100 m to the party fund.
Dhammika is saying these days that he had got the better of Wickremesinghe. Our attempts to reach the leading UNP figure in question for a comment failed.
September 25th, 2015 at 6:46 am
Independent: You would have heard this: “Salli Deyange Malli”. (Money is God’s Brother). When someone “donates” Rs. 100 m, anyone with an ounce of brains and self respect must ask “how and from where you got this amount of money?”. But do we have a culture like that in Sri Lanka? No. It is money, money all the time. Anyway, for your information this “Dhammika” is presently under investigation for money laundering and that happened after Sajin Vas was released on bail. Also do not expect anyone from the UNP to answer you on that Rs 100m. Don’t waste your time.