පොලිස් මුල්‍ය අපරාධ විමර්ශණ ඒකකය (එෆ්.අයි.සි.ඩී. ) ගොඩ නගන ලද්දේ මහා පරිමාණ දූෂන විමර්ශනය කර නඩු පැවැරීමට වුවත් දැන් එය කරන්නේ වාහන අනිසි පාවිචිචිය, කොඩි කණු මිලට ගැනීම, කැරම් බෝඩ් බෙදා හැරීම වැනි සුළු පරිමාණ සිදුවීම් යැයි ජනාධිපති සිරිසේන ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබේ.
ඔහු මේ බව කියා ඇත්තේ අද සන්ඩේ ටයිම්ස් පුවත් පතෙහි පළවී ඇති සාකච්ජාවකදීය. එෆ්.අයි.සි.ඩී.ය පවතින්නේ ඍජුවම අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ යටතේ බැවින් මෙම චෝදනාව අගමැතිවරයා ඉලක්ක කර එල්ල කර තිබේ.
සන්ඩේ ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත සමඟ ජනාධිපති සිරිසේන පවත්වන ලද සම්මුඛ සාකච්ජාවෙන් උපුටා ගත් අදාල කොටසේ සිංහල අනුවාදය පහත පළවේ.
‘‘එෆ්.අයි.සි.ඩී.ය හැදුවේ මහා පරිමාණ වංචා සහ දූෂණ ගැන සොයන්න. එයට සීමාවක් ද පණවා තිබුණා. එෆ්.අයි.සි.ඩී.ය හැදුවේ පුද්ගලික ආරවුල් හෝ සමාගම්හි කළමනාකරණ අර්බූද, අධ්‍යක්ෂක මණ්ඩල ප්‍රශ්ණ, සමාගම්වල මුල්‍ය අර්බූද යනාදිය විමර්ශණය කරන්න නොවෙයි. මා හිතන්නේ එයට දැන් සිදුවිම් 400ක් විතර සොයන්න තියෙනවා කියලයි. අපට අවශ්‍ය වුණේ රාජ්‍ය අරමුදල් සහ දේපල අනිසි පරිහරණය පිළිබඳ විමර්ශනයන්ට මූලිකත්වය දීමටයි. එය තමයි එහි නිලධාරීන් කළ යුත්තෙ.
‘‘ නුමත් අපේ අරමුණ ඉටුවුණේ නැත්තේ එය වෙනත් දේ ගැන අවධානය යොමු කල නිසයි. අනෙක් ආයතනත් ඒ වාගේමයි. අල්ලස් සහ දූෂන විමර්ශණ කොමිසම ගන්න. කොමසාරිස්වරු හොඳ අය. ඔවුන් තමන්ගේ කාර්යය අවංකව ඉටු කරනවා. නමුත් එහි කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය මෙය තේරුම් ගත යුතුයි. ඔවුන් ද අවංකව සහ අපක්ෂපාතව කටයුතු කළ යුතුයි. එයයි මගේ විවේචනය. පසුගිය අවුරුද්ද පුරාම මා මේ ප්‍රශ්ණය ගැන ආණ්ඩුව ඇතුලේ කතා කර තියෙනවා. පහළ මට්ටමේ නිලධාරීන් කටයුතු කළ යුත්තේ එහෙමයි. එයින් කියවෙන්නේ නැහැ කොමසාරිස්වරුන්ට බලපෑම් හෝ විමර්ශන නතර කරන්නය කියා. මා අදත් කියන්නේ මහා පරිමාණ දූෂණ සහ වංචා විමර්ශණයන් ඉක්මන් කළ යුතු බවයි.
‘‘ ඩුබායි බැංකුවක මුදල් තැන්පත් කිරීම පිළිබඳ විමර්ශනය දැන් නැවතිලා.දැන් අවුරුද්දක් පුරා ඇවන්ට් ගාඩ් නැව ගාලු වරායේ ආණ්ඩුව බාරයේ තියෙනවා. එහි තිබූ ආයුදවල අංක මකා තිබුණු බව මට දැනගන්න ලැබුණා. නමුත් දැන් ඊට එරෙහිව නඩුවක් නැහැ, අපි නැව බලා ගන්නවා විතරයි! වසීම් තාජුඩීන් මරණය ගැන පරීක්ෂණය යට ගහලා. මිග් 27 ප්‍රහාරක ගුවන් යානා මිලදී ගැනීමේ පරීක්ෂණයත් එහෙමමයි. මට තවත් උදාහරණ දෙන්න පුළුවන්. මහජනයාට අවශ්‍ය මෙවැනි දේ ගැන දැනගන්න.
‘‘ මහජනයාගේ දැන ගැනීම පිනිස මා මේ දේවල් ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ කතා කරන්න ඕන. විමර්ශණ ආයතනයන්ට බලපෑම් කරන්න අපට අවශ්‍ය නැහැ. අප තමයි ඒවා හැදුවේ. අප අපේක්ෂා කරන්නේ ඔවුන් අපක්ෂපාතීව වැඩ කරනු ඇතැයි කියලයි.”
Q What type of wrong interpretation was this?
A: Things like saying that I am against ongoing investigations. That is why they said that my SLFI speech was contrary to the pledges given during the elections. The English language media, in particular said that I had made a statement against the mandate given at the elections. That is the wrong impression created. If my full speech was taken in context, the view which I was trying to make is clear. People can easily criticise, but when you are running a Government you face various challenges, and those who criticise do not have the experiences of these challenges.
They may be able to easily make statements. It is the person who carries out the duties who knows the difficulties. In 2015, the 19th Amendment was passed with a two thirds majority with the help of those SLFP members who were not in the Government. I don’t think anywhere in the world a two thirds majority has been obtained for Constitutional changes. Only, I know about the effort taken for this. It is, as a result of it, the Independent Commissions came into existence. I created these Commissions through the 19th Amendment. What I said was that the Commissions should function impartially and independently without a political agenda.
“The investigations on large scale frauds have stopped. Only minor investigations such as the misuse of a vehicle, purchasing flag posts, and distribution of carom boards are being carried out and action filed in courts. But the expectations of the people were higher. They wanted serious frauds and corruption investigated.
“The FCID was created to investigate and take action on large scale corruption and fraud. The FCID was given a limit. But, now it has taken over all investigations. I assume it has some 400 cases. The FCID was not set up to investigate private disputes, management issues of companies, issues of board of directors, financial disputes in companies etc. That was not the purpose. Especially we wanted priority given to cases of misuse of state funds and state property and to give priority to cases of corruption, misappropriation and fraud. This is what the officials there should be doing.
“But”, the President said, “the objectives are not achieved when they concentrate on other things. Even the other institutions are same. Take the Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC). The Commissioners are good. They are all performing their duties honestly. The other staff should understand this. They should work honestly and impartially. That was my criticism. It was about working impartially and independently. I have been speaking of these issues within the Government for the past one year. It was how the officials at the lower ranks should act upon. That was not about telling the Commission to stop investigations or bring pressure on the investigators. I was talking about a broader issue. But, the media interpreted it in a wrong manner.
“As a result a wrong impression was created among the public. Even today what I say is that the investigations and cases of large scale corruption should be expedited.”
Q Could you give an example of such cases?
A: “One of them is the investigations about the deposit of moneys in a bank in Dubai. That investigation has stopped. The Avant Garde Maritime Services Limited ship is with us for the past one year. The Government Analyst’s report on this is hilarious. I hear the report says that the weapons in the ship had rubbed against each other and the numbers had got erased. Now the situation is that there is no case and we are taking care of the ship for the past year. The Thajudeen murder case (being probed by the Criminal Investigation Department – CID) is being suppressed. There is the case about the procurement of MiG-27 fighter jets. I can cite more examples. The people want to know about them.
“I need to speak out so that the truth is revealed. Otherwise the public will assume that I am not taking care of this. It is not our duty to intervene in the work of the investigative agencies. We have created them and expect them to act independently. If some of the officials, at the lower ranks do not perform their duties, the objectives are not achieved. That is the reason to make such a statement.
“I made a statement about the arrest of former Commanders. The media distorted and reported it. As the Minister of Defence, and as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, I should be made aware if a serving or retired Commander is arrested and taken to courts. Like those serving, even those retired have links in the armed forces. The public perception should be understood when action is taken. We should not act against the will of the people. We should act in a manner where the wish of the public is fulfilled.
Q How do you do that?
A: “The officials should know how to do that. I do not select the cases. It is the responsibility of those officials in the respective institutions to investigate cases regarding what people expect action to be taken”.
Q By this, do you mean that action should not be taken over some cases?
A: “I have not said that. What I say is that action should be expedited and done efficiently”.
Q You mean in a manner that the public appreciates it?
A: “Yes”.
Q Are you satisfied with the functions of the Bribery Commission, FCID and the CID?
A: “Actually, the officers are taking a great effort. I am aware of that. But they need to expedite cases and they should be more efficient because it is beyond the expected time period of the public. The people expected speedy investigations and results. It is already 20 months. The investigations should be expedited as it is nearly two years. The delay is the question”.
Q How do you hope to expedite them? Is it through higher officials or through the Ministers?
A: “The Ministers are not relevant to the investigations. It is not the duty of the politicians. It is the duty of the officials who are carrying out the investigations. Earlier the politicians used to intervene. We have stopped that. Earlier telephone calls were given before judgments were delivered in courts. Investigations were stopped. It happened in that manner earlier. However, now there is no such intervention and we expect investigations to be done in the right manner. That remains the question”.
Q Some say that former ministers are loyal to the Government as there are investigations against them. Your comments?
A: “That is not the reason they have joined the Government. We invited them. They did not come by force. Our manifesto said that we will form a consensual Government or a National Government. I too said this. Besides, according to the Parliamentary election results no party could have formed a government on its own. The UNP had 106 members and the SLFP (UPFA) had 95. Since no party could form a Governmen on its own it was essential to get together to form a consensual Government. Nobody came by force, but we invited them. If they did not come in we could not have formed a Government. We could not have had a Government with 106 members”.
