Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure Minister Harin Fernando yesterday asked that President Sirisena appoint Presidential Commissions similar to that of the Treasury Bond Commission to speed up investigations into all cases of corruption.
Addressing a media briefing at the Government Information Department, the Minister admitted that there seemed to be certain shortcomings in the current law and order enforcement agencies to warrant such delays in prosecuting those charged with corruption.
“We are having problems now because we have not been able to punish the real crooks after establishing a new government.
“In 2015, when we came into power, people asked that we establish rule of law and freedom of speech, the latter is in full force now,”Minister Fernando said.
A Presidential Commission will speed things up, explained the Minister further and added that it would be able to achieve what the FCID and other agencies couldn’t thus far.
“I also hope that the Attorney General’s Department would also pursue these cases with the same aggressiveness as they are with the Bond issue”, he added.
His request, he said would be backed by other members in Cabinet which include Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne, State Minister Ruwan Wijewardene, Deputy Minister Ajith P.Perera and Deputy Minister Harsha de Silva.
When it comes to the ‘No Confidence’ motion presented against his own Cabinet colleague, Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake however, Fernando said he would decide to support it or not, based on the findings of the Presidential Commission appointed to investigate into it.
The Minister also took the opportunity to address charges of corruption levelled against him. A Sinhala language daily had charged that the minister was allegedly involved in a Rs.800 million tender fraud at Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT).
“I have nothing to do with SLT and have no power over their tender board. It’s Executive Board that makes all the decisions”, stressed the minister.
Fernando is expected to send a ‘letter of demand’ to this newspaper over the story and alleged that it was a personal attack against him. He added that similar attacks were being launched at his fellow Cabinet members, namely; Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Minister Kabir Hashim and Minister Malik Samarawickrama.
The Minister who has voiced frequent displeasure over his role in government said, “I feel that even when in government, I am not part of it. This is a conspiracy to silence those who speak out”.
He added that due to the government’s own delays in prosecuting the guilty, the thieves have begun to feel that they have got off scot free and were now targeting the government.
SLT General Manager (Access Service Assurance and Delivery) Lionel Imbulana explained that the SLT had decided to call for tenders for the sale of its unused copper cables according to accepted tender procedures.
“The Minister has no authority over the tender process. We have Financial Committee, Senior and Junior Tender Boards and in the Senior, we have our Malaysian partners overseeing the process,” Imbulana said.