Govt. corruption on MiG 27 confirmed by removal of Bribery Comm. DG

(February 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Opposition leader and leader of the UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe blasted the Government yesterday (21Feb) in Parliament on a scale even the LTTE in all its bombings could not.

The sudden transfer of the Director General Piyasena Ranasinghe who was probing top flight Govt. officials in connexion with the controversial and fraudulent MiG 27 deal allegedly manipulated by the Govt. is a deliberate and calculated move of the Govt. to undermine the on going investigations, Opposition Leader said. The investigation was initiated following opposition agitation and complaint.

Even the dilatory tactics of the Govt. to reactivate the Constitutional Council (CC) is part of its organized plan to create lawlessness in the country and to rule on the basis of its capricious and arbitrary fascist ambitions aimed only to camouflage and cover up its corruption and frauds. The Govt. will not be able to act this way removing the Director General according to its whims and fancies if the CC is in existence, he added.

UNP M.P. John Amaratunge said, the President has no powers to displace persons of independent Commissions at his will and pleasure.

The Opposition in Parliament argued that the Govt.’s dubious aims to appoint its henchmen and stooges to top posts and removing top Govt. officials of integrity refusing to kowtow to its dastardly dictates must be stopped once and for all.

Meanwhile widow of Late Sripathy Sooriyarachchi M.P.has voiced grave doubts and suspicion in regard to her husband’s tragic death, Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament insisted on a comprehensive inquiry into the circumstances that led to his death. The Opposition Leader also referred to the deaths of Parliamentarians, Pararajasingham, Raviraj and Maheswaran of which no proper inquiry has been conducted nor culprits apprehended yet.