CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

Whatever said and done, one is inclined to marvel at the ingenuity and craftiness of the politicians who were ruling the roost in the previous administration under the Rajapakses, in transforming even any misery or disaster into a  bonanza.  One classic example which comes to mind is how the Tsunami donations ended up in a personal account of the highest in the land under the cover of a fictitious project called “Helping Hambanthota”

The other day, ex-Media Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, was summoned by the FCID to probe how he claimed  a compensation amounting to Rs. 20 million from the President’s Fund for an accident which occurred whilst he was in Australia on a private visit to obtain treatment for his son.  It became all the more invigorating when one considers the fact that he somehow managed to obtain compensation for his injury from the hotel he stayed in Australia and not stopping at that, also got his local insurers too pay him compensation for the injury.  Ingenuity par excellence in turning a tragedy into a bonus!

What is more interesting is as to how he injured himself.  It is common knowledge in the country that this particular minister was attempting to jump from one balcony to another in an inebriated condition emulating the “Superman”.  Considering that he still managed to obtain compensation from the hotel makes one wonder if  guests of that particular hotel were covered against acrobatics as well.

Such incidents only goes to prove how callous the previous Rajapakse government was when it comes to country’s finances, dishing out millions and billions to all and sundry as long as they keep the Big Boss happy and allow him to make merry at public expense.

It is high time that such callousness is exposed and the guilty punished by forcing the exploiters to restore to the Treasury the ill-gotten money, if possible with interest, which after all belongs to the poor people of this country.

If the authorities fail to do that, then one cannot stop the perpetrators  from loudly singing “Catch me if you can”!