COPE, UNP AND “ALI BABAS”

It was rather distressing to hear of attempts made by the UNP members in the  Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) to protect the main culprits involved in the recent BOND scam.

Disgusting, indeed, is the news that the UNP members in the committee were attempting to draft a new report to protect the corrupt officials while the majority of thee COPE members had agreed to accept the report headed by the Chairman, Sunil Handunetti. To make matters worse, the UNP members are alleged to have made attempts to force the Auditor General to change his report as well, which is even more disgusting.

From the foregoing it is obvious that there are moves to protect the main culprit of the Bond scam, ex-Governor of the Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran and his son in law, who had made an unprecedented fortune in the Bond issue, purely for political reasons. 

It is rather funny that the UNP leaders who vigorously campaigned for elimination of corruption in the country which was rampant under the previous Rajapakse regime are themselves taking part in corrupt activities to safeguard their friends.  It appears that whilst the Rajapakse rule was doomed because of family rule, the current UNP rulers are asking for trouble if they try to safeguard their friends at high places.

The JVP should not even think of giving up the good work they have been doing so far to expose the corrupt elements in the previous regime as well as in the current administration.  Whatever the provocations, Sunil Handunetti should have stuck to his chair rather than walkout in the face of tantrums by the UNP members, which obviously was one of their tactics to change the course of the deliberations and the final report.

Everyone involved in these investigations should take a vow to punish the “Ali Babas” on both sides of the divide and never allow these corrupt elements to raise their heads again, since the country needs to be rid of such elements if it is to prosper. 

The two main political parties who ruled the country taking turns have now got together to usher in so called “Yahapalanaya” which already has become a joke in the country, prompting the famous JVP saying “Unuth Ekai, Munuth Ekai”. 

The JVP has a very significant role to play in the political field as a third force and it is fervently hoped that they will prove to be worthy of that onerous responsibility, rather than end up with another slogan “Unuth Ekai, Munuth Ekai, Arunuth Ekai”