report in The Island, Dec 31, 2023President Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed Justice Neil Iddawala, retired Judge of the Appeal Court, as the Chairman of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption and two other members of the Commission, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said. The other members are Chethiya Goonesekera PC, previously in the Attorney-General’s Department and K. Bernard Rajapakse, a former DGM of the People’s Bank. The appointments are with effect from…
Posts published in “Sri Lanka”
report in The Island, Dec 30, 2023In comparison with other countries, Sri Lanka had received fewer benefits from the Belt and Road Initiative, with investments amounting to 14 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL) affiliated Asia Progress Forum (APF) said. The investments made by this Initiative in Laos and Cambodia are 140 percent and 60 percent, respectively of their GDPs, the APF said. “This makes it clear…
by Buddhika Samaraweera in The Daily Morning, Dec 29, 2023The Catholic Church claimed that it is in doubt as to whether President Ranil Wickremesinghe is allowing Public Security Minister Tiran Alles to continue making baseless accusations against Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and the Catholic Church with the aim of undermining their (the Church’s) programme to demand justice for the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019. In the recent past, Alles was seen criticising Cardinal…
By Sahan Tennekoon in The Daily Morning, Dec 29, 2023Following many claims being circulated that the Tamil parties from the North and the East of the country are planning to put forward a Tamil candidate for the upcoming Presidential Election, no formal discussion has taken place in this regard thus far, The Daily Morning learnt. Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (28), the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) Batticaloa District Opposition Parliamentarian Govindan Karunakaran said…
By Ifham Nizam in The Island, Dec 28, 2023A visiting Chinese trade delegation assured top officials of the Ministry of Agriculture that it is ready to purchase five tons each of all Sri Lankan spices annually. A senior official of the ministry told The Island Financial Review that the quantity to be exported is minimal and steps would be taken to increase it in keeping with the demand. The visiting Chinese trade delegation discussed the…
REPORT IN Daily Mirror, Dec 28, 2023The economic crisis is bearing on people with as many as 60.5 percent of households finding their monthly average incomes reduced while 91.0 percent of households experiencing an increase in their monthly expenditure levels, according to a survey by the Department of Census and Statistics. The Department traced back the origin of the crisis to the 2019 Easter Sunday attack, said it was exacerbated by the pandemic. The survey…
By Dinasena Ratugamage in The Island, Dec 28, 2023Jaffna District MP C.V. Wigneswaran has said he is willing to contest the next presidential election next year. Retired Supreme Court Justice Wigneswaran, elected on the Tamil People’s National Alliance (Thamizh Makkal Tesiya Kootani) ticket, told the Jaffna-based media that he would contest the presidential poll if all Tamil political parties reached a consensus on his candidature. Wigneswaran served as the Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial…
report in The Daily FT, Dec 27, 2023The dominant Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has listed 10 conditions or goals for aspirants of Presidency under its mandate. Sources said the conditions have been listed by the SLPP hierarchy. So far only business leader-turned national list Parliamentarian Dhammika Perera has been speculated as the SLPP’s candidate for the next Presidential election. However, SLPP General Secretary went public last week saying the party is considering a few…
By Rathindra Kuruwita in The Island, Dec 27, 2023In 2022, the inmates in Sri Lankan prisons numbered 22,097, marking a 15 percent increase from the 19,295 in 2021, a report on prison overcrowding by the National Audit Office states. The total prison capacity in the country was set at 11,291 inmates by the end of 2022, according to the report. However, the total count reached 26,176 individuals, comprising 16,727 suspects and 9,449 convicts. Thus, there…
by Sahan Tennekoon in The Daily Morning, Dec 27, 2023The overcrowding of prisons in Sri Lanka is mainly caused by administrative shortcomings existing in the law enforcement and imprisonment mechanisms, and the rapid increase in crimes related to drugs, said the National Audit Office (NAO). Issuing an audit report prepared by the NAO on the management of the overcrowding of prisons, it stated that the prisons in Sri Lanka currently occupy 232% of the maximum…
report in Sri Lanka Mirror, Dec 27, 2023A complaint has been lodged with the CID that the chief custodian of the Ruhunu Kataragama Devalaya – T. Somipala, has been missing for 02 weeks. The complaint, lodged on Dec. 22 by a grandson of Mr. Somipala, has also noted that the disappearance affects the activities of the Devalaya while putting the artifacts at the location at risk. It is reported that the issues had arisen due…