News
“50% of ITAK supports common Tamil presidential candidate”
By Saman Indrajith
Fifty percent of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) will support the Tamil common presidential candidate, Gurusuwamy Surenthiran, Media Spokesman, Tamil National Common Structure and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) said during a televised interview recently.
Surenthiran said that they understand their candidate, P. Ariyanethran, will not be the winning presidential candidate but this is a great opportunity to demonstrate the electoral power of the Tamil people. He said C.V. Vigneswaran’s Tamil People’s Alliance, Selvam Adaikkalanathan’s Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), D. Siddharthan’s People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Suresh Premachandran’s Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Democratic Crusaders party and former MP Srikantha’s Tamil National Party, supported the common candidate.
There were about 593,000 votes in the Jaffna District, about 306,000 votes in Vanni District, and about 900,000 votes in the Northern Province, he said. In the East there were about 1.3 million votes, he added.
“Altogether there are 2.2 million Tamil speaking voters,” he said.
Surenthiran said that while they intended to contest the 21 September presidential election, they were also open for supporting a main candidate who would agree to implement a political solution to the problems faced by the Tamils.
“In the coming weeks, we will show our strength and then negotiate. There are 2.2 million Tamil speaking voters in the North and East and everyone knows how important these votes are in a tight presidential election,” Surenthiran said.
“There are four main candidates in the coming presidential election, and this is the most competitive presidential elections in Sri Lankan history,” he said. Perhaps the winner would scrape through and all leading candidates needed the support of the Tamils in the North, he said.
He said that while Tamils had been demanding a common candidate, some sections of the ITAK, including MP M.A. Sumanthiran were opposed to the idea.
Sumanthiran has even declared that they would take disciplinary action against Ariyanethran, who is an ITAK member. Surenthiran said.
“We have not fielded a candidate to win the presidential election. We want to highlight the fact that the problems of the Tamils have not been addressed by successive governments. In the past, main candidates visited the north and east, acknowledged that the Tamils had a political problem, and promised to solve it but they reneged on their promises. We have voted for Sarath Fonseka, Maithripala Sirisena and Sajith Premadasa. The living standards of the north and east have not improved at all,” he said.
Fifteen years had elapsed since the conclusion of the war, but there was not a single factory in the north, he said. In 2022, the contribution of the Northern Province to the GDP had been 4.1 percent. The east contributed 5.2 percent that year, he said.
A programme to provide educational equipment to selected university students was held on Thursday (18) morning at the Head Office of the President’s Fund.
During the event, laptop computers were distributed to 14 students selected from applications received through Divisional Secretariat offices across the island. The President’s Fund has allocated Rs. 5.8 million for this initiative.
Accordingly, the President’s Fund has provided educational equipment to approximately 30 university students in 2025 and 2026. More than Rs. 9.8 million has been spent on this programme to date.
The event was attended by Secretary to the President’s Fund and Senior Additional Secretary to the President, Roshan Gamage, along with senior officials of the President’s Fund, parents, and other invitees.
(PMD)
Amidst ongoing accusations that the theft of USD 2.5 mn (nearly 1 bn Rupees) from the Treasury hadn’t been properly investigated, The Island learns that the relevant payments had been made to the actual creditor on the instructions of the Finance Ministry.
Confirming the inquiries made by us, authoritative sources said that payments had been made to several accounts through the US banks. Earlier, Sri Lanka released funds to fake foreign accounts in spite of warnings regarding the suspicions about the process.
The funds were part of a bilateral debt repayment to Australia with a settlement due in September 2025. The payment was part of a $ 22.9 million debt settlement.
The lapses occurred in the wake of far reaching changes regarding the debt management functions. In terms of a particular condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sri Lanka’s debt management functions that had been previously handled by the Central Bank were transferred to a new institution established under the General Treasury—the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO).
Sources said that regardless of the loss of USD 2.5 mn, Sri Lanka couldn’t have defaulted and therefore payments had been made.
Sources who closely followed the issue said that the government owed an explanation and public apology regarding the loss of USD 2.5 mn and how fresh payments were made.
Sources said that the USD 2.5 mn paid to fake accounts had been lost and could never be traced. CoPF Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva has said that the NPP government has told the IMF that stolen USD 2.5 mn would be recovered from the public by introducing an amendment to the budget.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
The Court of Appeal yesterday (18) postponed until June 25 the hearing of a petition filed by former Minister Nalin Fernando seeking the dismissal of an indictment brought against him by the Attorney General in connection with the controversial ‘Carrom Boards’ case.
The petition was taken up before a bench comprising Justices P. Kumararatnam and Pradeep Hettiarachchi.
Appearing for the petitioner, President’s Counsel Ali Sabry, instructed by Attorney-at-Law Ramzi Bacha, informed court that Fernando had already been convicted and sentenced to 30 years rigorous imprisonment in a case instituted by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) arising from the same incident.
Counsel argued that the Attorney General had subsequently filed a separate case based on the same set of charges and maintained that subjecting an accused person to a second prosecution for the same offence was contrary to law.
He submitted that preliminary objections on the issue had been raised before the Colombo High Court but were dismissed by the trial judge.
The petitioner has therefore sought a declaration from the Court of Appeal that the indictment filed by the Attorney General is unlawful and requested that the charges be set aside.
The court directed that the matter be called again on June 25, when the Attorney General is expected to present submissions on the petition.
The case stems from allegations that during the 2015 presidential election campaign, 14,000 carrom boards and 11,000 checkers boards were imported and distributed through Lanka Sathosa outlets for allocation to political offices of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, resulting in an estimated loss of Rs. 39 million to the State.
Based on those allegations, the Attorney General has instituted proceedings against Fernando before the Colombo High Court under the Public Property Act.
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