The New Democratic Front (NDF) wouldn’t intervene on behalf of Badulla district parliamentarian Chamara Sampath Dassanayake remanded on a corruption charge alleged to have been perpetrated during his tenure as the Uva Chief Minister in 2016, a senior party official said.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Thanuja Lakmali on Tuesday (01) remanded Dassanayake till April 8 pending investigations.

NDF Secretary Ms Sharmila Perera said that the NDF couldn’t get involved in the issue at hand though Dassanayake represented the NDF in the current Parliament. When The Island pointed out that the NDF couldn’t simply wash its hands off the allegations directed at the lawmaker, Ms Perera said that several political parties and groups contested the last parliamentary elections in Nov 2024 under the NDF’s symbol ‘Gas Cylinder.’

According to her Dassanayake had been nominated by the dissident SLFP group led by one-time Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. In the post-presidential election environment, several parties, including the UNP, formed an alliance to contest parliamentary election and those contesting under the NDF symbol wouldn’t mean the party exercised disciplinary control over them, the NDF official said.

Led by UNP leader and former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the NDF, in spite of having only five lawmakers, emerged the fourth largest party in the current Parliament. The group comprised Anuradha Jayaratne (group leader/Kandy district), Rohitha Abeygunawardena (Kalutara district), Ravi Karunanayake (National List) and Faizer Musthapha (National List). Group leader Jayaratne didn’t answer his cell phone.

Ms Sharmila Perera questioned whether the action taken against lawmaker Dassanayake was politically motivated. “Let me stress that anyone, regardless of the accusation directed at her or him, should be considered innocent unless was found guilty by a court,” Ms. Perera said, adding that the NDF MP had been quite vociferous, both in and outside Parliament over the past couple of months, exposing government shortcomings.

Having first entered Uva Provincial Council in 1994 on the People’s Alliance (PA) ticket during President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s tenure, Dassanayake entered Parliament (UPFA) at the 2015 parliamentary election but resigned the same year to receive appointment as the Uva Chief Minister, courtesy President Maithripala Sirisena. Dassanayake succeeded UNPer Harin Fernando. Dassanayake had sided with Maithripala Sirisena in the wake of the UPFA split over its marriage with the UNP.

According to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), Dassanayake had caused a loss of Rs. 23 mn by prematurely withdrawing six fixed deposits from the Badulla branch of the National Savings Bank (NSB) after the bank declined to contribute to the Uva CM’s project to provide school bags to pre-school children.

However, two other state banks have complied with Dassanayake’s request and provided him Rs 2.5 mn for the same project.

Kalinga Indatissa, PC, counsel for Dassanayake, has told the Magistrate court that fixed deposits had been prematurely withdrawn to pay enhanced festival advance for Uva PC employees. The former BASL President said that an additional Rs 300 mn had been required as the government enhanced the festival advance payment available for PC employees from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. Indatissa said that as the Chief Secretary of the Uva PC had resorted to this course of action his client was not at fault.

By Shamindra Ferdinando