News

Mastermind of prison violence identified – Police Spokesman

Published

4 years ago

2020/12/1

Sahan Weerasooriya

* Opposition calls for independent probe

* 61 among rioters COVID-19 positive

* Tense situation in Negombo Prison

By Saman Indrajith, Norman Palihawadana and Nishan S. Priyantha

Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana told The Island yesterday that the Police had identified a senior member of the Mahara Prison Hospital staff as the mastermind of Sunday’s prison riot.

Prisoners clashed with their guards, police anti-riot squads and the STF, on Sunday, for several hours and the clashes left eight inmates dead and more than 70 others injured. The injured were removed to the Ragama Teaching Hospital. Among them were two prison officers.

DIG Rohana said the Police believed the prison clashes were preplanned, and the prison record room had been set on fire. A new building under construction as part of the prison expansion project had also been destroyed by the rioters, DIG Rohana said.

The Mahara Prison had more than 2,700 inmates at the time of the clashes. Out of them, 183 had tested positive for COVID-19, he said. They had been removed to a special section of the Colombo Remand Prison, the Police Spokesman added.

Although the Police told the media that the situation had been brought under control in the prison, injured inmates being removed to hospital , shouted, through the windows of speeding ambulances, that inmates were still being beaten.

Our photographers stationed near the prison said they had sighted the same ambulance making several trips, within a matter of hours, between the Mahara Prison and the Ragama Teaching Hospital.

The COVID-19 patients among the prisoners were taken to treatment centres, while the family members and friends of inmates were waiting outside the prison, making inquiries from the police.

Four prisoners of the Negombo Prison, yesterday, staged a rooftop protest, demanding that cases against them be expedited and they be granted bail. The Negombo Police arrested the four men and another person who had assisted them.

Meanwhile, Prison Reforms and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation State Minister Dr Sudarshini Fernandopulle told Parliament yesterday that there had been an invisible hand behind Sunday’s prison riots.

Minister Dr. Fernandopulle said the incident had occurred when prison officers, attempted to foil an escape attempt following a clash between the remandees and the convicts in the Mahara Prison. She said some inmates had set prison properties on fire.

The Prison officers had been able to prevent the escape attempt by opening fire, but to quell the riots they had called in the police anti-riot squads and the STF.

“It was so unfortunate that eight inmates were killed and around 50 others injured; the injured prisoners are receiving treatment at the Colombo North Teaching hospital,” Minister Dr Fernandopulle said.

She said that there had been a wave of protests and incidents of unrest in prisons all over the country during recent months. “First the agitations started at the Boossa Prison. There were similar incidents at the Welikada, Kalutara, Weerawila, and the Negombo prisons. A group of prisoners tried to escape from the Bogambara Prison recently but the jailers were able to prevent them by opening fire.” One escapee had been killed and several others injured, she said.

The Minister said that the government was convinced that there had been an invisible hand behind the Mahara Prison incident. She said so in response to a statement made by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, who said that the Opposition was not happy with the incidents being investigated by a committee, headed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Prison Reforms and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation. “We do not think that the truth could be got at through such an investigation. We need an impartial investigation,” the Opposition Leader said.

Minister Fernandopulle: We, too, need to know the truth and how exactly this happened. We have decided to call in the CID to conduct investigations. There will be some other probes as well.

Opposition Leader: There was a COVID-19 cluster consisting of 183 infections in the Mahara Prison. How could such a cluster come up so suddenly there? What actions have you taken to prevent the spread of the virus in prisons?

The State Minister said that there were 1,099 COVID-19 infected inmates in prisons all over the country as of yesterday. “We have temporarily banned visitors. Court proceedings take place via Skype. Following recent anti-narcotic raids the number of inmates has increased. In prisons which can accommodate only 11,000 there are now 32,000 at present,” she said, adding that suspected COVID-19 cases were placed under quarantine for 14 days at the Bogambara Prison, in Kandy and Pallansena, Galella, and Kandakadu quarantine centres.

Measures had been taken to release on bail remand prisoners, a majority of whom were drug addicts arrested with less than two grams of narcotics each, and nearly 600 prisoners convicted of minor offences had been granted a presidential pardon, Dr. Fernandopulle said.

Chief Opposition Whip Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella said that he had asked the government a month back not to hold COVID-19 infected inmates in the Bogambara Prison, but it had not listened to him.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena: You have raised that matter several times in the House. This cannot be allowed.

Kandy District SJB MP Velu Kumar: The Kandy town is in danger because the government has transferred inmates infected with COVID-19 to the Bogambara Prison.

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French Navy Ship PROVENCE arrives in Port of Colombo

Published

5 hours ago

2025/03/17

Priyan

The French Navy Ship PROVENCE arrived at the Port of Colombo on a formal visit on Sunday (16 Mar 25) morning.

She was welcomed by the Sri Lanka Navy in compliance with the time-honoured naval traditions.

The 142.20m long Destroyer is Commanded by Captain Lionel SIEGFRIED and manned by a crew of 160 members.

During the stay in the island, crew members of PROVENCE will visit some tourist hotspots in the country and the ship is scheduled to depart the island on 20 Mar.

Latest News

Court of Appeal dismisses Ex-IGP’s writ petition

Published

6 hours ago

2025/03/17

Priyan

The Court of Appeal this [17] morning dismissed the writ petition filed by former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon, seeking an interim injunction to prevent the execution of the arrest order issued by the Matara Magistrate’s Court against him.

Latest News

Project to distribute smart boards for 1,000 schools with the goal of enhancing education has completely failed to meet its objectives and the investment of LKR 1.7 billion has been underutilized -PM

Published

10 hours ago

2025/03/17

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the project to distribute smart boards for 1,000 schools with the goal of enhancing education has completely failed to meet its objectives and the investment of LKR 1.7 billion has been underutilized.

The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya made these remarks in the Parliament complex on Saturday [March 15, 2025] while discussing the project to establish networked classrooms by facilitating smart boards to the school system.

The Cabinet Memorandum No. AMP/24/0385/601/027 and the Cabinet decision dated March 4, 2024 has been presented for the approval of the provision of digital smart boards and other related equipment to 1,000 selected schools, with the objective of enhancing education through the establishment of a systematic network of smart classrooms within the school system funded by the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL).

Subsequently, an additional Cabinet Memorandum, No. AMP/24/0978/630/009, dated May 14, 2024, was presented, proposing the implementation of this project in alignment with the project proposed by Chinese government for digitalizing Schools. Under this Chinese-funded project, plans were made to establish a centralized control center and a studio facility, along with the provision of an additional 500 smart boards. Accordingly, the integration of both projects was proposed to create a network of smart classrooms across 1,500 schools.

The cabinet decision has been presented requiring Sri Lankan Government to purchase smart boards with specifications identical to the smart boards which were proposed to be distributed by the Chinese Government.

In line with the Cabinet decision of May 14, 2024, the procurement for the 1,000 smart boards began in July 2024. However, at the time of purchase, the project proposed by the Chinese Government was still at the discussion stage, and no official agreement had been reached regarding the technical specifications of the smart boards.

However, the procurement was carried out through the Sri Lanka State Trading (General) Corporation without a competitive bidding process, relying on price quotations obtained from a single supplier based on unclear sources that were not officially verified by the Chinese government. The Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission incurred the full cost of LKR 1.7 billion, with an additional LKR 430 million allocated for services and installation.

The aforementioned procurement appears to have been conducted at an unusually accelerated pace when compared to the standard procedure typically followed for high-value procurements. Specifically, price quotations were requested on July 5, 2024, opened on July 15, 2024, and by July 16, 2024, the Technical Evaluation Committee had completed and submitted the report. Subsequently, the report was reviewed by the Standing Procurement Committee appointed by the Cabinet on July 17 and 18, 2024, with recommendations being provided on the same day. These recommendations were then submitted to the Cabinet on July 23, 2024, and approval was granted on July 30, 2024. Followed by this, the purchase requisition was issued to the supplier on August 5, 2024. Accordingly, the entire procurement process was completed within a span of one month.

As part of this procurement, a Letter of Credit was opened to facilitate the payment of USD 3,135,392.50 for 1,000 smart boards to Intelligent Express Limited Hong Kong, which has been identified as a representative of Huawei. While the relevant Cabinet paper indicated Huawei as the designated manufacturer supplying the smart boards under the Chinese funding project, the Chinese government has not yet confirmed the selection of such a supplier for this project.

According to aforementioned purchase requisition, the purchased smart boards and related equipment were delivered to the Ministry of Education in October 2024 and are currently stored at Pattala Gedara Teacher’s Training College. Although the procurement of the aforementioned Smart boards by the Sri Lankan Government has been finalized, the relevant project, which was intended to be implemented under the funding of Chinese government, has not yet commenced and a final agreement regarding its implementation has not been reached.

Prior to reaching a final agreement on the network integration facilities and centralized system proposed by the Chinese government, the procurement of these smart boards has resulted in the inability to utilize the equipment for the intended purpose. It is expected that the Chinese aid project is at the discussion stage, and the implementation may extend until the end of this year. Further, no official decision has been made regarding the selection of a supplier for the project.

Given this situation, if the 1,000 smart boards and other equipment currently stored in warehouses are to be distributed to schools, school principals must be provided with clear instructions on their proper use. However, due to the delay in implementing the project under the funding of the Chinese government, specific guidelines on the installation and utilization of the equipment cannot yet be issued.

Since network integration cannot be carried out at this stage, these smart boards can only be used as standalone classroom units. As a result, the objectives of the project will not be met, and the investment of LKR 1.7 billion made might be considered to be underutilized.

A formal investigation has been initiated to determine whether financial and procedural irregularities have occurred in this procurement. Additionally, discussions are currently continued with the Chinese government, and efforts are being made to secure the proposed facilities from China at the earliest convenience.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]