Saturday 20th June, 2026

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has netted another senior state official. It arrested the General Manager (GM) of Lanka Salt Ltd., Rathnayaka Mudiyanselage Gunaratne yesterday for allegedly having caused a loss of approximately Rs. 14.3 million to the state and provided an undue advantage to a supplier by procuring Laklunu packaging for the Hambantota Salt Company through a re-order process in breach of procurement procedures.

Such action against state officials is certainly welcome, and all those who have enriched themselves through illegal means and/or caused losses to the state must be brought to justice. After all, that is the raison d’etre of the CIABOC.

On Thursday, the Central Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) arrested Sugeeshwara Bandara, who served as former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private secretary. The arrest was made in connection with an ongoing investigation into allegations that Bandara drew two salaries from state institutions and thereby misappropriated public funds. Investigations have reportedly revealed that Bandara, while being Rajapaksa’s private secretary, held the position of Project Director at the Presidential Secretariat during the same period. The CCIB made Bandara’s arrest as dramatic as possible, perhaps to send a political message to other Opposition activists. Produced before court, Bandara was remanded.

Investigations should be conducted into alleged offences and credible evidence ascertained before suspects are arrested. Sri Lanka police often do it the other way around; they begin investigations and evidence gathering only after arresting and even detaining suspects. This deplorable practice is not of recent origin. The police acted in a similar manner during previous governments, which were bent on suppressing democratic dissent. The incumbent government came to power, promising a radical departure from that rotten political culture, but there has been no change.

The high-octane performance of the CIABOC and the police is curiously absent in situations where suspects happen to be cronies of the powers that be. How the CIABOC handled former Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody’s corruption case may serve as an example. The police stand accused of trotting out lame excuses for not arresting three JVP stalwarts involved in a forgery case. If they had been Opposition politicians, the CCIB itself would have swooped on them.

According to charges against Jayakody, while serving as the Manager of the Procurement and Import Division of the Ceylon Fertiliser Company, he committed an offence of corruption in 2016. He allegedly caused a loss of Rs. 8,859,708 to the state by influencing a procurement process for the benefit of a private company.

The CIABOC, which goes hell for leather to arrest suspects like Lanka Salt GM Gunaratne baulked at arresting Jayakody and hauling him up before court. Jayakody obtained bail immediately after being indicted.

Is it that all are equal before the law but JVP/NPP members are ‘more equal’ than others? The Opposition insists that no action has been taken regarding its complaints against Jayakody over a fraudulent coal procurement that has caused staggering losses amounting to billions of rupees to the state and led to an increase in diesel imports to operate oil-fired power plants and compensate for the generation loss at Norochcholai. One may recall that former Ministers Nalin Fernando and Mahindananda Aluthgamage have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment over losses suffered by the state due to irregularities in the procurement of carrom boards and checkers board in the run-up to the 2015 presidential election. Former North Central Province Chief Minister S. M. Ranjith and his secretary have been jailed for a fraud involving a fuel allowance.

It is our fervent hope that the CIABOC will become independent enough to treat members of the government and the Opposition equally.

Friday 19th June, 2026

US President Donald Trump has revealed what really compelled him to agree to stop the Iran war. After signing an interim peace agreement with Iran, on Wednesday, he defended his deal with Tehran, telling the media that he wanted to avoid an “economic catastrophe” that could have resulted if the Iran conflict had continued. Tycoons like Trump are known to prioritise economics over everything else, but reflected in his thinking is an emerging security paradigm in the modern world. Military might alone no longer determines the outcome of an armed conflict; economic factors also play a significant role in shaping it.

Washington may have ignored the adverse impact of its Iran war if the US had been free from knock-on economic effects. But oil prices went up sharply in the US, and disruptions to about 30% of global fertiliser supplies due to the closure of the Hormuz Strait prompted American farmers’ associations to issue dire warnings of possible food price increases and shortages. Securing the sinews of war was no walk in the park for Trump. The Pentagon informed the House Armed Services Committee, a few weeks ago, that the US had spent USD 25 billion on the Iran war by that time. But Democratic leaders and several leading economists believe that the actual cost of the conflict to the US economy could be between USD 630 billion and USD 1 trillion, according to an Al Jazeera report.

What one gathers from the trajectory of the Iran conflict is that having control over a strategic oil chokepoint could prove as effective as the so-called nuclear deterrent in an asymmetrical conflict. Iran may have failed to achieve its goal of enriching uranium to the extent of being able to realise its nuclear dream, but it succeeded in using the Hormuz Strait as a strategic lever to shift the conflict to the economic front. The US naval blockade aimed at coercing Iran into submission did not yield the desired results. Washington underestimated Iran’s military capability and resilience, and had to lift sanctions on Russian oil in a bid to calm the volatile world oil market, but without much success. Not even the release of global strategic oil reserves could help stabilise petroleum prices.

The reaction of the world oil market to the signing of the US-Iran peace agreement was immediate. Brent crude futures dropped to USD 77.96 a barrel while WTI fell to USD 74.96 a barrel, much to the relief of economies around the world. Stocks rallied amidst falling oil prices. One can only hope that the US-Iran peace agreement will reach fruition, with all stakeholders making a serious effort to ensure its success.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not taken kindly to the US-Iran peace deal. In February, he declared the Iran war a dream come true for him. He said he had been dreaming of attacking Iran for 40 years. The unexpected end to the conflict has shattered his political dream. He was obviously relying on attacks on Iran to shore up his electoral chances ahead of the parliamentary polls scheduled for October 2026. The upcoming Knesset election has been described in some quarters as one of the most contentious electoral contests in Israel’s recent history, as it is the first national election to take place since the “October 7 attacks” followed by Israel’s war with Hamas and Hezbollah and the Iran war. Netanyahu is also standing trial in three separate corruption cases, facing charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. He has denied any wrongdoing. His ongoing trial has been delayed due to his security and diplomatic schedule.

Meanwhile, sharp oil price drops will surely benefit Sri Lanka, but they are bound to throw up new challenges. The JVP-NPP government is coming under increasing pressure to bring oil prices down and do away with the QR-based fuel rationing system. If it gives in, low prices and unrestricted sales will lead to steep increases in fuel consumption and the national oil import bill, which has jumped more than fivefold from USD 98 million in February 2026 to USD 522 million in May, according to President Anura Kumara Disanayake. How the government proposes to navigate this sensitive politico-economic issue remains to be seen.

Thursday 18th June, 2026

Social media debates on issues connected to the Easter Sunday terror attacks have got down and dirty, with religious and political leaders becoming targets of scurrilous attacks. The situation is likely to take a turn for the worse. The victims of vilification are without any defence as social media activists are guided by Rafferty’s rules.

Spokesman for the Archdiocese of Colombo Rev. Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando yesterday countered some allegations against Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and clarified the Catholic Church’s position on the ongoing investigations into the Easter Sunday terror strikes. He vehemently denied social media claims that the Cardinal had received prior information about the terror attacks from his security personnel deployed by the state and therefore did not attend the Easter Sunday events in 2019. It was only after the 2019 carnage that the Cardinal had been provided with security, and therefore the argument that the VIP protection units had been informed of possible terror attacks and his guards had warned him of the threat did not hold water, Fr. Fernando pointed out. His line of reasoning is logical and compelling.

Rev. Fr. Fernando reiterated that neither the Cardinal nor any other Church leader had ever asked the government to appoint Senior DIG (Retd.) Ravi Seneviratne and SSP (Retd.) Shani Abeysekera to any positions. Only a request had been made that the investigators removed by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government from the Easter Sunday carnage probe be entrusted with fresh investigations into the tragedy. No particular names had been mentioned, Fr. Fernando stressed when a journalist pointed out that Minister Bimal Rathnayake had told Parliament that the government had appointed Seneviratne and Abeysekera to key positions at the Cardinal’s request. Did the government use the Church leaders’ request as an excuse to appoint two NPP members to senior positions in the public security sector to further its political interests under the pretext of probing the Easter Sunday attacks?

It is not clear from the reports of Rev. Fr. Fernando’s statements at yesterday’s media briefing whether the church leaders support the post-retirement appointments of Seneviratne and Abeysekera and their involvement in the Easter Sunday carnage probe. Their position on the issue would be of considerable interest.

There are compelling reasons why Abeysekera and Seneviratne should have been kept out of the Easter Sunday carnage investigations. In April 2019, they were serving as the Director and the Senior DIG of the CID, respectively, which failed to prevent the terror strikes, and there is a damning allegation that they did not act on the warnings of the impending attacks. Former IGP Pujith Jayasundera and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando are facing legal action for their alleged failure to prevent the 2019 terror strikes. Therefore, legal proceedings should be instituted against all others who failed to protect lives on Easter Sunday in 2019 despite the availability of actionable intelligence. After their retirement from the police, Abeysekera and Seneviratne became active members of the NPP, and campaigned hard for Anura Kumara Dissanayake in the 2024 presidential race. They were prominent members of the NPP’s Retired Police Collective, which was headed by Seneviratne. They themselves have stated this in two affidavits submitted to the Supreme Court, according to media reports. The government in its wisdom brought these two NPP politicians out of retirement, appointed them as the CID Director and Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, and entrusted Abeysekera with the task of probing the Easter Sunday terror attacks that the duo allegedly failed to prevent. Sadly, their involvement has severely undermined the integrity of the probe.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the VIP security divisions had been warned of possible terror attacks on Easter Sunday in 2019 and instructed to withhold warnings from the MPs and Ministers they were protecting. In an editorial comment on 22 July 2025, we pointed out, quoting former SLPP MP Indika Anuruddha Herath, who was an Opposition MP at the time of the Easter Sunday attacks, that the police personnel providing security to him had received warnings of impending bomb attacks but they had been ordered not to inform him of the threat. He was at a church in Negombo when the Katuwapitiya Church was attacked, and it was only after the carnage that he and other MPs had been informed of the warnings. He said that if they had been informed of the threat earlier, they would definitely have alerted the Church leaders and action could have been taken to prevent the carnage. Who ordered the police personnel to withhold the warnings of the terror strikes from the MPs and ministers? This aspect of the security failure that led to the Easter Sunday tragedy must also be thoroughly probed.

The Easter Sunday terror mastermind must be traced and prosecuted, but all those who failed to prevent the terror strikes that claimed more than 275 lives and left hundreds of other seriously injured must also be brought to justice.