Son Smuggled The Foreign Currency In SriLankan Airlines Chairman
Sri Lankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremesinghe told The Sunday Leader that his son Shehan Michael Wickremesinghe did not declare Rs. 3.1 million worth of foreign currency to Sri Lanka Customs when he arrived in the country in April this year.
A lot of people who bring money into the country for different purposes don t declare the monies. People bring cash to invest in a car or buy a land but they have a fear psychosis of declaring the monies because they think that will lead to different connotations, he said.
He brought it as pocket money, Wickremesinghe said, adding that his son had given the cash to his wife as a thank you to his parents having spent some Rs 8 million on his education in Canada.



In fact, in contradiction to this statement to another Sunday newspaper last week that his two sons had given him the foreign exchange as a birthday gift, he now says he has only one son abroad.
He also claims now that the 4 million rupee wristwatch was a birthday gift from his wife and two sons. However, his second son who lives in Sri Lanka Dilshan Wickremesinghe refused to comment and said to ask his father for any details.
Dilshan Wickremesinghe is Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director of Asset Networks (Pvt.) Ltd., a company engaged in IT services in Colombo and is also facing bribery charges after UNP Provincial Councilor Shiral Lakthilaka alleged that he provided unbranded computers to the government when the contract stipulated that the computers had to be branded.
Nishantha Wickremesinghe has given the media multiple explanations. First it was money given by Sri Lankan Airlines for an official trip to China.
He then said his wife had collected the foreign currency over a period of time but had not banked it as she did not believe in banks.
The scandal broke when his house in Mount Lavinia was robbed by what the police say a drug addict who was arrested last week. The police have since then refused to divulge the amount of foreign exchange that was robbed. Initial reports however from a senior police official who did not want to be named said, US $ 11,500 and Sterling Pounds- 10,500 was stolen from Wickremesinghe s residence at De Saram Place, Mount Lavinia.
The police last week took a u-turn on the robbery of foreign currency from the house of Wickremesinghe.
Despite the police initially saying that among the items stolen from his home three weeks ago was foreign currency to the value of over Rs. 4 million, police spokesman S. P. Ajith Rohana last week told this newspaper that most of the money stolen from the house was not foreign currency.

Lanka s Economic Journey Will Move Forward With Greater Momentum Nivard Cabraal

Nishantha Wickremesinghe, Chairman SriLankan Airlines admitted that he personally chose a company handling airline in-flight duty free sales to be contracted from April this year to manage and handle duty free in-flight sales on all SriLankan flights. He did so blatantly violating necessary tender procedure given that SriLankan Airlines is a state owned entity.

The Tamil Information Centre (TIC) strongly condemns the brutal attack on Tamil political prisoners in the Vavuniya remand prison today, 29 June 2012, at around 12 noon, by a Sri Lankan Special Military Commando unit and the Special Task Force (STF). The attack has left around 40 prisoners and others injured, some of them critically.

The Vavuniya remand prison had 253 inmates which included political prisoners as well as other prisoners. The attack took place following the seizure of three prison guards by the inmates in an effort to create public awareness about their unreasonable detention and inhumane treatment at the hands of prison guards and officials. Many of the political prisoners are held for long periods without recourse to any legal remedy or access to their relatives or legal representatives.

According to eye witness reports received by the TIC, more than 500 Special Military Commandos, STF members and policemen entered the prison at noon and after firing tear gas, mercilessly attacked the prisoners. The commandos and STF members had their faces covered with black masks. We learn that before entering the prison, some of the attackers went to a shop in the vicinity and obtained some 50 thick wooden hoe handles and used them to beat the prisoners. Loud screams were heard in the surrounding areas. Some of the inmates had been stripped and were seen covered in blood. No information is currently available about the women prisoners and those disabled.

At the time of the attack, all roads surrounding the prison were closed and members of the public were prevented from entering the area. The electricity supply to the prison complex had also been disconnected. A number of ambulances and bulldozers were seen parked near the prison. School children nearby were affected by the tear gas and nine of them fainted on the road.

The Vavuniya remand prison was closed after the attack and all the prisoners were moved to the prison in Anuradhapura. The last report received by the TIC indicates that the injured were admitted to the medical unit within the Anuradhapura military camp. However, government officers in Colombo have denied the attack and some have claimed that there was no injury to any prisoner.

This incident in Vavuniya remand prison has raised fears of further attacks on political prisoners, at a time when demands for the release of political prisoners is gaining strength, and has evoked memories of past massacres of Tamil political prisoners. Many political prisoners have been killed in prison attacks in the past.

The Tamil Information Centre (TIC) strongly condemns the brutal attack on Tamil political prisoners in the Vavuniya remand prison today, 29 June 2012, at around 12 noon, by a Sri Lankan Special Military Commando unit and the Special Task Force (STF). The attack has left around 40 prisoners and others injured, some of them critically.

He did so blatantly violating necessary tender procedure given that SriLankan Airlines is a state owned entity.

Loans taken by govt boosting country s development - President

A lot of people who bring money into the country for different purposes don t declare the monies. People bring cash to invest in a car or buy a land but they have a fear psychosis of declaring the monies because they think that will lead to different connotations,