23 October 2018

FCID: Farcical and Futile



Those who remember the late eighties would know what kinds of emotions were stirred by certain names. Black Cats, Yellow Cats, PRRA, Ukussa etc referred to vigilante groups that had the full support of the then Government. They would make ‘white vans’ seem like ‘dinky toys’.  

Memories are short though. There are also those who did not experience that time or are ignorant of it or else have convinced themselves that none of it happened. So ‘FCID’ when it entered the political lexicon had grim overtones. At the beginning it was feared or at least treated with mild anxiety or suspicion. In time, it was a joke. 

‘I’ve been summoned by the FCID,’ people said with concern. That was at the beginning. Later they would say the same words but with a wide grin and even a few guffaws. 

All things considered, however, it is no laughing matter. 

FCID stands for ‘Financial Crimes Investigation Division’.  The division was established under Article 55 (Chapter 53) of the Police Ordinance by the Minister of Public Order and Christian Affairs John Amaratunga on the 26th of February 2015 under the instructions from the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and it is headed by the DIG Ravi Waidyalankara.

The FCID is directly accountable for carrying out investigations throughout the island into serious financial fraud, misuse of state assets or funds, cases of a nature that require intellectual skills and complex detection. The FCID has as a matter of routine focused in the main on matters referred to it by the Anti-Corruption Committee, a Cabinet Sub-Committee headed by the Prime Minister, which was setup as per a decision taken by the Cabinet.

The FCID has, over the past three and a half years questioned over 950 businessmen and around 2000 public officers regarding various complaints.  They include the heads of top business enterprises in the country and high ranking public servants, the latter for the most part operating in a culture where they are required on pain of punishment to do the bidding of politicians. 

Among those who have been hauled to the FCID are the following: Susantha Ratnayake, Harry Jayawardena, Dhammika Perera, Sumal Perera, Nimal Perera, Hans Wijesuriya, Dilith Jayaweera, Varuni Fernando, Ishara Nanayakkara, Thiru Nadesan and W.K.H. Wegapitiya. The three with the name ‘Perera’ were in fact referred to by Sri Lanka’s ‘gentlemanly’ Prime Minister (no less!) in Parliament (no less!) as the three ‘perethayas’.

The ‘crimes’ are all associated, naturally, with various deals with key members of the previous regime. This government, given its ideological bent, understands the term ‘ease of business’ one presumes. We know that business persons regularly support political campaigns of more than one political party/coalition. In other words they purchase those in power as well as those who are not. They cover bases. We don’t have robust laws about disclosure when it comes to these things. Some parties, the United National Party included, do not as a rule make public accounts pertaining to election campaigns.  And we know that ‘ease of business’ is actually ‘business as usual’ for even the US Embassy, which has openly acknowledged supporting political campaigns.  

It’s more than that of course. The Securities Exchange Commission has been required to shared information with the FCID. Many retailers who have invested in the stock market have had their names dragged into this circus. What this does for investment we really don’t have to elaborate. 

These things can be fixed of course, but as of today they remain unfixed. Full investigation would be good because the public would know who gave how much to whom. Then we know why contracts, for instance, are awarded to certain parties and not others.  

The former President’s Secretary, the former Governor of the Central Bank, the former Prime Minister’s Secretary, secretaries of almost all ministries are among those who have been hauled to the FCID.  We already mentioned the circumstances in which public servants have been made culpable to alleged offenses.  We also know that fear of the Establishments Code is less ominous than the fear of political bosses. There are rare public servants who would stand firm regardless of punishment for doing so. They are punished in numerous ways, this too we know. The vast majority are docile, mainly for lack of choices. Not a good situation, but it is what we have. 

What has this done, though? It has crippled businesses and it has turned an already compromised public service into an impotent creature. Things do not move now. Period. 

Things need to be fixed. The government also had to fulfill an election promise to bring to book all wrongdoers. It is understandable that they needed to move on this fast to please the voters. The setting up of an outfit like the FCID, one can argue, was a political necessity. However, it implies that the existing structures of justice are inadequate in some way. As such, it is logical to expect the government to correct systemic flaws. That was not done.

Instead, the FCID, ab initio, was an entity made to harass political opponents. It focuses only on wrongdoings, so perceived, of the previous regime. It has been blind to the ‘wrongdoers’ who crossed over to the government. Chandrika Kumaratunga, who flanked Maithripala Sirisena along with Rajitha Senaratne, when Sirisena announced he would run against Mahinda Rajapaksa, stated clearly that Sirisena was the only ‘clean’ individual in the then government. Why then weren’t all those other ‘dirty’ people investigated for their ‘dirty-work’. Why hasn’t the FCID moved on Arjuna Mahendran, the former Governor of the Central Bank and each and every individual implicated in the Bond Scam including Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe?  What is the reason for the selectivity? Moreover the FCID takes cue from a committee that is headed by the leader of a political party. Should we even bother, then, to question intent? 

It was and is a farce. It came to a point where media institutions were virtually using an easy template for reporting: So-and-so summoned by FCID, so-and-so arrives at FCID, so-and-so questioned for so many hours by FCID, so-and-so leaves FCID after being questioned. Easy. 

When we look at who is being targeted, it is clear that the entire process is about vendetta and about crippling potential opposition.  Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a possible presidential candidate, went to court (SCFR 163/2015, SCFR 182/2015)  as did others, challenging the legality of the FCID.  Court has granted leave to proceed and this has stayed possible prosecution.  In the case of others, such as Basil Rajapaksa, the government (obviously) circumvented this obstacle by using the Magistrate Court.  Things, then, aren’t really happening and the happening things are blemished by political agendas that have little to do with truth and justice. 

It must be noted that IGP Pujitha Jayasundera, admittedly a man with a cloud over him, has accused the FCID boss, Senior DIG Ravi Waidyalankara of taking money from some of the richer individuals among those accused (in Singapore). These charges need to be investigated too. It is a financial crime that is alleged after all. Waidyalankara needs to clear his name, one would think, and therefore should step down and demand that the charges leveled against him by his own boss be investigated. 

In the end, there’s no evidence (so far) of money-laundering. There are allegations. It would be legitimate to presume that the hanky-panky happened because those who played that game knew the rules and knew the loopholes. They did it legally. All the more reason for plugging the holes, but that is not what the FCID does and that seems to be the last thing on the minds of those who set up the FCID in the first place.

Where does this leave Sri Lanka? To put it in a nutshell, the entire farce has made for a jittery business community, an immobile public service and essentially put the economy on reverse gear.  The garments of good-intention has dropped. The nudity of political agenda is now apparent. The yahapalanists are not interested in yahapalanaya. They are not interested in fixing things. The culture that the entire process associated with FCID has created will not disappear with a change of government. There is nothing to stop a future government from using the mechanism for the same reasons (political expediency). Indeed, even if the FCID and such outfits were scrapped and the justice system revamped, the culture of fear (among public servants) will not disappear overnight.  

A businessman who was interrogated by the FCID had an interesting story to relate, a story which captures the entire farce very well.

‘I wasted many hours there. At the end of it all, they thanked me for coming. I told them, “don’t say ‘thank you,’ for you should really say ‘we are sorry!’”

The government has wronged the entire country with this farcical institution and its farcical and vindictive operations. Saying ‘sorry’ to everyone, including those who actually believed that this regime would deliver good governance, will not help.  It’s too late for ‘sorry’ for the sorry state of affairs that this regime has brought about.

0 comments: