Corrupt-files trip Sarath Fonseka and Wijedasa Rajapaksa

It was obvious from the moment Sarath Fonseka announced he was running for Presidency that he was a humourless and uncouth. That’s OK. We have had worse candidates and anyway politicians are known to be gutter-mouthed. It’s perhaps the occupational disease of all politicians. On the other hand, there are always ‘degrees’ of ‘gutter-mouthedness’ and while the public will go along with some crassness there is certainly a point beyond which it really puts people off.

There’s a further qualification; one expects crudity from some, but expects others to desist. When Mervyn Silva, for example, is Mervyn Silva, people don’t exactly erupt in wild cheering, but they are more forgiving than if someone who aspires to be President does a ‘Mervyn Silva’. So when we watch Mervin being Mervin on youtube for example, we are amused; but when the unsmiling Sarath Fonseka spits venom and borrows Mervyn’s Thesaurus he hurts himself pretty bad.

Fonseka began his campaign ranting against what he called ‘tin pot dictatorship’. That was a third class comment and set the tone for the campaign that followed; mudslinging, baseless allegations and bad-mouthing one and all. Not only did Fonseka hurt himself, he enhanced Mahinda Rajapaksa’s stature in the process.

As I said, it got worse. Fonseka lost it the moment Upul Ilangange revealed to the press damning evidence of gross corruption on the part of Fonseka while he was Army Commander. He let out a string of abuse. His ardent supporters could I suppose take refuge in the illusion that Ilangange was lying, but that name-calling exercise revealed that Fonseka had taken a severe blow in the pit of his stomach. That he had to bite and spit thereafter indicated guilt and if you want to say ‘that’s all conjecture’, go ahead, but remember that ‘kalaveddah’, ‘paaharaya’, ‘eka’, ‘meka’, ‘oo’ and ‘moo’ are not exactly ‘presidential’. Don’t believe me.

Fonseka did not refute Ilangange’s allegations of misconduct on his part. Instead he trapped himself in a further set of lies regarding his son-in-law’s company, arms deals and preferential treatment in awarding tenders. Ilangange’s come back was comprehensive, dispassionate and conclusive.

Fonseka not only abused his position to favour a close relative over more deserving tender applications (thereby facilitating wastage) but was in fact helping an outfit that was engaged in blatant fraud and which had deliberately misled the Army about itself.

Hicorp made the Army believe it was operating through an established Australian company, British Borneo Defence, when it fact it was using the name of that company as a brand (registered in the USA). Danuna Thilakaratne, Fonseka’s son-in-law is now charged with having forged Ilangange’s signature when opening an account in Texas. Danuna has been taken to court over this and has pleaded for time until after January 26, 2010 to respond.

Danuna knew that Fonseka could approve only up to Rs 25 million. The tenders were therefore ‘marked’ just below this amount, usually somewhere between Rs 24.9 million and Rs 25 million.

In many instances Hicorp won tender bids even though there were others who had quoted figures less than one-third the amount that Hicorp quoted. In cases where tenders had to be approved by the Secretary of Defence, it is alleged that Fonseka got inside information about the lowest bid and passed this on to his son-in-law, who would then offer a lower bid. And this is the man who some people believe would rid the country of corruption!

There is a beautiful saying in Sinhala: kata boru kiwwath diva boru kiyanne nehe (even if the mouth lies, the tongue does not). This is not a lie. It is a youtube moment. Fonseka confesses: ‘Mama dooshanayen aeth wenawa’ (I will distance myself from corruption). What is the man implying if not the fact that he is corrupt!

As I said earlier, it is ok for the Mervyns and Ravi Karunanayakes of this country to act like donkeys and bray at will. It is unbecoming but eminently forgivable.

We expect more from someone who aspires to be President and Fonseka has let himself down badly. But then again, that is only for those who harboured illusions about Fonseka being a saint, blameless, an officer and a gentleman etc etc. Fonseka has brayed and his braying didn’t surprise me at all. What did surprise me was what Wijedasa Rajapaksa had to say.

Wijedasa I thought was a decent politician. He lost some stature when he crossed over of course, but still, one never expected him to behave like a Mervin Silva in language and substance.

In a pathetic attempt to cover up for Fonseka, Wijedasa naively repeats what Fonseka says about Hicorp. He shows he doesn’t understand the difference between a company name and a brand name (in this case, British Borneo Defence). Ilangange has stated that his signature was forged; Wijedasa says ‘He is the President and therefore the signature is his’.

I didn’t know Wijedasa was this stupid. The allegation is that Ilangange was unaware that there was a document where his name was inserted as ‘president’. He has obtained the relevant documents and taken those suspected of forging his signature and misusing his name to court.

It looks as though Wijedasa Rajapaksa has caught the lie-bug that has consumed the Opposition and rendered it ineffective against a regime that was by no means perfect.

What a little bit of greed could do to a man; what and what he would do to win a moment’s glory! Ilangange puts him in his place:

So what do we have here? ‘Change’? Change that we want? More of the ‘same’? Small-change? Short-change? I think we can safely say we will be short-changed by Fonseka.

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