Sri Lanka - The Sunday Leader - 21-02-2010
■Rs. 78 million “campaign donations” found
■Ashoka Tillakaratne released on Rs. 20 million sureties
■General Fonseka’s son-in-law “at large
The Fonseka Phenomenon continues to dominate the public’s attention even if it has slipped a notch or two in the print and electronic media. The sensational news earlier in the week was the “discovery” of a large amount of cash from a safety deposit box. The find included Rs 15 million in Sri Lankan currency as well as US$ 550,000 also in currency together with a small amount of Sterling Pounds. All in all at current rates of exchange the equivalent of Rs 78,819,500 was found within four safety deposit boxes.
The find was made by the CID, who with the appropriate court orders, raided the Sampath Bank Thimbirigasaya Branch. The safety deposit boxes were in the name of Mrs. Ashoka Tillakaratne. Mrs Tillakaratne – whose son Dhanuna, is married to Sarath Fonseka’s daughter, Apsara – had earlier taken out the safety deposit box facility for the express reason of storing this cash.
The latest twist to the Fonseka Phenomenon, had its origin on January 28 when the Cinnamon Lakeside was enjoying an unusual level of security courtesy of the Sri Lanka Army. The level of security was later clarified as being due to an “increased” threat and as a separate search was going on for possible army deserters in the area including the possibility that some deserters maybe within the hotel itself.
In that backdrop, Ashoka Tillakaratne, who was the sole member of the inner nexus of the Fonseka family, not at the hotel, received a call from her daughter in law, Apsara. She was told of the increased army presence outside the hotel and perhaps somewhat panic stricken had also said there was an imminent danger that they may be “raided” and perhaps arrested. Clearly, Apsara Fonseka was not privy to the assurances given by the President to the Chief Monks in Kandy that General Fonseka would not be arrested at the hotel.
Sources close to the Fonseka family, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Apsara had told her mother in law, of the sum of monies in her custody. She had told her that these monies were contributions received in the last few days of the campaign and that she needed it kept safe until those in the party could take on the responsibility for the money.
Mrs. Tillakaratne, had promptly told her that she was uncomfortable having the money in the house but would put it in the bank. With that she drove the short distance to the Sampath Bank where she already had an account. There she was advised that for various reasons it would be best to take out a safety deposit box as opposed to depositing the money into her account. An application for the safety deposit box facility was immediately filled out and the branch closed the doors as usual. A person – described by our source – as a “messenger” came to the bank and handed over a parcel to Mrs. Tillakaratne. She then placed the money in the boxes. However due to the rather large volume, there was a need to have two additional boxes. There is some confusion whether the Bank Manager permitted Mrs Tillakaratne to have all four boxes in her name or whether it was held in another person’s name with operating powers given to Mrs. Tillakaratne.
The Sampath Bank Manager at Thimbirigasaya confirmed that there was no restriction on the number of boxes given to a customer, it was more an “availability” issue rather than anything else.
However all banks ask their customers to sign a declaration that the contents of the boxes – which the bank is not normally privy to – belong to the account holder and is not in the ownership of any third party.
According to our source, Mrs Tillakaratne had placed the parcels into the safety deposit boxes and was unaware that the parcels contained foreign currency notes. It was also said that Sarath Fonseka had no knowledge of these funds and that it was his daughter Apsara who had made the contact and the arrangements with her mother-in-law.
The Tillakaratne family meanwhile claim they are unaware of the whereabouts of Dhanuna Tillakaratne, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued.
The regulations covering the importation of foreign currency falls under the purview of the Exchange Controller. However the Controller, Mr. Chandrawansa was unable to speak to the media. Information collated from other sources indicate that foreign exchange brought into the country must be declared where the value exceeds US$ 15,000 in currency. Thereafter, within a period of 90 days the currency must be deposited at any licensed and authorised institution like for example a bank. In case the individual is leaving the country within the time period of 90 days, any monies declared can be taken out of the country without further permission.
The key here is that at the expiry of 90 days one must not be in possession of the foreign currency imported bar a nominal sum of US$ 2,000. The placing of the currency in a safety deposit box will not meet the requirement of “not in possession of” as the placing of anything inside a bank vault is a private matter and the bank plays no role in the content and will be unable to provide a receipt.
The accepting of foreign currency for goods and services is also regulated. The recipient – for example a shop or a hotel – must be licensed by the Central Bank and strict procedures follow in terms of having to deposit those funds into a bank account. It is an offence under the Exchange Control rules to accept foreign currency without the appropriate license. The penalties can be punitive.
Under the Exchange Control Act, a very select list of organisations are permitted to accept and or change foreign exchange – mostly for the purposes of facilitating tourism in Sri Lanka. Political parties are not included in that list:
By the act of placing the funds in a safety deposit box, a number of issues now arise including the test of whether these funds were received in Sri Lanka within the 90 day exclusion period and taxation issues. The bank would have ordinarily have had to charge debit tax amounting to 0.1% of the value making that a trifling Rs. 78,800. More important are the legal issues surrounding Mrs. Tillakaratne, who it appears has been left holding the proverbial can, having tried to assist her daughter-in-law.
The charges against the Fonseka family have been building momentum and the latest twist – the discovery of foreign currency notes – came at a very opportune moment for the government. There was growing discontentment at the arrest of the retired General with the opposition spin departments going the whole hog and the government media units in disarray.
The most expedient and simple task of saying the same thing failed the government. There were three statements made on the General’s arrest and all three were contradicting each other. It beggars belief that the spokespersons could not work as a team and agree on the exact legal position of the arrest and detention. It appears that all three statements were made in a hurry and lacked a coordinated response giving the opposition ample opportunity to exploit the case.
The CID have also now made a link to Dhanuna Tillakaratne and British Borneo Defense Services. The original company – British Borneo Holdings, is registered in Malta and has issued a statement denying any link to the British Borneo Defence Services company, which is based in Oklahoma, USA.
This leads to further allegations of fraud against Dhanuna Tillakaratne. He appears to have given the impression that British Borneo in Oklahoma was in fact that of the established British Borneo Holdings of Malta who have the necessary expertise under existing Army tender regulations to participate in tenders which the Sri Lanka Army may call from time to time. The specific charge of “passing off” which is an offence in law refers to a company using a similar name to that of an existing company. Another arm of British Borneo Holdings, BBD Australia have also confirmed that they had not engaged in any work in Sri Lanka apart from a presentation made to the Army. It is widely held that Dhanuna Tillakaratne has left Sri Lanka. In an interview with BBC News Apsara Fonseka confirmed that her husband was “at large” and that whilst he had no problem about making a statement, their information was that he would then be arrested and held without bail. Sources close to Mrs Ashoka Tillakaratne, speaking on anonymity said that Mrs Tillakaratne has no knowledge at all about the whereabouts of her son and considered it fortuitous that she had no knowledge, lest she be hounded for that information.
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