News/Comment

4th November 2001

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Grenade lobbed into newspaper office

A grenade lobbed into the Upali Newspaper premises yesterday morning was defused by the Bomb squad after being detected by an employee.

The police suspect that the grenade may have been thrown over the wall, which runs parallel to the Divaina editorial, Sunday Island News Editor Suresh Perera said.

"One of the employees had seen it around 8 a.m. and informed the security who in turn alerted the Kotahena police," Mr. Perera said. 

The live grenade, which failed to explode was later defused by the bomb squad. Adjoining the wall from where the grenade is suspected to have been thrown is a rest room used by minor employees. 

The news editor said they were unable to determine the motive behind the attack or the persons involved. 

Recently the PA's Colombo Central candidate Mervyn Silva stormed the Divaina office to protest against a story published in the Divaina. After the incident, the newspaper group has sought police protection, but there has been no positive response.


SPMC a corrupt den, says former boss

State Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation Chairman Nihal Kiriella -who was sacked by Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva on Thursday-has pledged that the setback would not deter him from his quest to provide safe, effective and good quality medical drugs to the people at the lowest possible price.

Mr. Kiriella's removal has plunged the SPMC into something like an epileptic fit amidst signs that a top officer who was interdicted by Mr. Kiriella some months ago on corruption charges might be brought back to the corporation. Mr. Kiriella, a top banker, who was invited by former Health Minister John Seneviratne to take over the SPMC in November last year, said he was sick of the widespread treachery and disgusting frauds in the corporation. 

He told The Sunday Times he believed that his removal was directly linked to his fight to stop corruption by top bureaucrats in the corporation. 

Last week, in the wake of a row over a Rs. 9.3 million tender for the import of raw material required for an epilepsy drug, Mr. Kiriella had been asked to resign by Minister de Silva. But a day later, Mr. Kiriella withdrew his resignation. After a tense standoff for a week, Minister de Silva on Thursday fired out a tough letter to Mr. Kiriella, saying he was being removed from the SPMC with immediate effect. The minister said the removal was linked to charges of improper tender procedures and financial irregularities.

Mr. Kiriella told The Sunday Times there had been an urgent need for the supply of Carbamazepine powder required for the manufacture of a drug to treat epilepsy and they had called for tenders in March this year. The samples were sent to the quality control unit of the SPMC but there was a long delay and finally the unit had disqualified all 11 tenderers and suggested instead that the contract should be given to the former supplier. Mr. Kiriella said that during the past year, he had seen clear evidence that the SPMC had been wracked by a long history of corruption, especially in the quality control unit where some officers were clearly in connivance with dealers. Mr. Kiriella said he had obtained clear evidence of nefarious activities by bureaucrats and it was not an easy task for him to clean the stench and the rot. 

He said the extravagant life style of some SPMC officials also provided evidence of ill-gotten wealth. He said that in the tender in question, the quality control unit had recommended the former supplier whose product would have cost up to half million rupees more than the price quoted by another tenderer. Mr. Kiriella said he and the managing director had in some instances told the quality control unit that samples should be tested without the name tags of suppliers to ensure integrity and fair play. This had been resisted. Mr. Kiriella said he believed that corruption among some elements in the bureaucracy of the state sector was of the worst order and some of those bureaucrats had a devastating influence on politicians. Mr. Kiriella alleged there were occasions when suppliers lavishly entertained SPMC bureaucrats, giving bribes and bonanzas. He claimed there was one instance where at a party for bureaucrats a drunken supplier had bragged that even the chairman or the managing director could not stop him from supplying his products to the corporation. Finally, this particular tender was awarded to the lowest bidder but weeks later the chairman was removed.


State property: Abuse goes on

By Shelani de Silva
As violence increases, the Elections Department is also receiving an increasing number of complaints regarding misuse of state property, illegal transfers and related violations of polls laws.

An official of a special unit monitoring these matters said upto 70 complaints had been received by Friday afternoon, while there might have been scores more which are unreported.

The official said they were taking immediate action and had asked the relevant ministry secretaries to withdraw the facilities that were being illegally used. In Gampola district, about ten double cabs belonging to state organisations are allegedly being used for party political work, a watchdog group has reported.


Tenants reject private power

Kollupitiya's Lucky Plaza tenants whose electricity supplies were cut due to alleged irregularities over payments to the CEB, have rejected an offer from the building owner to restore power through a private supplier. The tenants said they would not agree to anything but supplies from the CEB.


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