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Helping
Hambantota probe: UNP furnishes more details Mr. Hahseem told The Sunday Times he provided details on 18 transactions which included the withdrawal of Rs. 1.5 million by Willie Gamage, a “Desk Officer’ of the Helping Hambantota fund. According to the document, from January 18 to July 1, Rs. 22,110,349 had been withdrawn from the account, by means of cheque withdrawals and for the exchange of foreign currency. Mr. Hashim has charged in his complaint that the Prime Minister had committed criminal breach of trust, as Rs. 82.9 million which was received by the Government as tsunami aid had been credited to a private account at the Standard Charted Bank’s Rajagiriya branch. The UNP charged that the Prime Minister, who was put in charge of post-tsunami relief operations on December 26 last year, as President Chandrika Kumaratunga was not in Sri Lanka, had channelled tsunami donations into a separate private account to rebuild Hambantota district which the premier represents in Parliament. The MP alleged that he was not empowered to divert funds to his district alone and maintain a special fund in a private bank account-handled by hand-picked confidants, including his relatives and persons who were not accountable to the state. Although Prime Minister Rajapakse told Parliament last month that he had received the approval from the Cabinet on February 2, the Cabinet Paper on the matter merely indicates that the Premier had only “informed” the Cabinet of such an account.Earlier in an interview with The Sunday Times, the Premier said he had appointed eminent personnel such as Hatton National Bank Chairman Rienzie Wijetillake, to monitor the account. |
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