The company which had the rights of functioning as general sales agents for AirLanka has been sold to a West-Asian based firm with the controversial Thondaman family still holding some shares, sources said.
According to these sources, the Thondaman family, which had the AirLanka's GSA rights in Madras, has settled the money it owed the national carrier only after the sale of the company.
The sources said some Rs. 45 million had been paid after the sale, though AirLanka officials had been claiming that the Thondamans were settling the debt in installments.
Minister S. Thondaman and his grandson Arumugam Thondaman, are still reported to be playing a major role although they retain only a minor share in the GSA.
'The Sunday Times' on November 6, 1994, exclusively reported that the Thondaman family in the capacity of GSA in Madras operated Trans Lanka Air Travels, and owed AirLanka a staggering Rs. 45 million.
The Thondaman family were given special privileges not enjoyed by any other agents of the national carrier it is alleged from the time of the appointment had been given in 1990, the monthly dues owed to the parent company had not been paid.
The AirLanka former Chairman, Sepala Attygalle, in November, 1994 claimed that the Thondaman family had paid Rs. 34 million in installments and still owed Rs. 11 million. He had also claimed that a Rs. 3 million Cheque of Arumugam Thondaman which he had paid towards settling the balance 11 million rupees had bounced. He also said that all credit to the Thondaman family had been suspended and monies were being collected from tickets on a daily basis by IATA agents.
By Shelani de Silva
EPDP leader Douglas Devananda has requested President Chandrika Kumaratunga to include Members of Parliament to the proposed Interim Council to be set up in the North, to fill up the political vacuum.
He urged the President to form the Council with Members of Parliament as it would be of service to the people in the North. At present only the EPDP, PLOTE and SLMC are in favour of having MPs in the Council. Other Tamil political parties have strongly protested saying that the Interim Council should be free of politics.
Mr. Devananda has already met the President and discussed about the proposed Interim Council. However Mr. Devananda told The Sunday Times that at least two MPs from the political parties should be included. "If these people who have access to the civilians. "The aim of the Interim Council is to form a political administration, so without any politicians in the council there would be no purpose in forming such a body," he said.
According to Mr. Devananda at present there is no political directive in the North. "It is because of this that the government should form such a Council. The people in the North have suffered a lot they no longer need administrators. It is the politician who can help them," he said.
Meanwhile the SLMC also has insisted that the proposed Interim Council should include MPs in proportion to representation they have in the North and East.
Horror stories have begun to emerge of how Sri Lankan migrant workers fleeing harsh working conditions in Lebanon, suffered at the hands of the Sri Lankan Consulate in Beirut.
When Sri Lankan workers, mainly housemaids came for help, large sums of money running into US $1,300 were extorted, for travel documents and return passage. There are also allegations that some girls were beaten and raped by a particular officer at the consulate.
These relief workers themselves are allegedly threatened by the Consul's henchmen warning them not to interefere in the activities of the agents. They say he runs several agencies under his relatives names. One relief worker alleges that the Consul's driver (who was a Sri Lankan) came with two armed men and broke down the door of a room where Lakshmi, a Sri Lankan girl was sheltering. He alleges that she was tied and taken away by the driver.
Relief workers say the abuses have been going on for years. Last month the Sri Lankan Consul was sacked from office and the Sri Lankan Consul in Jordan was also sacked following his arrest by Jordanian officials.
One story relates to a girl who came to Lebanon on a two year contract with the promise of salary of US $100. For the whole of the first year however, she was only paid US $ 75. At the end of two years they insisted that she stay for five years. The girl had fled the employers house but had been caught by the driver and brought back.
As told to relief workers she had then been tied to a chair and beaten on the soles of her feet until she fainted. She had been kept tied to the chair for weeks and only released for one hour to go to the toilet.
When she finally reached the Consulate they had demanded US $ 1300 to provide her with a passport as she was without travel documents.
Relief workers say the air ticket costs only around US $ 550.
They say the Consulate charges widely differing fees from different individuals for providing the same travel documents.
One relief worker says he had accompanied three girls to renew their passports on different occasions.
One was asked to pay US $40 another US $30 and the third US $ 100 . He says these are reported cases of those who paid US $200 to renew passports.
He details the case of Rita who was asked to pay US $1250 for a 'Laissez Passer' document. On his advice she had refused to pay the fee and it was then brought down to US $750. Finally , he says he was able to send Rita back to Sri Lanka at the cost of US $590 including the ticket.
Relief workers say passports are sometimes not returned from the Consulate and the Consulate does not give a reciept and unfortunate Sri Lankans are sometimes arrested by the police for lack of travel documents. When Sri Lankan workers die in the country there is no proper procedure to return their belongings home or for relatives to claim the monies earned by the victims.
It is said that out of the 50 odd employment agencies operating only a few are legal. A large number of Sri Lankans are said to have arrived in the country illegitimately and are completely at the mercy of the agents.
Sometimes girls are accused of stealing valuables after they escape and the police then arrest these girls who are charged with theft. Relief workers say employers resort to these tactics to avoid charges of rape or assault.
A relief worker say the Indian Embassy provides passports for a fee of US $ 5 sometimes on the same day. On the other hand the Sri Lankan Consulate may take anything from 45 days to five months to return documents forcing the migrant workers to pay fines for overstaying visas, relief workers alleged.
They say better arrangements are made in the case of migrant workers from the Philippines where the government has specified a minimum salary of US 200 per month. However even here the workers are forced to sign a new contract at the airport where they agree to hand over the first six months salary to the Lebanese agent.
Migrant workers sometimes die under mysterious circumstances where they are said to have 'fallen' from a window, for example. But whether these girls were pushed are unanswered questions. Relief workers alleged that police investigations are superficial.
When girls fall sick and are unable to work the agencies would still try to make them work. The following story is related of Chandrani one of the luckier ones who managed to find help in time.
Her employees had returned her to the employment agency following medical advice with her passports and air ticket to return to Sri Lanka.
However the agency named Al Maha, which the relief workers alleged is involved in some of the worst cases of abuse, had forced her to work at another house. Unable to face the working conditions there, she had run away and had sought shelter from the relief workers. Without mentioning her illness she asked them to find her a place of work so that she could save enough money to return to Sri Lanka as soon as possible.
Though the relief workers found her employment her employer soon brought her back as Chandrani was ill when they had taken her to a doctor. Chandrani's passport was however with the employment agency and they refused to hand it over to the relief workers. Finally they arranged for a meeting with a agency representative who forcibly attempted to drag Chandrani away. Fearing for her life she had then surrendered to the Police accompanied by a relief worker. The Chief of Police had however retrieved her passport on the request of the relief workers, enabling her to return home.
The relief workers say a Sri Lankan national should be appointed to represent the country in Beirut and all Sri Lankan workers should be registered with that office as is done in the case of Philippine workers. They say Sri Lankan workers should be given a copy of the contract in English. They suggest that a fund be created to help those who experience problems in the country to return home, and also that a lawyer be retained on a permanent basis by the Consulate to help migrant workers.
Despite the assurance given by Minister S. Thondaman not to proceed with the no-confidence motion sponsored by his party against the Plantations Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, it has not been officially withdrawn from Parliament as yet.
Mr. Thondaman at a meeting with President Chandrika Kumaratunga last Monday requested her to give an early date to further discuss the CWC's demands. However, the appointment is likely to be slightly delayed until she returns from Japan.
CWC Colombo District MP, R. Yogarajan who confirmed that the motion has not been withdrawn, told 'The Sunday Times', that the CWC however had not asked for a date to debate it. "The motion of no- confidence has not been put in the Order Paper up to now. If we are to proceed with it, a date will have to be decided at the next party leaders' meeting." he said.
"We delay asking for a date because of the President's promise to intervene and settle the issue. The motive behind this motion was not to remove the Plantations Minister because we are not going to get the portfolio nor was it to topple the government because we are not going to form a new government. The sole idea was to win our demands," Mr. Yogarajan added saying that the motion would be kept alive till a decision on the demands was taken.
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