Finally we seem to be going somewhere. For all the silence of Sri Lanka’s 4th time round Prime Minister, the Singaporean authorities have confirmed to their counterparts in Sri Lanka that indeed Arjuna Mahendran is resident in Singapore.
First off that does not necessarily follow that Mahendran is in fact physically in Singapore as of now. For all intents and purposes, he may be on the move outside of Singapore but he does run the risk of being detained on the strength of the Interpol Red Alert notice that is in place.
For a man who appears for all intents and purposes not available at his home address, Mahendran’s legal team however have made approaches to Interpol asking that his name be taken off the Red Alert notification on the basis that he is not a wanted man per se but that the Sri Lanka government wants a statement from him. In actual fact though the Fort Magistrates Court have gotten tired of his non-appearance and issued a warrant for his arrest.
Prior to this happening he made a habit of going to Singapore most weekends and he religiously attended the hearings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. He appeared to be making notes and he sat for his comfort at the back of the facility directly in line with the flow of the air conditioner. He wore at times a crumpled suit perhaps to give an inverted thumb up at those who accused him of buying a gold studded jacket. At times he arrived in a Maruti at other times in a large car more befitting his rather large frame. In short, he cultivated an ambiance of expectation that him going to Singapore was routine as was his subsequent return.
All that changed no sooner the Commission announced they were ready to make their report available. He slipped out and thus far has not come back.
The Prime Minister previously springing to the defence of the man he nominated for the Governorship of the Central Bank, has been significantly silent on this matter.
Arjuna Mahendran the fugitive former Governor of the Central Bank is known to have enjoyed the ear of the Prime Minister and of senior officialdom in this country. He was very much part of the establishment and a senior darling of the UNP. He was on the guest list of anyone worth his salt.
What kind of a man is this Arjuna Mahendran- a man who has abandoned his daughter who is around four months expectant, who has abandoned his son in law Arjun Aloysious to the Colombo Remand Prison and who has abandoned his erstwhile master and friend the Prime Minister in his quest to stay out of the Colombo Remand prison himself.
No doubt one can imagine the squalor of the Remand Prison that it must be a far cry away from a home in Ward Place or Flower Road and a lifetime away from Cuscaden Road in Singapore.
But as the saying goes, if you cannot do the time, don’t do the crime.
According to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry Arjuna Mahendran had acted mala fide and had acted in a way that benefitted Perpetual Treasuries. Of this there is no ambiguity. It has demonstrated that even to a layman Mahendran did not act as the Governor ought to have acted.
Their Learned Lordships agreed that Mahendran had a case to answer and ordered him to provide a statement to the authorities. His failure has resulted in him being elevated to the position of wanted by the Police and he is also the subject of an Interpol Red Alert notice.
The bondscam has proved that the power of the media cannot neither be estimated nor taken for granted. Relentless coverage and repeating home truths meant that the public too became cognisant of what appeared to be a complicated transaction.
In fact, it was of little complex value. The public knew only that ‘something was amiss and that the Central Bank had suffered a loss’. In this day and age that in itself was sufficient to throw the UNP into a tailspin whilst Malik and company moved heaven and earth to restore some semblance of sanity for the wider UNP appeal with the public.
The public though are a savvy lot. The times of yore when the public were gullible and followed the baseless and empty promises of politicians is way in the past. The access to information has never been easier and the rise and rise of social media has meant that the public are very much better informed.
For all the public pronouncements of this government that they have acted with probity and transparently on procurement matters, the public is aware that this is nothing but rhetoric. The truth is out there for all to see.
The public fired their first salvo at this government during the last local government elections. Come the next round of elections and the publics’ message will be abundantly clear.
Ranil Wickremesinghe may well be on his way to completing a record for himself – the first time he has completed a full term as prime minister – but his defeat at the next set of parliamentary and presidential polls is academic. It will be a fall from which the mighty will never recover.
