MP Tables Report In Parliament

Army Media Spokesperson Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera and UNP MP Buddhika Pathirana

by Ashanthi Warunasuriya- Wednesday, November 18,

2015
According to investigation reports, the Colonel who has been accused of sexual abuses
serves at the 55th regiment. Reports show that in certain instances the husbands of the
women subjected to sexual abuses knew what was going on. Furthermore, it is on the
grapevine that several female officers had also been subjected to sexual abuse by this
officer.
Investigations have further revealed that the officer on one occasion had summoned a
female Lance Corporal attached to the dancing group of the military police and had
allegedly made inappropriate sexual advances.
However, the incident was not recorded. The same female officer had been working at
the special investigations division, and once this officer had refused to grant her a
short leave to attend to her mother who had been hospitalised at the time. Later on,
when she was finally granted leave, the officer has recorded that she was absent
without getting approval from her superiors.
This Colonel had also induced another wife of a fellow officer to engage in sexual
activities with him and had allegedly recruited her as his office maid. In return, he had
allegedly provided this female Lance Corporal with transport facilities even for her
personal matters as well.

Investigations have further revealed that the Lance Corporal had been employed as an
office assistant when the accused officer had been working as the commanding officer
at the Giritale Army camp.
Once, interestingly enough, a separate Corporal had been appointed to take care of
that particular female officers needs. According to inside sources, in many occasions,
fuel had been obtained from the Army Supplies and used for this officers personal
voyages and recorded that the fuel was pumped to the vehicles that were deployed in
capturing deserters. Apart from these allegations, the Colonel had also been accused
of inducing the wife of an Army Major, who is a school teacher, to engage in adultery,
allegedly after overly intoxicating her husband.
As things starts to unfold, it has been further revealed that the Colonel had also
deposited Rs. 1.5 million at the Seylan Bank, Matara, in an account of the female Lance
Corporal. The above incident had been proved with several photocopies of her account
statements and her written submissions. It has also been revealed that during the
interviews, this Colonel had allegedly given prominence to candidates who would
submit to his needs not considering their academic and other qualifications.
Investigations have uncovered that he had specifically focused on recruiting attractive
female candidates from vulnerable backgrounds.
It is also alleged that the previous head of the Military Police had disciplinary charges
filed against him as well. When he was serving at the Jaffna Defense HQ, he had
allegedly misused funds allocated for soldiers rations.
However, after being exposed, he had been removed from his position and had been
placed at a junior position. Further, using an Army lorry, he had allegedly transported
a cow for his wifes religious rituals. He had also allegedly maintained two
unauthorized savings accounts for deposits of interest from his fixed deposits of the
Army. The officer had failed to declare the way he got over Rs. 1 million in his account
because of lack of auditing in the force. According to the sources, the Colonel is on the
verge of being promoted to the rank of Brigadier. But no action has been taken against
this officer even after the revelations made by the investigations into his affairs. The
Colonel had reportedly supported one of the female officers and engaged in adultery
with her by recommending her for a job providing her with a certificate claiming that
she had held a similar position in the Army, at the National Youth Corps as a drill
instructor after her retirement from military service. Some time back, the incident
where an unmarried female Military Police Officer getting pregnant by yet another
officer at the military police became a popular topic. The accusation was made against
an Army Major, who was reportedly a henchman of the then head of Military Police. At
the end, the Armys response to the incident was confined only to the removal of the
major from his position and the transfer of the Colonel involved in the incident.
Among other allegations, it has also been revealed that several corrupt officers in the
Military police had fraudulently embezzled the money and jewelry that soldiers had
recovered during the war time in the north and had allegedly purchased lands. In one

instance, the wife of one army officer had allegedly handed over Rs. 4.9 million to
these officers.
Furthermore, several officers had allegedly obtained loans neglecting the guidelines
issued by the Army headquarters. Once, one officer had allegedly obtained a loan by
putting up a fixed deposit under the Army as collateral for the loan. On a similar note,
the sale of an unauthorized DVD on a particular regiment had also been directed to the
authorities attention. Apart from these allegations, various instances of collecting
money from private institutions and personnel for various activities had been observed
by the audit inquiries. These allegations have been proved with adequate evidence.
According to military regulations, collecting funds from outside institutions and
individuals without prior authorization of the Army Headquarters is strictly
prohibited. However, no written permission had been issued by the Army HQ to the
officers to collect money from the regiment headquarters or from commanding officers
of the particular divisions. But, the reports show these facts of wrongdoings in detail.
It had also been observed that the report had been allegedly approved by the
commanding officer of the Special Inquiries Division. However, these findings had
been allegedly confirmed by the Acting Internal Audit Director for further action
stamping his signature on the report.
The victims of these numerous allegations reportedly have lodged complaints at the
Bribery Commission. In the near future, more of similar misdeeds of the Military
Police high level personnel would be brought to light, it is believed.
Nothing done so far against the culprits - Buddhika
UNP MP Buddhika Pathirana heavily criticizing these misdeeds in
parliament said, These misdeeds were probed before. But nothing has been
done so far against the culprits. The Colonel who had been accused of
soliciting and engaging in sexual abuses is about to be promoted to the rank
of brigadier. When we exposed the misdeeds that had taken place with the
Army food tender, we were accused of insulting the military. But, due to our
efforts to expose these frauds and corruptions, the Army has saved a lot of
money. The money so saved can be used for welfare activities of disabled
soldiers and the families of war heroes. However, the alleged corrupt officers
are still in active service. The officer who had allegedly solicited sexual bribes
has also committed financial frauds. We hope that the present Head of the
Military Police Brigadier Gamini Sirisena would hold an inquiry into this
matter. We would like to know why no steps have been taken regarding the
reports on these incidents that have already been submitted to the relevant
superiors of the military police.
All these misdeeds were done during the previous regime. When we talk
about these allegations, we are sent before the CID. The Rajapaksa

government had engaged in massive fraud and corruption according to their

own whims and fancies. Today we have been accused of protecting these
thieves. We have only exposed some of these wrongdoings and here we do
not intend to insult anyone. We intend to send the Hansard report to the
Defence Ministry and to request the Defence Secretary to appoint an
independent committee to inquire into these allegations.

Request more details Army Media Spokesperson

Army Media Spokesperson Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera says all these
incidents must be probed and the Army should take legal action against all
wrongdoers.
He also requested for more details to provide answers after looking into the
legal aspect of these incidents.
Posted by Thavam