(Lanka-e-News - 17.Dec.2017, 11.45PM) The ‘Selacine Institute’ belonging to the media ministry of Mangala Samaraweera has now transformed into a corruption and fraud den from all angles. It is a matter for deep regret that while the monumental corruption and frauds during the era of deposed and discarded Rajapakses, are still being investigated this racket of the present media minister has surfaced.
It is a close friend of Ruwan Ferdinands , the media secretary to the media minister , by the name of Shantha Bandara Jayawardena who was appointed as the chairman of ‘Selacine’ . Though Selacine is doing the commercial advertisements of the government , still even the name of the chairman has not been made known via the website of the ministry , which is a clear index of the inefficiency and ineptitude of Selacine. Even at the time of writing this article , it is Thusitha Jayawardena the name of the previous chairman which is appearing .
Shantha Bandara who was appointed as the chairman of Selacine after Mangala became the media minister was the notorious culprit who provided the ‘dummy’ of Maithripala to Rajapakses during the last presidential elections. The minister might not be aware of this , but his secretary Ferdinands cannot deny knowledge of that. Shantha Bandara is such a double faced ,double tongued, ‘double dealer’. However , since Mangala and Shantha are cast in the same mould , and have the same double faced traits those traitorous activities are a matter of routine for them.
We deem it is our duty in the interests of the public to reveal some of the countless past villainies and sordid activities of Shantha Bandara …
He was one who had to step down from the post of Director, Sirasa Television channel because he was incompetent and an utter ‘failure’. After being relegated to the business division , as usual he flourished on his private sly activities. After launching a program ‘Adha Kaale business” and conducting live interviews with high profile business magnates , created opportunities for himself to jointly do private business with them . When his wheeler dealer deals and illicit earnings came to light , he was expelled from Sirasa.
This corrupt turncoat who moved very closely with Mahinda Rajapakse , along with Harin Gunawardena who initiated the ‘Always breakdown ‘ program , commenced another similar program on the ITN. Through that program he insulted and humiliated Ranil and Mangala of the opposition at that time , making them the butt of his jokes while also trying to show that the opposition was splitting up. He collected a cool Rs. 500,000.00 per month for that .
Being a wheeler dealer with a crooked mind he joined hands with Ruwan Ferdinands for clandestine reasons so that he can make another fast buck if the UNP came to power. Actress Nadeesha Hemamali was introduced to politics by Ruwan. It was Shantha who performed the role of a pimp for Ruwan. During that period , it was this scoundrel who provided many other facilities including transport, apart from supplying women to Ruwan.
Shantha the lickspittle who is skilled in snobbery and bootlicking , through Ruwan got himself introduced to the UNP bigwigs , secured the advertising rights of several good governance Government Lotteries Institutions after inaugurating an advertising Firm. Meanwhile making use of the connections he had with Mahinda’s government , through Shiral Lakthileke the NGO crook cum brief-less lawyer and Dayasiri Jayasekera, he was also able to obtain the SLFP faction advertisements.
Shantha became the editor of the tabloid part of the Sathhanda newspaper of Ruwan , and with the introduction of new tele-drama actresses thereby , he disgraced the newspaper profession and made that a pimp’s profession.
After making arrangements to interview ministers for the Sathhanda newspaper , used that as an opportunity to obtain a job in an advertising Co.
One of the many rascally ‘crimes’ he committed was , supplying the dummy of Sirisena to Mahinda Rajapakse to enable him to cast the vote .Though Ruwan knew it , that incident was kept hidden from Mangala.
In any event , Shantha Bandara knew nothing about advertising or publicity . Being a lickspittle and lackey by birth he knew only plain bootlicking and arselicking . If Mangala Samaraweera had any idea about ethics and etiquette he would never have appointed such a scoundrel as a chief of a State advertising Institution , while he is already the owner of a private advertising establishment . This is not only unlawful but also because of the conflict of interests created by such an appointment . Much worse , Mangala has now gone further and taken the initiative to make Selecine a private Institution.
No sooner Shantha took over duties as Selacine chairman than five advertising accounts that were handled by Selacine were transferred to Mangala’s sister . This was corruption through and through. Earlier on , when Selacine took a decision regarding a television advertisement payment ,its chairman saying ‘ we want quality badu (things)’ gave it to an outsider through a coordinator for actors and actresses (quality ‘badu’ in chairman’s thesaurus) making huge disbursements .When this corruption was questioned from the Chairman , he gave the above answer.
Although the previous chairpersons , took action to get the Lottery notices and advertisements to Selacine, now the advertisements of the 5 Lotteries including Development Lottery , Jayodha , Laksapathi and Super Ball had been given to ‘Bates Ads’ , a company belonging to Jayanthi Chandani Gunawardena , the own sister by birth of minister Mangala . By transferring these advertisements of the five lotteries to Minister’s sister , Shantha the shameless sycophant cum lickspittle somehow ingratiated himself into the favor of Mangala .
The Selacine which has made it a habit to obtain the signatures of artistes on blank receipts has been converted into a daily money earning machine. It is the policy of the chairman to pamper the favorites who helped him to create the crooked background , with the result he has opened the gateway wide for massive corruption .
For instance when an advertisement of the Finance Ministry is being produced , payments are arranged to be made to outside Institutions. Yet , part of the 15 % commission from the scheduling had not been paid to the outside advertising establishment as their commission. Yet the new chairman while saying it is his ‘new idea’ , is paying scheduling monies in millions to the outside sources.
This amount in full or part being received by the chairman from those sources is obvious and cannot be precluded . For example , from a single advertisement schedule of Rs. Ten million , Selacine gets Rs. 1.5 million. 5 % of that amount is being channeled out..
It is therefore the duty of the minister having the prefix ’honorable’ to explain to the people who elected him as their representative , why he is silent as a grave when the Lotteries advertisements which were with Selacine are being transferred to his sister , and Selacine commissions are being channeled to the outside?
Undoubtedly these corrupt individuals through the subterfuge of converting the Selacine Institution under them into a private establishment , are paving the way for bigger frauds, and such rackets will be inevitable when that happens.
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by (2017-12-17 23:54:07)
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