- President’s relative accused of re-instating official accused of swindling
by Nirmala Kannangara
A gem mining plot
Chairman, National Gem and Jewellery Authority (NGJA) Asanka Welagedara has come under fire for re-instating an employee who had been suspended from service for the alleged misappropriation of NGJA funds running into millions of rupees.
Welagedara is the son-in-law of Mrs. Maithripala Sirisena’s sister and was appointed Chairman by the subject minister President Maithripala Sirisena after the election victory on January 8, 2015. Welagedara is being accused of re-instating the former Regional Manager NGJA, Moneragala M. L. I. M. Ranjith Aruna, who was accused of swindling Gem Authority money from the Tammannawa gem haul in Kataragama in 2012.
Following audits conducted by the internal auditors of NGJA and the Auditor General’s Department in 2013 it was revealed that Ranjith Aruna was directly involved in misappropriation of NGJA funds.
Thilak Iddamalgoda, the then Director General, Presidential Investigation Unit, in a letter to the then Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga, had suggested on January 9, 2014 that Ranjith Aruna’s services should be suspended for misappropriation of funds as the latter had violated government financial regulations.
Ranjith Aruna had allegedly obtained money in a fraudulent manner by submitting forged documents to the NGJA. Meanwhile, in a letter dated January 20, 2014, Saman D. Waduge, Senior Additional Secretary to the then President, had written to the then Secretary, Environment and Renewable Energy Ministry, asking that Ranjith Aruna’s services be suspended with immediate effect pending inquiry.
The Sunday Leader is in possession of all audit reports and the Presidential Investigation Unit reports in relation to the said frauds.
Despite all these accusations, Ranjith Aruna was given a promotion as Deputy Director in 2013 by the then management, raising many eyebrows as to on what basis he was promoted when there were serious allegations levelled against him.
Suspended
However, Deputy Director Ranjith Aruna was suspended from service pending inquiry on May 26, 2014 by the then Director General, NGJA. “During the previous regime an inquiry was conducted by an inquiring officer and the report was submitted to the NGJA after the new government came into power. According to those who have seen the report, of the 12 charges levelled against him, Ranjith Aruna had been found guilty of eight charges,” sources said.
The sources further queried as to why the present Chairman had re-instated the accused and added that this report has not been made available to other senior members at the NGJA and is in the sole custody of the Chairman.
“Chairman Welagedara is now saying that he re-instated Ranjith Aruna as he was not found guilty in the inquiry. When there are audit reports to substantiate that Ranjith Aruna had swindled NGJA funds, Chairman Welagedara is trying to say that Ranjith Aruna is innocent. If the inquiring officer had cleared Ranjith Aruna’s name from all the allegations levelled against him, why cannot the Chairman release the report for the officials’ perusal and why is he keeping it under lock and key,” sources queried. According to NGJA internal circular No: NGJA/ 16-2/ 2008/ ACD of November 18, 2008, the minimum advance that has to be obtained from all bidders at gem land auctions and the entire bidding payments have to be obtained within five working days from the bidding date, failing which the bidder has to pay an additional 0.5% surcharge for the delay. But Ranjith Aruna, who was the Regional Manager, NGJA Moneragala, at the time of the Tammannawa gem land auction, had not followed any of these regulations.
According to the audit reports, of the 49 blocks that were auctioned, Ranjith Aruna as the Regional Manager who overlooked the auction had failed to obtain the minimum advance from 16 plots.
“All 16 are known to Ranjith Aruna which we can prove. In addition he failed to recover the 0.5% surcharge for late payments from certain bidders which is a further loss to the government,” sources claimed.
Further, Ranjith Aruna was accused of obtaining a promissory note from a bidder, which is strictly against Financial Regulation No: 169.
“Although the bidder of plot 21 had to make the full payment by March 2, 2012, submitting a promissory note, the bidder has guaranteed that he would pay the money by March 8. Although he promised to make the payment by cash, he failed to abide by his promise and made the payment by cheque, which too is completely against the Authority rules and regulations. Despite the fact that obtaining a promissory note for a payment is against Financial Regulation No. 169, Ranjith Aruna still accepted a promissory note on the day the final payment had to be made. He was also accused of accepting a third party cheque to the tune of Rs. 2.964 million from the bidder although it was clearly stated in the paper advertisement that cheques would not be accepted.
Although the cheque was obtained 13 days after the auction, the Authority still failed to recover the 0.5% surcharge for late payments, which is questionable. However this cheque was not honoured and bounced on March 13, costing the NGJA a staggering Rs. 2.964 million,” sources said. Meanwhile former Enforcement Officer NGJA, Indunil Muthukumara said that although the full payment has to be made to issue a mining licence, Ranjith Aruna’s approval to allow the bidder to mine for gems on the particular plot by accepting the dated cheque was questionable.
“When the bidder found out that there were no gems in the land, he instructed the bank to stop payments. The former DG and Ranjith Aruna were behind this whole ‘drama’ and we were ready to give evidence at any investigation but our evidence was not heard which is questionable,” Muthukumara said.
According to the audit query, although receipts have to be produced for the money the NGJA has collected from entrance tickets to the gem land and auction hall as per Financial Regulation 168 (1), Ranjith Aruna had not produced any proven documents for government audits.
“It was revealed that the NGJA had not issued entrance tickets although they obtained Rs. 1,000 from each person. According to the audit query, Ranjith Aruna had only shown Rs. 871,000 as collection from entrance tickets but had not submitted any receipts. How could the Auditor General’s Department know as to how many tickets had been sold if there were no supportive documents? Given the facts on how the entire auction was carried out, the entrance ticket fiasco too is dubious,” Muthukumara alleged.
The audit query further questions how the entrance ticket money had been utilised for Tammennawa site work without being deposited in NGJA accounts.
No authority
It further states that on the approval of Director General Nimal Bandara this money had been given to Ranjith Aruna for Thammennawa site work, although the DG had no authority to approve any payments exceeding Rs. 100,000.
According to the audit query, the then Director General together with Ranjith Aruna has paid Rs. 825,400 to a private company to put up a security fence around the gem lands without calling for tenders.
“This was the first time a fence was put up around a gem land in the country. How many lands have we auctioned earlier but have not put up even a barbed wire fence around them? In this instance the DG together with Ranjith Aruna put up a fence out of Amano sheets even though police and army protection was given to the site,” Muthukumara added. The audit query further mentions irregularities in payment vouchers amounting to Rs. 1.26 million to provide infrastructure facilities and food for those who participated in the Tammennawa gem land auction. It further states that they have noted how Rs. 46,900 had been obtained fraudulently by a NGJA official by producing photocopies of payment vouchers settled earlier.
According to the query report, these payments have been made earlier by voucher numbers 5, 36 and 66 to the value of Rs. 8,920, Rs. 21,070 and Rs.16,910 respectively although they have been once again submitted for re-imbursement.
The query report further reveals how the NGJA paid special allowances to the value of Rs. 960,000 for five to 10 officials from February to May. In addition the Authority had spent Rs. 117,900 for transport, food and lodging for the month of May. The audit query further states they have observed six vouchers to the tune of Rs. 1.869 million having been paid although they have not been duly filled on par with Financial Regulations No:225 (1) and 245 (1).
The report further states it had discovered that signatures in bills submitted to the Authority were all fakes. Amongst the bogus bills, a payment has been made to a hotel in Sellakataragama to purchase food for Gem Authority staff who were on duty at the gem land. However the owner of this hotel had told the Presidential Investigation Officers that he had supplied food to Gem Authority officers for 15 days to the value of Rs. 300,000. But Ranjith Aruna has allegedly submitted bills to the value of Rs. 800,000. It further states that on February 24, 2012 Ranjith Aruna had produced bills to the value of Rs.1,100,000 from Gangasiri Hotel in Kataragama to obtain food and soft drinks. He had further produced yet another bill to the value of Rs. 32,000 from the same hotel. However owners of this hotel claim that those were counterfeit bills.
Bogus bill
Meanwhile it has also been revealed during the investigation process how Ranjith Aruna had produced yet another bogus bill to the value of Rs. 347,463. The investigation team has further unearthed details of how Ranjith Aruna had obtained blank bills from Nishadhi Hotel in New Town, Kataragama and produced them to the NGJA to the value of Rs. 38, 610 and Rs. 21,050. The owner of this hotel, during the investigation process, had admitted that a NGJA employee had once obtained blank bills from them.
After assuming duties once again as Deputy Director, Moneragala, Ranjith Aruna is accused of allowing a trader in Passara to backhoe a riverbank for gem mining.
“When this was reported, two enforcement officers had gone to the scene and taken the backhoe to the Buttala police and wanted the NGJA to impose the fine of Rs. 333,000 on the trader. However, as this trader was a friend of Ranjith Aruna, Chairman Welagedara had fined him only Rs.150,000 which is a loss to the Gem Authority. When this trader had given an affidavit that he could pay only Rs. 175,000, what made Chairman Welagedara fine him only Rs.150, 000,” Muthukumara asked.
Chairman NGJA is further accused of not fining a gem miner at Bogawanthalawa recently for mining illegally at an environmental sensitive area along the Bagavana Oya.
“This gem miner is said to be a relative of a NGJA higher official and although he has used backhoes and sucking machines in this environment sensitive area and had caused damage to the environment, the Gem Authority had paid Rs. 750, 000 to rectify the damage caused without fining the gem miner.”
When asked why an employee who was suspended in 2014 was re-instated to the same post, Chairman NGJA, Asanka Welagedara said that Ranjith Aruna was not found guilty of any charges levelled against him and that was why he was re-instated. When told that the government audit report, the NGJA internal audit report and even the Presidential Investigation Unit report clearly shows that Ranjith Aruna has misappropriated public funds, Welagedara said that there are no such reports against Aruna.
“What you have is all ‘kelaa paththara’. If you have any official documents, produce it to me. Ranjith Aruna’s name was cleared at the inquiry. There is nothing wrong in re-instating him to the same post,” Welagedara said.
When contacted, Ranjith Aruna declined to give any comment claiming that he was not allowed to talk to the media. “I asked the Chairman whether I could give a comment but he wanted me not to,” Aruna said.