- Conflicting state of affairs brings to question the authority of the MoD over the tri forces
by Camelia Nathaniel
CCTV Image of the motorcyclists
In a statement given to the Galle Magistrate’s Court with regard to the ship MV Avant Garde that was taken into naval custody on October 6, 2015, the Galle Harbour Police OIC has said that a complaint had been lodged with them by Deputy Naval Commander, Southern Naval Base Nilantha Heenetigala.
The police told court that while the Avant Garde was being given naval protection, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had written to Navy Headquarters on October 6, 2015 instructing the Navy to provide the necessary facilities for the ship to enter the Galle harbour. A copy of this letter had also been sent to the Southern Naval Base. However in his statement to police the Deputy Southern Naval Base Commander had stated that he had not accepted the letter sent by the MoD instructing the Navy to provide the necessary facilities for Avant Garde to enter the Galle harbour.
According to defence command hierarchy, the MoD is the decision-making and commanding authority for the tri forces and instructions or directions issued by the MoD should be carried out by the tri forces.
The Navy initially claimed that on the October 5, 2015, on the instructions received from the Navy Headquarters, the Southern Naval Command had initiated investigations on the Avant Garde, IMO 8107036. The Navy had then stated that this ship had entered Sri Lankan territorial waters and was attempting to enter the Galle harbour secretly without having notified the port resident manager or the Navy. In his statement to police, Heenatigala had also claimed that while the Navy then attempted to contact the ship through naval communications, the Avant Garde had switched off all radio communication devices.
Speaking to The Sunday Leader regarding this issue, Chairman of Avant Garde Maritime Services, Nissanka Senadhipathy said, “After the court proceedings and the B reports had been called we got the Navy complaint regarding the arrest of MV Avant Garde. They (Deputy Commander Heenatigala) very clearly stated that they had received the letter from the MoD on October 6, 2015 around 9.30. The ship was taken into custody at 9.20 on the same day. In that they clearly state that the ship was taken into custody in international waters. They said they received the letter and they also mentioned the contents of the letter and it is written in the courts. They clearly stated that although the Navy had received the letter from the MoD they could not accept that letter. It is a ridiculous situation when a letter written by the Ministry of Defence is not accepted by the Navy.”
Senadhipathy stated that this conflicting state of affairs brings to question the authority of the MoD over the tri forces.
“We now have a doubt as to whether the Navy commands the MoD or the MoD commands the Navy. It is an insult to the government for letting down the higher order of command that shows how ignorant and stupid the Navy is. Moreover it’s a terrible situation when it is such a low-level command in the Navy such as the Southern Naval command refusing the MoD’s directive to unload and hand over the weapons to Rakna Lanka which belongs to the state.” “In the same court proceedings it says that when the Navy had given a statement to the police the Chairman of Rakna Araksha Lanka Limited, Victor Samaraweera had given a statement claiming that these were their weapons and they were the ones who made the request to the MoD and that these weapons should be released. Then the MoD Additional Secretary Saman Dissanayake said that the MoD had issued the letter because Rakna Lanka had sent the MoD a letter on time but they were a little late to grant the authority and since its government owned weapons they had released it, Senadhipathy said.
This floating armoury has been in operation for over two and a half years with the knowledge of Rakna Lanka and the MoD and Sri Lanka Director General of Merchant Shipping. Therefore it raises concern as to how the Navy suddenly concluded that this operation was illegal when the MoD had in writing informed the Navy of the arrival of this vessel 14 days earlier.
The Galle Floating Armoury is just one part of the maritime operations of Avant Garde Maritime Services (Pvt)(AGMS) Limited. Apart from the floating armoury there are about 10 other maritime operations carried out by AGMS, namely, air transportation of weapons, maintaining land based armouries, hiring of sea armed and unarmed marshals, hiring of RALL arms with custodians, commercial vessel operations, fishing trawler operations, firing training for foreign sea marshals, conducting of maritime security officer courses, training local sea marshals etc.
However after the ship was seized, the government analyst had examined the weapons on board and stated that having examined all the weapons it was concluded that these were in fact government owned weapons. “Now what has happened is that the Navy has put their foot in their mouth and having spoken too prematurely, they are in an embarrassing situation. How can the Navy say that they cannot accept the MoD directive? We will see all this in court and Heenatigala has to be responsible on behalf of the Navy Commander for not accepting the orders of the Ministry of Defence,” said Senadhipathy.
The Navy had also earlier stated that the Avant Garde vessel had entered Sri Lankan territorial waters illegally. However according to Senadhipathy, the four officers of the Navy who gave evidence to the police had accepted that when they went to sea to inspect the Avant Garde, it was in the international waters. “Hence the Navy also has lied saying that the weapons ship was in Sri Lankan waters. So this is a very serious mistake which was misleading, misguiding and giving wrong information to the MoD and because of two politicians on a personal vendetta they have let down the MoD. This is a very serious mistake and we will say all this in court,” he added. Subsequent to the incident two unidentified suspicious individuals had been loitering about the office of Senadhipathy on a motorbike. These two suspects who were wearing full-face helmets had subsequently been going around his house on the same motorbike. When Senadhipathy made a complaint to the police regarding the suspicious activities of these two persons which was also recorded on his CCTV cameras, subsequent investigations by the police revealed that the motorbike had been registered with the Registrar of Motor Vehicles Department (RMV) under the name of the Navy Commander.
“I have also lodged a complaint with the Mirihana Police that the Navy had sent two persons on a motorbike to my house. At first I did not know who they were. However when I went to the Mirihana Police and lodged a complaint on December 31, they immediately checked and said that it was the naval intelligence.
I don’t know if they had sent these mercenaries to kill me. The Navy Commander has no authority to send such people. I had my bodyguards and luckily they had not done anything to these people. They had sent them back.”
“This matter was not investigated by the police and now it’s up to them to give reasons as to why this was not investigated. This sort of thing should not be happening in this country now. A man like me can get away as I have my own protection but what will happen to someone who cannot defend themselves? This proves what the Navy is capable of. But I don’t blame the whole Navy but just a group of persons within the Navy such as the insane Commander responsible for this type of actions, said Senadhipathy.
When The Sunday Leader contacted the Mirihana Police regarding the progress of the investigations carried out subsequent to the complaint lodged by Senadhipathy, an officer on condition of anonymity said that the CCTV footage was not very clear and that they could not run a thorough check on the number plate of the motorbike.
But Senadhipathy claimed that his security had recorded the number plate of the motorbike in question in their daily security log book and was handed over to the Mirihana Police.
The number as stated in the log book is WP BAG 6093. The police had then checked the number and found that the motorbike belonged to the Navy. However they stated that investigations are still underway.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Leader also contacted Defence Secretary, Karunasena Hettiarachchi regarding the issue, but he stated that he was not aware of the directive of the MoD to the Navy at the time.
However, he said that if the MoD had instructed the Navy to carry out a certain task, then the Navy is bound to follow the orders of the MoD and has no authority to refuse such directives.
The Navy Spokesperson was not available for comment.