SRI LANKA: FOCUS ON FONSEKA FAMILY CONTINUES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000125 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INSB E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2020 TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM PTER EAID MOPS CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: FOCUS ON FONSEKA FAMILY CONTINUES REF: A. COLOMBO 111 ¶B. COLOMBO 108 ¶C. COLOMBO 105 COLOMBO 00000125 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS. REASONS: 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Sarath Fonseka lodged an election petition with the Supreme Court, alleging many violations of elections law and asking the court to overturn Rajapaksa's victory, and declare Fonseka the winner. The government issued an arrest warrant for Fonseka's son-in-law, Danuna Tillakaratne, in connection with his alleged involvement in the Hi-Corp procurement investigation. On February 17, Tillakaratne's mother was arrested for her possible involvement, but she was released that same day on bail. There are conflicting reports on whether Fonseka has access to his choice of doctors while in detention. END SUMMARY. FONSEKA FILES CASE ON ELECTIONS VIOLATIONS -------------- ¶2. (C) On February 17, Sarath Fonseka lodged an election petition with the Supreme Court, alleging a number of elections law violations by President Rajapaksa and several of his top campaign advisors, and calling on the court to nullify Rajapaksa's victory and instead declare Fonseka the winner. The petition cites a rather large number of specific incidents it calls violations of elections law, broken down into several types of incidents including misuse of state property, violent attacks on persons affiliated with the Fonseka campaign, false statements by President Rajapaksa or his closest advisors, and incidents of bribery and threats used to gain more voter support. Interestingly, the petition does not appear to directly address the opposition's previous allegations that there was massive computer fraud in the vote counting stage of the election. There are, however, allegations that opposition representatives were chased out of counting centers by thugs in a number of voting districts before the results could be tallied and transmitted to the Elections Commission office in Colombo. The petition asks that the Supreme Court order a complete recount of all ballots, with opposition representatives present for the entire process. DANUNA TILLAKARATNE AND THE HI-CORP INVESTIGATION -------------- ¶3. (C) On February 15, the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) issued a warrant for the arrest of Danuna Tillakaratne, the son-in-law of Sarath Fonseka, as part of an investigation by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) into his alleged role in several tenders submitted by Hi-Corp, Inc. to supply military equipment to the Sri Lankan Army, tenders which the government says were fraudulent. Danuna had not been located as of February 18, and government spokespersons suggested he had fled the country. CID Chief Inspector Mohan Siriwardena reportedly told court officials involved in the case that he was seeking assistance from Interpol to investigate Tillakaratne's U.S. bank account. Tillakaratne's mother, Asoka Tillakaratne, was questioned by CID personnel on February 15 about her son's involvement with Hi-Corp, and was then arrested on February 17, with the government alleging a connection between the Hi-Corp case and a sum of money found in several of Ms. Tillakaratne's safe deposit boxes, reported by different media outlets to be either approximately 70,000 USD or 700,000 USD in a combination of U.S. dollars, Sri Lankan rupees and British pounds. Ms. Tillakaratne claimed through relatives that it was leftover campaign money. The magistrate handling her case granted her bail that same COLOMBO 00000125 002.2 OF 002 afternoon. FONSEKA'S MEDICAL CARE -------------- ¶4. (C) Fonseka's relatives and several opposition leaders had underscored publicly that Fonseka required regular doses of medicine and expert medical care for injuries he had sustained in an LTTE suicide bomb attack. On February 11, Charge inquired about Fonseka's access to his own doctors during a briefing held by the Foreign Minister for the diplomatic community, and the Foreign Minister followed up the following day by calling in the Charge to update her that President Rajapaksa had affirmed that Fonseka's personal doctors would be allowed full access to him. (Ref. A) A Post contact considered close to Fonseka told DATT that Fonseka was being seen by two physicians, Army Major General Munasinghe, the Surgeon General, and Navy Commodore Senarupa Jayawardene, both of whom had reportedly treated him in the past. Fonseka's daughter, however, contradicted this in a telephone call to SCA and said that in conversations with her father, he told her that Munasinghe had not been visiting her. COMMENT: -------------- ¶5. (C) Opposition leaders have told Post they intend to make the allegations of gross elections law violations by the Rajapaksas a campaign theme during the upcoming general election. The filing of the election petition represents a public step in that process and keeps public and media attention on the election process and results. While the Hi-Corp case and Fonseka's medical care are of paramount importance to the Fonseka family, the government may be using these issues to distract attention from matters of larger national consequence in the run-up to the April general elections. The government's focus on the Fonseka family may prove a double-edged sword, keeping the Fonseka family occupied but creating a sympathetic picture of Mrs. Fonseka and engendering public disquiet over the detention without charges of Sarath Fonseka. BUTENIS