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