By Muhammed Fazl –
“You can never reach
the Promised Land. You can march towards it” – James Callaghan
Be it Palestine or a prime State land at Colombo Sri Lanka,
impossible it should be made to claim ownership for the criminals when lands
are acquired illegally. Conducting investigations in to the disputed block of
land at Bank of Ceylon Mawatha (right opposite WTC), many instances of
meticulously planned and illegally occupied State and private lands have come
to light and that which resulted in political henchmen and criminals raking in
billions in the last 30 years. While I intend exposing famous personalities for
obtaining land and property illegally and by using fraudulent documents in the
near future, it did come as a surprise when a prominent and supposedly a
‘conscientious’ media empire happened to be involved possibly in one of the
biggest illegal land grabs in the recent history of Sri Lanka.
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| Image from Skyscrapercity.com |
Elusive and highly manipulative, though establishing himself
as a successful businessman, it is indeed pathetic of Mr. Kili Maharaja (KM)
and his company, Capital Maharaja Organization Limited (CMOL) to ‘move
mountains’ in staking a claim for a prime State property at #19, Bank of Ceylon
Mawatha, Fort Colombo, and over which I have reasonable grounds to believe that
it should be vested back with the Urban Development Authority (UDA) as rightful
owners.
Having met with stiff resistance when in search of
information on the land in question valued at over Rs. 10,000,000/- per perch,
the five million Dollar question is how was it possible for a prime State land
to end up in the hands of a politically powerful figure (KM) after it was given
to a little-known Sri Jaya Hotels Limited (SJHL) 26 years ago?
When this matter surfaced a month and half ago when
officials from CMOL attempted to fence the property in question, watching news
on TV at home, my attention to this matter was drawn only when UDA officials
sprang to action within 24 hours in defending CMOL’s right of ownership. In my
eyes, this was quite unusual for a lethargic government department in Sri
Lanka, especially when the value of the land is about half a billion Rupees.
The following describes the turn of events;
1 – Visited the MTV Head Office on March 31, 2015 and met
Mr. Shameer Rasoolden who asked me to email him a formal request along with my
credentials. Other than my GCE O/L qualifications and not having any other
significant paper qualifications as such, I e-mailed him links to my Colombo
Telegraph online articles and the links to two interviews I have done with Mr.
Sumal Perera of Access International and with DIG Ravi Waidyalankara, Director
FCID along with the formal request.
2) – Mr. Chevaan Daniel, the highly respected Group Director
of CMOL that he is, responds on April 6, 2015 mentioning his willingness to
furnish the following documents but NOT the copy of the deed,
The non-vesting certificate issued by the Colombo Municipal
Council.
The Certificate of Registration of Ownership, issued by the
Colombo Municipal Council.
3) – On the same day, I reply e-mail Mr. Daniel requesting
answers to the following questions for which I am yet to receive a reply 30
days later,
I. If the land at #19, Bank of Ceylon Mawatha belongs to
SJHL as you claim,
a) When did SJHL acquire it?
b) Who was the seller of the property?
c) When did SJHL become a subsidiary of the CMOL?
d) Who were the original directors of SJHL at the time of
acquiring the property?
e) What was the nature of business of SJHL at the time of
acquiring the Property?
II. If the Property was obtained from the Urban Development
Authority (UDA),
a) When was it obtained?
b) On what terms/basis did SJH obtain the property?
c) At what price was the property obtained (if some kind of
payment was made that is)?
d) Was the property obtained for a strategic development? If
so, can you describe the project in brief?
III. Believing the Property was not developed for over TWO
DECADES and assuming UDA under Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR) took over the said
property and developed it in to what it is today,
a) What was the reason behind SJHL not resisting efforts of
the UDA in claiming ownership in the same fashion as was seen a week ago on
National Television and that too for well over TWO DECADES?
b) Was there ever an official correspondence with the UDA in
this regard since SJHL acquired the Property?
c) How was it possible for UDA to deny the claim of
ownership of the Property by CMOL one day last week and for the same officials
at UDA to retract the statement the very next day by establishing CMOL as the
rightful owner of the Property?
d) Was there an official correspondence between UDA and CMOL
soon after the matter surfaced last week? And if so, were there any copies of
the Land Deed or any other documentation submitted to UDA in favor of
establishing ownership the property?
4) – Having confronted obstructive officials such as the Mr.
Dayananda (Director – Lands, UDA) and Mr. Mawilmada who happens to be the new
politically appointed Director General at UDA under Yaha Palanaya (Good
Governance), I phoned the Chairman of UDA MR. Ranjith Fernando and the
following extracts are from the conversation I had with him on April 23, 2015
over the phone and for the concerned to take note,
a) UDA lands are NOT necessarily given for a strategic
purpose.
b) When GR led UDA flattened the land, CMOL did not come
forward out of fear since GR was ‘riding rough’ at that time. And it is now
that CMOL has found the liberty to claim ownership.
c) We (UDA) has gone through the deeds and we (UDA) found
that CMOL are the rightful owners.
d) Absence of a basis when the land was given to SJHL.
e) Contradicting the earlier statement, Mr. Fernando says
hundreds of lands were given for different purposes or development for hundreds
of people. And when questioned about the purpose of giving the Echelon Square
land to SJHL, he says it was given IN LIEU ANOTHER LAND.
f) Claims the land in question was NOT a prime one 26 years
ago and that it was a NEGLECTED land.
g) Expects me to take his word since he is the Chairman of
UDA and mentions of an investigation done in this regard by the UDA on the
matter and that which had ascertained the present ownership supposedly.
f) Refuses to show any documents.
5) – Further into investigations, it was revealed that the
ownership of this plot of land was ‘transferred’ to SJHL in two phases, in July
1988 and in December 1989. While ownership was supposed to have been
‘transferred’ along with the plan to construct a 10 storied hotel, the original
plan seems to have been shelved along the way and CMOL had drawn up plans to
construct the Head Office of the Capital Maharaja Organization Limited instead.
Having met the Deputy Minister of Urban Development, Water
Supply and Drainage, Mr. Dunesh Gankanda in this regard and who promised to
assist me in my investigations, it was indeed regretful to note the existence
of the ‘old guard’ loyal to Rajapaksas who seems to be hell-bent on scuttling
the good intentions and actions of the Deputy Minister and of the present
government.
Interestingly, the file related to the land in question
seems to be kept under lock and key and I strongly fear the eventuality of important
documents going missing before a possible investigation commences. While I do
not doubt for a second the fact that SJHL is the current owner of the land at
Echelon Square, my concerns are about,
The unanswered questions on the basis on which SJHL acquired
it in the first place.
The possibility of UDA not been within their legal
parameters in 1989 when the land was originally given to SJHL.
The absence of an enforcement team to recover such lands if
it was indeed given illegally to SJHL or if stipulated conditions (if it ever
existed) were not met.
Not having any information on the land that was supposed to
have been acquired by the UDA and for which the Echelon Square land was
supposed to have been given in lieu of it to SJHL.
While I await a response from Mr. Chevaan Daniel for answers
to my points of contention, the wannabe investigative writer/activist that I
am, I intend pursuing this matter and many others vehemently until rightful
ownership is ascertained concerning all and any illegal land grabs that is
brought to my attention…. be they state or privately owned.
Ironically, state lands that were given to various people
for development projects under previous governments (especially under UNP)
seems to be on sale by its owners or not being investigated for non-compliance
by the very same government that rode to power on an anti-corruption platform.
An example would be lands given to set up garment factories during President
Premadasa’s regime and of which most had ceased to exist or declared bankrupt.
In conclusion, I guess reasons behind Members of Parliament
from all political parties not wanting to cross swords with media bosses goes
without saying now that elections are around the corner.
*The writer is an independent social/political activist and
can be contacted at muhammedfazl@msn.com and through FB (Fazl Muhammed Nizar)
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