Govt. gives 450 acre hideaway with 2 bungalows to Geoffrey Aloysius at Kandapola for Rs 8000 a month for 30 years!

COLOMBO (News 1st) - In a major claim made by the Sunday Punch column of Sunday Times newspaper, the question is raised whether a company associated with the Aloysius family has apparently benefited from ministerial patronage. At the heart of the matter is a 450-acre government-owned tea estate, complete with two bungalows, worker housing, a maternity home and a medical centre including 19,000 valuable trees. The Sunday Punch column asks if an entity known as Serendipity plantations which allegedly has Geoffrey Aloysius as the Chairman had been granted a 30-year lease at the astonishing sum of Rs. 8,000 a month for a 450-acre estate in Kandapola. The tea estate owned by the Plantations Ministry had earlier being leased to a company called Maturata Plantations. The allegation is that Geoffrey Aloysius had obtained the particular estate via a sublease. It is alleged that the company had no right to sublet. This transaction is said to have taken place in September 2015 and the deal was inked by the UNP-held Ministry of Plantations and Geoffrey Aloysius. Perhaps the UNP controlled ministry would wish to clarify matters bearing in mind the growing distrust the people have with various aspects of governance. It is clear that the winds of impunity are carrying forward a favoured few at the expense of the long-suffering many. The entire Central Bank bond affair came to light in March 2015. Subsequent events have revealed the treachery with which the people's hard earned monies had been appropriated in order that a company chaired by Geoffrey Aloysius would receive sensitive information that resulted in market manipulation and the creation of significant and unusual profit for a company that was new to the business. By September 2015 when this plantation is alleged to have been leased to Geoffrey Alysious and or his company, the name Aloysius was the centrepiece of the so-called Bondgate affair. It is a shocking testament that the Government of Sri Lanka led by the UNP cared little for the people's wishes and the people's concern and continued to offer political patronage to Geoffrey Aloysius, his family and his companies. Unfortunately for the people of Sri Lanka, land appears to be a favourite giveaway on the back of fancy, so-called high-value international investment projects. The people of Sri Lanka will recall by now the infamous Volkswagen factory project where once again land was issued for what now turns out to be a bogus project. The signature tune of this government of good governance has been one of a real departure from due process and where a conflict of interest has been the order of the day. The question arises why the international community maintains a deafening silence on these allegations of rampant corruption. It would be pertinent to remind ourselves of the law that is meted out to the general public when an individual might steal a coconut out of poverty and receive a stern jail sentence, but when it comes to large scale corruption with protection from the higher authorities, the perpetrators get off scot-free and the watchdogs and diplomatic corps remain silent.

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