Masterminds at large

Tuesday 19th December, 2023

The CID yesterday arrested former Health Secretary Janaka Chandragupta over a pharmaceutical racket. Thousands of phials of intravenous immunoglobulin supplied by a private company were found to be fake, and a probe revealed that the drug had been produced in Sri Lanka. Health Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana has said that no institution in Sri Lanka is equipped to manufacture immunoglobulin. Chandragupta was the Health Secretary at the time.

Chandragupta’s arrest was long overdue. He should not have been allowed to remain in the post of Health Secretary until retirement because there were serious allegations against him. When high-ranking officials are suspected of being involved in illegal activities and prima facie evidence is available against them, they must be interdicted immediately so that they cannot abuse their positions to cover their tracks.

Deputy Solicitor General Lakmini Girihagama has recently informed Maligakanda Magistrate Lochani Abeywickrama that the drug company, whose owner is facing legal action for the aforesaid immunoglobulin racket, also sold a stock of poor-quality cancer drugs to the Health Ministry and obtained Rs. 110 million; the Secretary to the Health Ministry himself at the time had approved the payment, the court was told. The CID should not have dragged its feet.

What the CID has been able to uncover is only the tip of the iceberg of health sector procurement rackets, as we argued in a previous editorial comment. Kalinga Indatissa, PC, told Maligakanda Magistrate Abeywickrama on 15 Nov., that the mastermind behind the procurement of substandard immunoglobulin was in the Cabinet. He dared the CID to arrest the culprit.

Behind every racket in this country there is a politician. No official in any state institution can cut a mega corrupt deal without giving the lion’s share of the ill-gotten gains derived therefrom to his or her minister. In most cases, officials function as collectors for politicians.

Officials who sell their souls to politicians and carry out corrupt deals run the risk of being thrown to the wolves. The fate that befell former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran is a case in point. The mastermind behind the Treasury bond scams was in the Yahapalana government, but he got off scot-free. So, it is no surprise that the government is sacrificing others to protect the Cabinet member who masterminded the pharmaceutical rackets at issue.

The entire SLPP-UNP government must be held accountable for the corrupt procurement deals in the Health Ministry, for it unashamedly shields the corrupt. Roshan Ranasinghe was sacked as the Minister of Sports for taking action against corruption in the cricket administration. The government has also launched a political witch-hunt against him for taking on the moneybags with links to the ruling party politicians. But a few months ago it defended the then Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella to the hilt when serious allegations of corruption were levelled against him and a no-faith motion based thereon was moved against him in Parliament. Subsequently, when it became too embarrassing for the powers that be to go on defending him, he was made the Minister of Environment!

Having pooh-poohed the health sector rackets and defeated the no-confidence motion against Rambukwella, the government has no moral right to remain in power because several major rackets related to medicinal drugs and equipment in the state-run health have since come to light. The SLPP-UNP administration has thus proved that it is a government of the corrupt by the corrupt for the corrupt, and the interests of the public do not matter in its scheme of things.

Will the CID explain why it has baulked at summoning Rambukwella, on whose watch as the Minister of Health the aforesaid pharmaceutical rackets took place, to its headquarters and giving him the same treatment as former Health Secretary Chandragupta.