Phantoms of Mahinda Rajapaksa and

Sri Lankas reign of terror

Anti-Rajapaksa protesters seek answers over the murder of rugby

player Wasim Thajudeen.
GREG BEARUP

South Asia correspondent-@gbearup

Mahinda Rajapaksa sits at a desk in his party office beneath a
photo of himself. Hes not especially tall but solid in the chest and
arms; like an old rugby prop, his head seems to rest on his
shoulders without much need for a neck. Hes never seen in
public without his brown scarf, supposedly signifying the sweaty
rags of Sri Lankas hard-toiling farmers. On his fingers this man of

the people wears three chunky gold rings and on his wrist a
bracelet of jade balls. Everyone here still calls him Mr President.

The photo hanging over him

was shot a few years ago, back when he was Mr President, and
back when things were very different for the Rajapaksa clan. His
rule was absolute. The Rajapaksas controlled the treasury and Sri
Lanka became one of the most expensive places on the planet to
build a road. He and his family ran the country as if they owned
it. They acted with impunity. His sons, ordinary footballers by all
accounts, were selected to play rugby for Sri Lanka. Foreign
coaches who dropped them were deported. They were lucky;
others who displeased the clan disappeared.
The Rajapaksas president Mahinda, defence secretary
Gotabaya, economic development minister Basil and a couple of
bus-loads of sons, cousins and aunts who held various
government posts felt the nation owed them for having
crushed the Tamil Tigers, ending the ugly 26-year civil war. Then,
in 2014, the voters of Sri Lanka turfed Mahinda out.
And now the many bodies buried during his long reign are being
exhumed, figuratively and with shovels. In January, Rajapaksas
second son, Yoshitha, a naval officer, was arrested over
allegations he had transferred millions of government dollars into
a sports network owned by the family.
His eldest son, Namal, his anointed political heir, is under
investigation in several money-laundering cases.

The familys minister for war, Gotabaya said to have been more
powerful than his brother and certainly more feared has been
implicated in a $130 million corruption case. It has been alleged
some of the money was used to fund an armoury for the familys
private militia that was then used to terrorise political opponents.
His other brother, Basil, the clans man for economic
development, has been arrested four times on charges of
corruption, financial irregularity and abuse of state property.
Interpol warrants have been issued for Mahindas cousin, a former
ambassador to Russia, over $18m that went missing in a deal for
MiG fighter jets. The list goes on.
Mahinda Rajapaksa now leader of the opposition tells me the
myriad charges against his family are part of a grand conspiracy
headed by the incumbent government. Britain, India, Switzerland,
the US, the World Bank and others have all recently signed
agreements with Sri Lanka to help recover billions of dollars
alleged to have been siphoned off and hidden overseas. These
countries and the World Bank are in on the conspiracy, Rajapaksa
says, along with the UN.
I will cut my neck if they find a dollar in one of my accounts, he
bellows. What about your family, I ask, will you slit your throat if
they find money in accounts associated with them? Yes, he
says, less forcefully. Yeah, yes. Yes, I would, of course. With my
sons and brothers.
Cabinet ministers in the new government have claimed that many
billions of dollars are missing and serious efforts are now being
made to recover it.

But JC Weliamuna, chairman of the Presidential Task Force on the

Recovery of Stolen Assets, says its an incredibly complex task
that will take time and international co-operation. Let me put it
this way, it cant be a small amount if you are doing an operation
of this size about looted assets the problem was that Sri Lanka
did not have the capacity to investigate huge financial crimes of
this complex nature. We have now built up this capacity.
Rajapaksa doesnt often talk to the foreign press; perhaps Inquirer
has been granted an interview because of his fondness for our
former prime minister Tony Abbott. Rajapaksa is keen to reminisce
about his friendship with Abbott and how they would meet in the
gym for chats at international forums. Hes an interesting man,
he says of Abbott. Very friendly.
Abbott praised Rajapaksa in a recent essay, saying he was sure
the former Sri Lankan president was pleased Australia didnt join
the human rights lobby against tough but probably unavoidable
actions taken to end one of the worlds most vicious civil wars. It
was a human rights lobby that included the US, Canada and
Britain and many of the leaders of the Western world.
The UN estimates that 40,000 people died in the final months of
the conflict, mainly civilians. Many died at the hands of the
ruthless Tigers, shot as they tried to escape to safety. The
annihilation of the odious Tigers was undoubtedly a victory for
humanity, but many thousands of civilians also died from
indiscriminate shelling by the Sri Lankan forces.
Rajapaksa says he has no regrets over how the war was
conducted. No regrets at all. I did my duty to the people, to the
nation, and I am happy about it. It was my duty. But he was,
indeed, very pleased for Abbotts support when Britains David

Cameron and many others were raising the countrys alleged

complicity in torture, kidnappings and war crimes.
At that time we needed it, we needed your support, he says.
We solved some of your problems because people were going
there, boatpeople. We managed to stop that. We helped your
government and they helped us (by not criticising the regime)
they gave us some (navy) ships.
The fact is, of course, that since Rajapaksa was voted out Sri
Lankans are no longer fleeing in great numbers. The fear that
gripped Sri Lanka has dissipated.
We move on to several murders that now have been linked to the
clan.
Lasantha Wickrematunge, an old friend of Rajapaksa and editor
of The Sunday Leader, became a strident critic of Rajapaksas
government. He was shot dead in broad daylight in Colombo in
January 2009, a few days before he was to give evidence about
Gotabayas alleged corruption in an arms deal in a defamation
case.
Wickrematunges body was exhumed in September this year, two
months after a military intelligence officer was arrested in
connection with his murder. The officer then committed suicide,
leaving a note claiming responsibility for the editors death. Now
the officers body also has been exhumed after suspicions were
raised over the suicide and the note.

Wickrematunge predicted his own death and left an editorial on

his computer that was published after his murder. He said if he
were to be killed it would be at the hands of the government.
Addressing his old mate Mahinda, he wrote, In the wake of my
death I know you will make all the usual sanctimonious noises and
call upon the police to hold a swift and thorough inquiry. But like
all the inquiries you have ordered in the past, nothing will come of
this one, too.
I was very sad, of course, he was a friend, Rajapaksa says of the
editors assassination. I knew him when he was a schoolboy. He
denies any family involvement in his death.
What about Sri Lankan rugby player Wasim Thajudeen, I ask. Did
you know him? Thajudeen was one of the stars of the national
rugby team, a solid, hard-running outside centre and fullback,
selected because of his skills, not his parentage. He played in
teams with and against Rajapaksas sons and Mahinda went to all
the games. In May 2012 Thajudeen was found dead in a burnt-out
car in Colombo, aged 28.
I think I must have met him because all these rugger players
used to come to my place, Rajapaksa says, shifting his bulk in
the leather chair. I have seen him but I cant remember him
exactly. I would remember him because he was a big guy.
I mean, can you imagine, he continues, palms open, in a
charmingly dismissive tone, it was an accident. I believe it was
an accident and this is another political game here. They will use
anybody. First, they blame my second son then they blame my
first son. It was an accident.

No, Mr President, Thajudeens death was no accident. It was when

you were president but not now.
Rugby in Sri Lanka is a bit like polo or big-yacht racing in
Australia. Its a game for the elite. Thajudeen came from one of
these families. His father was a successful businessman and his
brother Asfan is an accountant living with his family in Melbourne.
His sister Ayesha is a dental surgeon in Colombo.
Wasim Thajudeen was a manager for an international travel
agency and was due to complete an MBA from the Australian
College of Business and Technology Colombo, an offshoot of
Perths Edith Cowan University. He was handsome and
charismatic, and in 2008 was voted Sri Lankas most popular
rugby player.
One Sunday afternoon I meet up with his sister Ayesha in her
dental surgery in Colombo as shes attending to the last of her
patients, an old man in a shalwar kameez and a prayer cap.
Wasim, she tells me, after saying goodbye to her patient, was
extremely popular and very happy.
You must have seen his pictures in the media, there is not a
single one without a smile he seemed not to have any
enemies, she says. But it seems he did.
On the night of May 17, 2012, Ayesha returned home from work
she was then an officer in the Sri Lankan Air Force, working in its
medical corps. Wasim, she was told by her mother, had gone out
with some friends who had dropped in to pick him up.
Early the next morning, about 1am, two police officers knocked on
the front door. Wasim had been in an accident and they asked her

to come and identify the car hed been driving, a Toyota

hatchback belonging to her.
At the scene, she looked at the charred vehicle and thought her
brother must have been taken to hospital. For more than an hour
the police questioned her about who hed been with and what
hed been doing. It was odd, she thought, to be questioned like
this about a car accident.
Then eventually they told me, You need to come tomorrow to
identify the body. And only then I understood that Wasim was no
more. Her brother was dead in the incinerated vehicle beside the
road.
She relays all these facts as if she is on autopilot. I have been
through a lot, she says at one point. Now I have come to a
numb state.
She went home in shock and at 5am returned to the crash site.
Ayesha noticed something peculiar; the petrol tank was out of the
vehicle on the road. When I asked the police why, they said that
they had to break open the petrol tank to cease the fire, she
says.
She was given the ghastly task of looking in the vehicle to identify
her brother he was unrecognisable apart from his massive
frame.
But something else was very odd; Wasim was in the front
passenger seat, not the drivers seat. When I asked the police
officer why Wasims body is like this, he told me, The seatbelt
had got burned and he has fallen over.

The car was in a drain, but there didnt appear to have been an
impact great enough to cause the vehicle to catch fire or for
Wasim to be rendered unconscious and hurled from one side of
the small vehicle, over the console, and for his feet to land on the
other side.
His body then was taken to the police mortuary to be examined
by the chief judicial medical officer, Ananda Samarasekara. The
family wanted to take Wasim, a Muslim, to be buried within 24
hours of his death, as is the custom, but the JMO seemed to be
stalling and was refusing to sign the certificate to release his
body. He claimed it could not be properly identified.
Ayesha recalled that Wasim had surgery on his knee and had
metal plates and pins inserted. A second set of X-rays was
ordered.
When the second set of the X-rays from the body came, I saw the
JMO was like furious and he was throwing tantrums at the juniors
(doctors), she says. I didnt know why. I heard him shouting. He
was not behaving professionally or calm. He refused to show her
the X-rays and then refused to release the body until he had
evidence from the surgeon who performed the operation.
When his hospital records were finally obtained, the JMO still
refused to sign the body over, saying Ayeshas affidavit had to be
witnessed by a justice of the peace. Many friends had gathered to
comfort the family and one was a JP; he said hed sign it. The JMO
then refused to accept this until it had the JPs official seal on it.
Finally, another JP was summoned, with a seal, to witness
Ayeshas declaration.

The JMO then moved Wasims body back into the mortuary, again,
before releasing it to the family.
Ayesha says she knew by this stage that her brother had not died
a natural death. His body was wrapped in plastic so that blood
would not seep into the white burial cloth. He was buried after
sunset, about 7pm.
As they were returning home from the funeral, Ayeshas father got
a call from a police station, not the one involved in investigating
Wasims death. Someone had found Wasims wallet on the street
and handed it in. It was found about 5km from the crash site.
The day after that, her father was called to a meeting at the
Colombo police headquarters with the second most senior police
officer in Sri Lanka, deputy inspector general Anura Senanayake,
and Sumith Perera, the officer in charge of the Narahenpita Police
Station which was investigating the crash. The police were in a
conference when he arrived and when they emerged Senanayake
said to him, Your sons death; we had a meeting and we have
concluded it was an accident.
The JMO then stalled and stalled on issuing a report into Wasims
death. Nine months later he issued what he termed a preliminary
report stating Wasims death was caused, Ayeshsa says, from
injuries sustained to the head and because of excessive burning,
and possible carbon monoxide poisoning.
Then Rajapaksa was voted out of power. The new President,
Maithripala Sirisena, handed the case over to the Criminal
Investigation Department and one of the countrys best
detectives was assigned. It was only then, with Rajapaksa gone,

that the JMO submitted his final report, which indicated possible
foul play.
It was decided that Wasims body needed to be exhumed and reexamined by a fresh and independent team of doctors. This was
done on August 10 last year.
Ayesha was allowed into the morgue to view the procedure. Her
brothers remains were laid out on a large slab and it was
immediately obvious that something was horribly wrong: both of
Wasims thigh bones were missing. The report from the new team
of doctors was different to the JMOs preliminary findings, but
closer to his final report. It found he had multiple fractures to his
ribs, to his left tibia and his fibula.
His teeth had been smashed. His hip was fractured. There was a
stab wound to his throat. There was an injury to his skull. And his
femurs were missing.
It was clear what had happened. Wasim Thajudeen had been
bashed, tortured and then murdered. His body was driven to the
alleged crash site and the vehicle set on fire to make it appear
like an accident.
Then the apparatuses of the state, the countrys second most
senior police officer and its senior judicial medical officer and their
underlings, conspired to cover it up.
The matter is now a murder investigation in the hands of
Colombos Additional Magistrate. The two senior police have been
arrested and are in custody on charges of hindering an
investigation and concealing evidence.

They blame them, Rajapaksa says incredulously to me, just for

doing their duty.
The Sri Lankan Medical Council has told the magistrate that the
JMO will face disciplinary proceedings and could face criminal
charges.
When detectives from the Criminal Investigation Division began
delving into phone records they found that on the night of the
murder numerous phone calls had been made between the senior
police in question and someone at the Presidential Secretariat.
Other phone calls were made to the presidents official residence,
Temple Trees. There were more calls still between members of the
presidents security team and the police.
When the detectives sought to recover the official phone records
they found they had been wiped. The CID detectives called in
international experts and are said to have recovered the lost data.
A source privy to the investigation, not authorised to speak to the
media, told Inquirer the investigating magistrates already know
the handlers. They have identified how it has been done. The only
missing link is who gave the orders. They have all the scientific
evidence they need to bring about charges.
Now, they are trying to crack who it was within the presidential
circle who ordered the killing.

The problem, he says, is that while Rajapaksa was voted out, his
powerful military intelligence remains. It, too, has much to fear
from a conviction in this and other cases. The military
intelligence is blocking this investigation as far as it possibly can,
the source says.
But why did someone want Thajudeen dead?
There has been speculation in the Sri Lankan media a matter
that has been investigated by detectives from the CID that
Thajudeen had been having an affair with the girlfriend of
Mahindas second son, Yoshitha. Ayesha Thajudeen doesnt think
thats the case. She and Wasim were close and he shared all his
secrets and details of his private life with her.
Inquirers source says the detectives also believe the affair theory
to be unlikely. The more plausible explanation, which is also under
investigation, is that Mahindas eldest son, Namal, had been
behind a syndicate that was trying to buy the Havelock Sports
Club to redevelop it.
Wasim was the captain of its rugby team, its best and most
influential player. He opposed the sale to Namal Rajapaksas
syndicate. He didnt particularly like or trust the family. He went in
hard when playing against them, when others would generally go
soft. He stood up to the Rajapaksas.
The motive could be as pathetic as that, Inquirers source says.
That it is all over some petty ruggerite jealousy.

Ayesha Thajudeen says she will not rest until she gets justice for
her brother. Her brother was one of many hundreds who died in
nefarious circumstances during Rajapaksas rule but is one of a
few that can be directly linked to the family.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is still immensely popular in Sri Lanka for
having ended the civil war. But this case in particular has the
potential to dent that popularity as Sri Lankans have found this
crime particularly repugnant. Nishan de Mel from the think tank
Verite Research says Sri Lanka has a long history of using
violence as a means of governance to oppress political
opponents and journalists, but that the murder of Wasim
Thajudeen was something else.
This one stands out, de Mel says, because it appears to be a
personal vendetta.
But, he says, the present coalition government, headed by
Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe could well blow
this opportunity to ensure that another Rajapaksa does not come
along in future.
These kinds of political moments dont come along often, de
Mel says. Sri Lanka needs to find a way of entrenching law and
order and good governance with independent commissions like
they have in Hong Kong or Singapore and their failure to do that
has been their biggest failure if you dont entrench that
institutional change and you simply offer change that still
depends on political discretion then that change can be gradually
eroded.

Sri Lankans are so accustomed to politicians being the source for

remedies for whatever problem they have, be it a land dispute,
getting their kids into a school, trouble with the courts and police
that has to change and the institutions strengthened.
Many believe that Rajapaksa, now 70, is hanging on in politics to
do whatever he can to stymie these cases against his family. They
say he is using his contacts within the military intelligence to pull
strings. He has publicly attacked the investigating detectives.
They say he wants to hold out until he can pass the baton to his
eldest son, Namal.
But the man himself tells me he is staying on for the good of the
people of Sri Lanka, for the commoners who have approached him
in droves, begging him to stay. He watched on in horror as his son
was driven off in a police van earlier this year. If they can do this
to his family, he says, what chance do the ordinary folk have?
My people need me, says Mahinda Rajapaksa.
In the weeks following our interview Basil Rajapaksa split from the
Sri Lankan Freedom Party to form the Sri Lankan Peoples Front.
Mahinda has indicated he will soon join and lead that new party.
Sri Lanka has not seen the last of Mahinda Rajapaksa and his
clan.
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