KC and the Sunshine Band

The investigative reporting of the Kapila Chandrasena saga by our social media brought to memory several conversations I had with a foreigner who was stationed for a time in Sri Lanka as an adviser to a Government agency, a distant two decades ago. We would meet socially; I had no connection with the institutions he was involved with.

I gathered that in the course of his work he had to delve into various statistics, research papers and memorandums produced by his local counterpart officials. However, in casual conversation he deplored the general tardiness of our officials, expressing his unease both as to the authenticity of their statistics as well as the doubtful standard of the research material given to him. He was tactful, it is unlikely he would have brought up his misgivings at meetings with high government officials. In Sri Lanka only on short term assignment, with a later career somewhere else in mind, his situation called for diplomacy. He might even have praised them, a flattery our officials would have taken on face value. Clearly, these high government officials would not take too kindly to a foreigner raising questions about their work   competence. But then, to assume competence in our State structure, one has to be oblivious to the realities.

Piqued by his observations, I queried why he had formed a poor opinion of the data as well as the writing produced by our officialdom. Obviously, he was referring to what was written in English, but we can assume that the muddle he discerned in the writing was not necessarily language specific. He was reluctant to expand at length on his ideas, expressing his true attitude through expressive grimaces and shoulder shrugging. His view was that we were essentially an oral culture; the imprecision, the irresponsibility and the fancifulness of the spoken word accorded well with our essence. The school curriculum pays scant regard to good writing. They promote debating, hence our soapbox orators.

It could be a report to the IMF, a Cabinet paper, or a memorandum to a provincial department, when attempts are made to put on paper what we grandly speak about, all manner of deficiencies show up; resulting in disjointed, inconsistent and incomplete writing. In any formal structure writing is essential. An area engineer notices a badly dilapidated road. He has to write a report to his superior, explaining the problem, suggesting solutions and even providing a budget for the proposed repair work. If the man cannot explain all this in writing, the project may never take off, the road will remain dilapidated.

 What is true of English writing is true of Sinhala writing too. Our laws, rules and procedures are interpreted as per the Sinhala version. These have become the problem, the public which they are meant to serve made to run hither and thither. Our self-made constitution could be in the running for a world record for the number of amendments it has been subject to, afterthought following afterthought. Many of our laws are said to be a farrago, only adding to the problem they pretend to address.   

As to the data or the statistics, he suggested that our officials only find what they want to find; the sun is shining, everything is bright. A sunshine band, Men deficient in both professional skills as well as personal integrity, culturally conditioned to placate the powers that be, drawing a fairytale picture of a floundering country.

For this European adviser, what is going on in our officialdom, particularly when they put pen to paper, is a far cry from what he had come to expect as a norm in his country; the completeness, the coherence; writings by educated men with an urbanity of mind and a gracefulness of style. He saw here instead, unsophisticated, half-baked bureaucrats writing inane reports for their political bosses, themselves raw and limited.

 The much spoken of Kapila Chandrasena case attracted wide social media coverage. Naturally, they concentrated on the dramatic death of Chandrasena. However, his death was only the curtain call on a life, the tragedy is a larger social issue, a long, drawn-out drama with several themes: political patronage, State corruption and the gradual ruin of national institutions

The KC case

Crime reporting is a genre of writing I enjoy.  Investigating a violent death often opens the door to a complex web of relationships and personal conflicts that lurk under the commonplace veneer. Invariably in these stories, the devil is in the details. To get a complete picture, every fact, however insignificant they may seem at the time, must be examined. Situations where matters, initially dismissed as insignificant, have later helped to crack the case, are not uncommon.

The much spoken of Kapila Chandrasena case attracted wide social media coverage. Naturally, they concentrated on the dramatic death of Chandrasena. However, his death was only the curtain call on a life, the tragedy is a larger social issue, a long, drawn-out drama with several themes: political patronage, State corruption and the gradual ruin of national institutions.  In the media coverage, what is true of the writings of government servants is proved true of the social media investigations too: incomplete, speculative and even unintelligent. Even so straightforward a matter like the identity of the Bail Sureties of Chandrasena flummoxed them, giving rise to much speculation.

The principal character in this drama is of course the late Kapila Chandrasena. He was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SriLankan Airline during the Rajapaksa regime. From the information available, we could reasonably surmise that he held a foreign citizenship, and perhaps a passport of that country.

Not only at the national airline, during the reign of the Rajapaksa family Chandrasena had held top positions at Mihin Air, Mobitel and Sri Lanka Telecom. A man suitable to run any manner of organisation, as long as Rajapaksa was in power. What eventually undid him was an investigation in faraway Europe, revealing that Airbus had bribed officials of several Third World airlines to buy their planes. Probably, European whistleblowers called Airbus out; the mega company was chastised, penalties were imposed and heads rolled.

 Chandrasena was implicated as one of the recipients of an Airbus bribe.  An elaborate process was used to obfuscate the money trail, an offshore company of which his wife was a director, opening several foreign bank accounts, the new company offering a consultancy to Airbus. As Walter Scott observed Centuries ago, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”

Among the clutch of mourners at Kapila Chandrasena’s funeral was the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Explaining his attendance, he observed that the deceased had done much service to the State. We are reminded of king Louis XIV of France who famously declared “I am the State”, whoever serves him, serves the State.

One thing that strikes the reader straight away is that the decision to buy these high value Airplanes was beyond the powers of CEO Chandrasena. It was a decision for the Airline Board, and in view of the huge amounts of money involved, a decision for the highest political authorities.

 A man has died in tragic circumstances. That is only one aspect. The other, unavoidable in the light of background evidence; a story of high-powered corruption at the heart of one of Sri Lanka’s main financial commitments, the nation’s money hemorrhaging airline. To the average Sri Lankan the enormity of the losses incurred by their airline is too large to wrap his head around it. He may relate to a few thousands, but not to so many billions of rupees. The cruelty of decision makers making money out of what is in truth a national disaster is unfathomable

Why then was the bribe given to him?

Chandrasena’s young days had been at Anderson Flats, Colombo 5, from where he attended Royal College. According to some reports Chandrasena had started his career at what was then called Air Lanka. What did he do there, what does his personal file reveal? He had then moved to the United States and subsequently to Australia. Apparently, he had collected two disconnected degrees overseas, a science degree in Chicago and later a Business degree in Australia. It does not appear that these have been verified. There follows a period of time which remains unexplained, presumably in Australia.

Then Chandrasena makes his appearance in Sri Lanka again. The Rajapaksa family is now in power and Chandrasena is appointed to high positions in government-controlled institutions doing business. Chandrasena evolves from Anderson Flats to Colombo 07, a remarkable financial leap, a man on the make; he may not have been born there, but he can live in posh Colombo 07! We do not know whether our tax department even noticed this huge asset betterment on the part of a person employed by the State.

The main character is dead. The story must hence be understood through circumstantial evidence.

There are many unexplained aspects in the story.

A man has died in tragic circumstances. That is only one aspect. The other, unavoidable in the light of background evidence; a story of high-powered corruption at the heart of one of Sri Lanka’s main financial commitments, the nation’s money hemorrhaging airline. To the average Sri Lankan the enormity of the losses incurred by their airline is too large to wrap his head around it. He may relate to a few thousands, but not to so many billions of rupees. The cruelty of decision makers making money out of what is in truth a national disaster is unfathomable.

The media was all on Kapila Chandrasena’s death, that is only half the story.