Telephone-gate showcases Foneska ‘corruption’

Gen Sarath Fonseka, who has entered the presidential fray on an anti-corruption platform, misused the official satellite phones to make personal overseas calls to the US in particular and used Army Welfare Fund to settle the bills, Asian Tribune investigations show.

Telephone-gate, as the scam is described in army circles, related to the period when the General was posted to Jaffna and Vanni as a Major General and amounted to between Rs. 2 million and Rs. 2.7 million. Mangal Samaraweera as the posts and telecommunication minister of the day ‘gifted’ an Inmarsat Satellite phone to the General to remain in touch with Colombo from Jaffna.

‘In the event, if I too received a steady unwavering political commitment and support, I could have finished the Tigers in double quick time’, he stated. And added: ‘Why I alone, any mediocre army commander like Sarath Fonseka could have easily defeated the Tigers’. - Gen Kottogoda

Asian Tribune understands that General Fonseka did not surrender the Satphone when he was transferred out of Jaffna on the orders of the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe to Vanni and that he had taken the phone to his new place of posting. This deprived his successor Maj Gen A. Wijendra of the Satphone facility, as overall forces commander in Jaffna.

This is not the first time that the Telephone-gate has come up front.

The Sunday Leader, a weekly not known to be friendly to the Rajapaksas, reported the issue on its 30 July 2001 issue under the heading ‘SLA officer accused of misusing satellite phone’. It said the highest number of calls he made through this phone was to the United States of America, the duration of one call being a whopping 110 minutes and 48 seconds that cost Rs.33, 793.84.

The Sunday Leader also gave the following breakdown of the bills for the period from July to December 2000 saying it has in its possession the ‘invoices’ addressed to the Commander of the Army, Army Head Quarters.

July 2000 – Rs. 81, 538.17
August 2000 – Rs. 901, 020.94
September 2000 811,886.76
October 2000 – Rs. 605, 826.99
November 2000 – Rs. 287, 442
December 2000 – Rs. 131, 630.27

Army headquarters was aware of the ‘misuse’, and in 2005 raised several pertinent questions. The then army chief, General SHS Kottogoda cautioned Fonseka against audit objections to the misuse of Satphone.

His letter, {COMD /1/2() dated May 27, 2005}, a copy of which has been accessed by Asian Tribune was the first official ‘admission’ of Telephone-gate. It was a sequel to the bill raised by the Sri Lanka Telecom.

‘Having gone through the detail (of the) bills which are attached, I find that no local calls have been taken but all are overseas calls’, the chief wrote to Fonseka, who was a Major General then.

And knocked on the knuckles, saying ‘These Satellite phones were made aval (available) for Comd’s of SF (J) and (W) to be used in an emergency if all other comms would fail and for urgent op reqmts. However I find that calls taken during the months indicated at para 2 are all overseas calls and has no relevance to op trqmts of the Army’.

Army chief, General SHS Kottogoda refused to settle the bill to avoid audit objections later. ‘… a sit has risen where Army is unable to settle these bills as these calls cannot be certified as official calls. Further this may lead to other audit queries as well’, he sternly told the Fonseka.

The tone and tenor of the letter clearly indicated that the army would not settle the bill and Fonseka himself must foot the bill. It is possible that amount could have been deducted from the Major General’s salary but for a turnaround in his fortunes – towards the end of 2005, just 20-days before his retirement, Fonseka was appointed Army Chief on the recommendation of the the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

According to many serving and retired army officers, if these calls in question were indeed personal calls, then Sarath Fonseka has a moral obligation to settle the relevant bill with his own money.

But Asian Tribune reliably learns that Sarath Fonseka made use of the Welfare Fund of the Army to settle these telephone bills.

Recently Asian Tribune wrote to present Army commander asked for the details regarding the unauthorised telephone calls made by Sarath Fonseka and how and who paid for those calls. Answer from the Army Commander is awaited. Asian Tribune now learns that, Army has reportedly mooted an investigation into this matter.

Given below the full text of the news report that appeared on 30 July 2001 issue of the The Sunday Leader :

SLA officer accused of misusing satellite phone

The Sri Lanka Army is in a quandary as to how it could meet the telephone bills of Major General G.S.C. Fonseka, overall operations commander with that runs into several millions of rupees. Fonseka however is at present in the United Kingdom on a training course.
Fonseka, according to the documents that are in the possession of The Sunday Leader, has run up this bill by mostly using his official satellite phone take calls overseas.

The highest number of calls he has made through this phone is to the United States of America.
The duration of one such call is 110 minutes and 48 seconds that costs of Rs.33, 793.84.
The Sunday Leader is also in the possession of the invoices addressed to the Commander of the Army, Army Head Quarters Colombo, for the months begin from July to December 2000.

Following is the breakdown:
July 2000 – Rs. 81, 538.17, August 2000 – Rs. 901, 020.94, September 2000 811,886.76, October 2000 – Rs. 605, 826.99, November 2000 – Rs. 287, 442, December 2000 – Rs. 131, 630.27

Senior officials attached to the defense ministry admitted they were aware of the misuse of the satellite phone facility granted to the Fonseka but refused to comment further.

Meanwhile military spokesperson Brigadier Sarath Karunaratne, while commenting that the officer accused of misusing the phone facility was Major General Fonseka, said he was not sure as to what action would be meted out by the ministry of defense against him.

He admitted he was aware of the issue, but said that it was yet to be discussed by the defense hierarchy.

“You see, this has never happened in the past. This is an abnormal case don’t know what to do,” he pointed out.

He explained that under the normal procedure an inquiry into such as is should be conducted.

But he said he was not aware as to whether the ministry was contemplating such a thing. Meanwhile, military sources said that this satellite phoning facility which was given to Fonseka by former posts and telecommunication minister, Mangal Samaraweera. This facility had been given to Fonseka when he was transferred to Jaffna. But when he was posted to the Wanni subsequently, it is learnt that Fonseka has taken this unit along with him, depriving Major General A. Wijendra who succeeded Fonseka in Jaffna, from this facility. Fonseka was sent to the United Kingdom for a higher training course last till December with the state spending some 6.5 million rupees. He is expected to return to the country in December this year.

At present he ranks ninth in the seniority list of Sri Lanka Army and defense ministry sources said he is likely to be the next commander of the army. The sum spent on the telephone that is mentioned above is only from the invoices obtained while Fonseka was serving as the overall operations commander in the Wanni. Details of the bills when he was using the same in Jaffna, sources say, may also be running into several more millions rupees.”

In the meantime when Asian Tribune contacted he said, “I too could have finished Tigers but for….: Gen Kottogoda said

More and more voices are being heard these days that a strong backing from the political leadership to the army could have seen the end of LTTE menace quite a while ago. Some analysts even contend that the leadership had used the armed forces to achieve its political ends. Interestingly, this view is shared by a former army commander Gen SHS Kottogoda, the predecessor to Gen Sarath Fonseka.

‘I too could have finished Tigers but for lack of political backing’, General Kottogoda told the Asian Tribune.

‘When I was the Army Commander the political leadership was not ready to fight to finish the Tamil Tiger terrorists. The political leadership was dilly dallying and wavering. It was only interested in making use of the armed forces to gain extra political mileage’, he recalled.

Asked whether he too could have led the army to victory with political backing, the former army chief replied in the affirmative.

‘In the event, if I too received a steady unwavering political commitment and support, I could have finished the Tigers in double quick time’, he stated. And added: ‘Why I alone, any mediocre army commander like Sarath Fonseka could have easily defeated the Tigers’.

- Asian Tribune -