Northern Tamil building contractors forced to pay commission

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 June 2010, 06:26 GMT]
Northern Tamil Contractors Union (NTCU) in Jaffna complains that a man introducing himself as ‘School Engineer’ is engaged in obtaining five to ten percent commission from building contractors in Jaffna to be passed on to Northern Province Governor, Major General G. A. Chandrasiri. Meanwhile, it is alleged that the Governor has instructed the officials of the Northern Province Council to allocate contracts for building construction in the North only to Sinhalese contractors from South. While Basil Rajapaksa, the brother and senior advisor of President Mahinda Rjapaksa, is known as ‘Mr. Ten Percent’ in the matters of contracts, the Governor too is being seen as a person engaged in the same pursuit, NTCU circles said.

The man introducing himself as School Engineer is K. Ravinthrathas.

Ravinthrathas is alleged to be demanding five to ten percent of the total contract sum of money to be paid to Northern Province Governor, the frustrated Tamil contractors constructing school buildings in Jaffna said.

The contractors said that it is not known whether the commission goes to Chandrasiri or into Ravinthratha’s own pockets.

In the past too, the paramilitary men of a government political party had been collecting great amount of money as commission from the Tamil contractors at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, Southern Sinhalese contractors have begun invading North following the instruction from the Governor to allocate construction works in the North, particularly in Vanni, which includes the construction of major roads, to Sinhalese contractors, NYCU representatives said.