2 former Lankan ministers to be stripped of civic rights

Two senior ministers and two top bureaucrats of the former United National Party regime are to be stripped of their civic rights for ''misuse and abuse of power'', the Sri Lankan government announced on Thursday.

The decision to impose ''civic disabilities'' on the four -- then president R Premadasa's finance secretary R Paskaralingam, former transport minister Wijepala Mendis, former power minister Chandra Bandara and external resources secretary M Akeel Mohammed -- was taken by the Cabinet in line with the recommendations of a presidential commission, which said a large chunk of foreign aid had gone to their pockets, cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.

With the exception of Bandara who passed away during the inquiry, the others would be subjected to ''civil disabilities'' for a period of seven years, he added.

He said Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who herself was stripped of her civic rights by then president J R Jayawardene in 1980, would move a resolution in Parliament in this regard shortly. The resolution would also call for Mendis's expulsion as a member of parliament, he added.

The minister said the government would act through Parliament to recover the "ill-gotten" wealth of the four politicians and take steps to extradite Paskaralingam from London, where he has been living since 1994.

UNI