Inside Story of the First - Ever Foreign

Indictment of A Lankan Ambassador

 Wednesday, 9 January 2019

It was revealed last month that former Sri Lankan Ambassador to
Washington D.C., Jaliya Chitran Wickramasuriya is facing criminal
prosecution in the United States of America, according to an indictment and
supporting documents unsealed on December 20, 2018 in the United States
District Court for the District of Colombia.

The
indictment, filed under seal on May 1, 2018, charges Wickramasuriya with
two counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering and one count
of visa fraud. The charges stem from allegations that in early 2013,
Wickramasuriya and others embezzled about US $332,000 from the
Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) in connection with a property purchased in
Washington D.C. that was intended to serve as the new Sri Lankan embassy.
He was also charged with committing immigration fraud in connection with
an immigration application that he signed in the United States in 2014. The
US Government has requested an arrest warrant for Wickramasuriya and
intends to arraign him before court.

 Sri Lankan authorities have been aware of the case filed against
Wickramasuriya from at least early November
 Wickramasuriya filed a petition at the Court of Appeal seeking
reinstatement of his diplomatic immunity
 Wickramasuriya remains without diplomatic immunity, pending a final
determination by the Supreme Court
 It is extremely rare for the US criminal justice system to become
intertwined in foreign politics
 The former ambassador also faces the prospect of criminal charges
in Sri Lanka

The Daily Mirror is in possession of details of all the relevant court

documents. According to the indictment, Wickramasuriya had given
instructions to siphon off a sum of US $332,027.35 in funds of the GoSL to the
bank accounts of two private companies; one in the United States and another
in Sri Lanka. The indictment reveals emails sent by Wickramasuriya
instructing the real estate attorney for the embassy and others to make
payments and endorsements in connection with the scheme and accuses
Wickramasuriya of forging an “Addendum” to the sales agreement that
falsely claimed that this embezzled sum was paid as commissions to the real
estate agents of the embassy and the seller of the property.

The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) is investigating the same

transaction and has informed the Colombo Fort Magistrates Court in B
Reports that the companies nominated by Wickramasuriya were Paper
Crown LLC in the United States and PPP International Pvt Ltd in Sri Lanka.
According to the FCID, a sum of over Rs 18 million of the money had been
embezzled by Wickramasuriya to PPP International of No: 11, Mansion Place
Negombo owned by Allansis Brendon Sosa who is a Sri Lankan. Thereafter
this money had been funneled to the bank account of his tea company in Sri
Lanka, Royal Tea and Supplies Pvt Ltd. The investigations meanwhile had
found out that on six occasions PPP International had paid Rs. 10.196 million
each to Ceylon Royal Tea.

Wickramasuriya, was residing in the US engaging in the tea export business at

the time he was appointed as the Consular General to the Sri Lankan mission
in Los Angeles in 2005. Three years later in 2008, he was appointed the Sri
Lankan Ambassador to USA.

The FCID investigations revealed that Paper Crown LLC is owned by Vinod
Basnayake- a close associate of Ambassador Wickramasuriya. According to
the ‘B’ Reports filed by the FCID, both Basnayake and Wickramasuriya were
meeting constantly at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington during the
latter’s tenure as the Ambassador.

Following the misappropriation of embassy funds, Wickramasuriya was

accused of evading taxes in the US which led relevant departments in the US
to start an investigation into Wickremesinghe’s dealings.

From the investigations, it came to light that Wickramasuriya had violated

the US laws by not declaring this illicit income and evaded paying taxes. As it
was a serious offence in the US, the US Government had requested the GoSL
to recall Ambassador Wickramasuriya immediately. Later, career diplomat
Asela Weerakoon was temporarily posted to the US as the Sri Lankan
Ambassador till a permanent replacement was made.
Tight-lipped
However, the Rajapaksa Government was tight-lipped about the US
Government’s request to the GoSL to remove Wickramasuriya as the
Ambassador and how the same accused was once again nominated to Canada
as the Sri Lankan Ambassador to that country.

When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent the credentials of Wickramasuriya

after his appointment to Canada as the newly appointed Sri Lankan
Ambassador, the Canadian Government refused to accept Wickramsuriya’s
appointment as he had committed a serious financial offence to the US
Government. Although for Rajapaksa, Wickramasuriya’s alleged involvement
in swindling Sri Lankan Government funds did not even warrant an
investigation, for the US and Canada, they did not want to allow him to serve
in those countries as their Ambassador given the available evidence of even
tax evasion.

Be that as it may, according to the now public case docket in the US District
Court of Washington DC, Sri Lankan authorities have been aware of the case
filed against Wickramasuriya from at least early November 2018, when the
District Court granted an order permitting US authorities to share
information about the charges with their Sri Lankan counterparts.

Before the charges were filed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by letter dated
October 23 2017, formally waived any immunity that Wickramasuriya held in
connection with the U.S. Government’s investigation of him for embezzlement
and laundering of public funds in connection with the 2013 embassy purchase.

In the ensuing months, Wickramasuriya filed a petition at the Court of

Appeal seeking reinstatement of his diplomatic immunity. When his petition
was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in March 2018, Wickramasuriya
appealed this decision to the Supreme Court, where his appeal is pending.

According to the Judgment by Court of Appeal President Justice Preethi

Padman Surasena, Foreign Secretary Prasad Kariyawasam had conveyed the
decision to withdraw Wickramasuriya’s immunity ‘pursuant to the
instructions he had received from His Excellency the President’.

As the decision to withdraw immunity was taken by the President, the Court
of Appeal ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to challenge an official act of
the President.
However, during November 2018, while Wickramasuriya’s first cousin former
President Mahinda Rajapaksa was serving as Prime Minister in the
unconstitutionally set-up Government and Sarath Amunugama acted as
Foreign Minister, an abortive attempt had been made to reinstate
Wickramasuriya’s immunity. There is no indication that either President
Maithripala Sirisena or ‘Prime Minister’ Mahinda Rajapaksa endorsed the
attempt at any stage, according to foreign ministry and law enforcement
officials who are familiar with the matter. Wickramasuriya remains without
diplomatic immunity, pending a final determination by the Supreme Court.

The motion in the US District Court in Washington DC to share details with

the Sri Lankan authorities, filed by United States Attorney Jessie K. Liu of the
Department of Justice on November 8, 2018, makes an indirect reference to
the abortive attempt in Sri Lanka to reinstate Wickramasuriya’s immunity.

It’s stated that ‘in the last 10 days or so, there had been a change of
Government in Sri Lanka. The President of Sri Lanka had attempted to
remove the sitting Prime Minister and to replace him with former President
Mahinda Rajapaksa. Several media outlets have referred to the matter as a
constitutional crisis,’ the filing continues.
However, the Rajapaksa Government was tight-lipped about the US
Government’s request to the GoSL to remove Wickramasuriya as the
Ambassador and how the same accused was once again nominated to Canada
as the Sri Lankan Ambassador to that country
Foreign politics
It is extremely rare for the US criminal justice system to become intertwined
in foreign politics, according to diplomatic sources. However, US prosecutors
took the extraordinary step of disclosing to the District Court that they were
in close contact with US officials in Sri Lanka about the risk to their
prosecution from a potential political decision to reinstate Wickramasuriya’s
diplomatic immunity.

“We have been advised by United States officials in Sri Lanka that there will
be a meeting to discuss and/or determine the immunity issue on Sunday,
November 11, 2018, and they believe that advising the Sri Lankan authorities
of the fact that the defendant has been indicted will be of relevance and
assistance in making their determination. A resolution to the issue of whether
the government of Sri Lanka will assert immunity in this case is important to
the timely prosecution of this matter,” the motion said.

The US Government sought a ‘limited unsealing of the indictment in order to

share the fact that the defendant has been indicted and the charges that he
faces with the Sri Lankan Government as Wickramasuriya’s legal challenge
to the immunity waiver is litigated’.

This motion was granted by the court and US authorities thereafter

communicated the facts of the case to their Sri Lankan counterparts. It was
thereafter that attempts to reinstate Wickramasuriya’s immunity hit a brick
wall with the Sirisena-Rajapaksa regime refusing to reverse the original
decision of the President.

When the indictment was filed on May 1, 2018, US prosecutors submitted to

court a motion requesting that the case documents be kept secret. “The
government submits that these facts present an extraordinary situation and a
compelling government interest which justify not only the sealing of the
criminal indictment and the arrest warrant, but also a delay in the public
docketing and filing of these sealed pleadings and the accompanying order,”
the prosecutors had stated.

The US Department of Justice has stated that ‘sealing the documents and
withholding them from the public docket is necessary to protect sensitive
information, to ensure the defendant does not flee or destroy evidence, and to
protect civilian witnesses’.

Supporting the request to seal the case in May this year, the Justice
Department had informed Court that law enforcement believes that the
defendant is not aware of the full extent of the Government’s investigation or
that the Government has uncovered certain of the facts underlying the
allegations in the criminal investigation. These facts include information
provided by civilian witnesses familiar with the defendant’s ongoing criminal
enterprise’.
Criminal charges
The former ambassador also faces the prospect of criminal charges in Sri
Lanka pending the conclusion of the FCID investigation into this matter. Sri
Lankan authorities have jurisdiction to use the evidence gathered by US
prosecutors and additional records to frame additional charges, according to
senior Government officials familiar with the matter.
Specifically, US and Sri Lankan investigators have been exchanging material
on the basis of Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) requests, which form the gold
standard of the exchange of evidence between jurisdictions for criminal
prosecutions. Under Sri Lankan law, material received from the US in
response to an MLA request may be admissible as evidence in criminal
proceedings.

While Sri Lanka may not charge Wickramasuriya again for the same offences
he faces in the US, they may pursue other charges such as forgery, criminal
breach of trust and offences against public property.

The Daily Mirror earlier revealed that pressure is mounting on

Wickramasuriya to plead guilty to the charges in the US and to cooperate
with investigators in that country. An email shared with the Rajapaksa family
by an attorney familiar with the matter was obtained by the Daily Mirror.

The email stated that federal prosecutors in the US “wanted information what
they called the Rajapaksa regime and said they believed that this information
was highly sensitive. They seem to want to use Mr. Wickramasuriya as a
means to initiate investigation of many others in Sri Lankan Government both
former and current. They expressed concern that various government officials
were responsible for having misappropriated billions of dollars. They are
hoping that Mr. Wickramasuriya will cooperate with the hope that they build
cases of many other current and former government officials.”

“If he were to do this he would not go to jail in the United States, but there is
no guarantee. I think that he would benefit greatly if he were to cooperate
against other high ranking and low ranking officials in Sri Lanka,” the lawyer
recommended.

Wickramasuriya has attempted to assert diplomatic immunity in the United

States. His appeal to the Supreme Court to force the GoSL to assert immunity
on his behalf to prevent him from testifying in US, is pending before the
Court.

As a part of this process, a President’s Counsel was tasked to file a writ

application in the court of appeal to legally compel the GoSL to reverse its
decision not to assert diplomatic immunity. Filing a writ petition,
Wickramasuriya was seeking an order to quash the decision to issue a letter
waiving off his diplomatic immunity.

However, the writ petition was taken up in the Court of Appeal on February
6, Additional Solicitor General Yasantha Kodagoda appearing for the
Attorney General, raised a preliminary objection, stating that seeks the
decision to withdraw immunity was taken by President in his official capacity
and the only court with jurisdiction to reverse that is the Supreme Court
according to the Constitution.

However, his claim of immunity has been confounded by a form tendered by

the former ambassador to the US immigration authorities when he resumed
his permanent residency status, also known as a ‘Green Card’, after he ceased
to be ambassador.

Jaliya Wickramasuriya submitted to the US Citizenship and Immigration

Services agency a “Form I-508”, which is a waiver of rights, privileges,
exemptions and immunities. In this form, signed and dated by
Wickramasuriya on 25 March 2014, he has stated that he had been employed
as a Sri Lankan Government official at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in
Washington D.C.

‘Accordingly, I seek to acquire or retain the status of an alien lawfully

admitted for permanent residence and hereby waive all rights, privileges,
exemptions, and immunities that would otherwise accrue to me under any law
or executive order by reason of such occupational status,’
Wickramasuriya has stated as thus in the Form I-508 submitted to US
authorities.
Posted by Thavam