05-18-2004, 12:02 PM
Chandrika alliance accused of trying to implicate Hakeem
By Sinha Ratnatunga
Correspondent
Colombo: President Chandrika Kumaratunga's ruling Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has been accused of trying to implicate the leader of a minority political party in a sex-scandal.
Following the marathon seven-hour effort on April 22 to elect the Speaker of the newly-elected Parliament, a vote UPFA lost to the opposition, Kumaratunga's coalition has employed a new campaign to win today's elections for the post of deputy speaker and chairman of parliamentary committees.
The elections are seen as a test of strength for the new government elected on April 2 because the UPFA, with 106 seats does not have even a simple majority in the 225-seat Parliament.
A pro-opposition Sunday newspaper published a detailed account of two MPs of the Muslim Congress together with a group of UPFA politicians about duping a woman to be video-taped saying she had a clandestine affair with Muslim Congress leader Rauf Hakeem.
On Sunday night, state run television channels denied the newspaper account and broke all ethics codes by airing the woman's account of a clandestine relationship with Hakeem with a visual of the woman's face.
Most of the video was poorly recorded and clearly edited, but was shown both during the night's main news bulletin with a fuller version immediately thereafter.
Yesterday morning however, the editor of the Sunday newspaper that originally ran the story, played on a TV channel an audio-tape of a recorded telephone conversation he had with the divorced woman. In that tape, she castigates the President and her partymen for tricking her, and offering her a job in the US if she admitted to a sexual relationship with the married Hakeem. She said she was also asked to say that the Muslim Congress leader consumed alcohol.
Hakeem has denied these allegations saying that the woman had only asked him to help with securing a job overseas and accused the government of resorting to "despicable tactics".
Yesterday morning, his Muslim Congress condemned these tactics by the government and said they would continue to vote with the opposition.
Hakeem was sacked as Minister of Ports and Shipping by President Kumaratunga in mid-2001, which immediately triggered the collapse of her government a few months later when the Muslim Congress and several key ministers of that government crossed-over and joined the opposition.
President Kumaratunga's efforts to win the support of the other smaller parties like the Workers Congress and the National Heritage Party of the Buddhist monks have not yielded results.
By Sinha Ratnatunga
Correspondent
Colombo: President Chandrika Kumaratunga's ruling Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has been accused of trying to implicate the leader of a minority political party in a sex-scandal.
Following the marathon seven-hour effort on April 22 to elect the Speaker of the newly-elected Parliament, a vote UPFA lost to the opposition, Kumaratunga's coalition has employed a new campaign to win today's elections for the post of deputy speaker and chairman of parliamentary committees.
The elections are seen as a test of strength for the new government elected on April 2 because the UPFA, with 106 seats does not have even a simple majority in the 225-seat Parliament.
A pro-opposition Sunday newspaper published a detailed account of two MPs of the Muslim Congress together with a group of UPFA politicians about duping a woman to be video-taped saying she had a clandestine affair with Muslim Congress leader Rauf Hakeem.
On Sunday night, state run television channels denied the newspaper account and broke all ethics codes by airing the woman's account of a clandestine relationship with Hakeem with a visual of the woman's face.
Most of the video was poorly recorded and clearly edited, but was shown both during the night's main news bulletin with a fuller version immediately thereafter.
Yesterday morning however, the editor of the Sunday newspaper that originally ran the story, played on a TV channel an audio-tape of a recorded telephone conversation he had with the divorced woman. In that tape, she castigates the President and her partymen for tricking her, and offering her a job in the US if she admitted to a sexual relationship with the married Hakeem. She said she was also asked to say that the Muslim Congress leader consumed alcohol.
Hakeem has denied these allegations saying that the woman had only asked him to help with securing a job overseas and accused the government of resorting to "despicable tactics".
Yesterday morning, his Muslim Congress condemned these tactics by the government and said they would continue to vote with the opposition.
Hakeem was sacked as Minister of Ports and Shipping by President Kumaratunga in mid-2001, which immediately triggered the collapse of her government a few months later when the Muslim Congress and several key ministers of that government crossed-over and joined the opposition.
President Kumaratunga's efforts to win the support of the other smaller parties like the Workers Congress and the National Heritage Party of the Buddhist monks have not yielded results.
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