Half of Tiran’s bank accounts released

By: Munusamy Parameshwaree reporting for Sri Lanka Guardian

(October, 15, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Supreme Court today (Oct. 15th) amended an earlier decision to freeze bank accounts of Standard Newspapers Limited, the publisher of ''Maubima' newspaper and owned by Tiran Alles.
Accordingly, the court ordered the release of Rs. 30 million out of Rs. 60 million in an account maintained at the Borella branch of the Seylan Bank by a company owned by Alles on a suitable surety. A panel comprising Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Shirani Tilakawardena and Nimal Gamini Samaratunga gave the order.

Tiran Alles, Chairman of Standard Newspapers Ltd and former Chairman, Airports and Aviation Services and RADA , has been remanded till June 13, on charges of alleged links with the LTTE. Tiran is the eldest son of former D.S. Senanayake Principal, R.I.T. Alles and his wife Rohini.

Alles has been an erstwhile companion of Mangala Samaraweera since a little before the General Election of 2004. So while it may not necessarily be a life-long friendship, as Tiran’s father says, his son is the kind of man who will go to any lengths for a friend once the bond is forged. Samaraweera himself describes him as a ‘close personal friend.’ It was reported in the aftermath of Samaraweera’s sacking from the cabinet of President Rajapaksa that he was soft-peddling many of his issues with the administration on account of the harassment that was meted out to Alles.

Tiran Alles was Mahinda Rajapaksa’s emissary to the North-East during the run-up to the Presidential Elections in November 2005.

His publishing house printed the popular newspapers ‘Mawbima’ and ‘Sunday Standard’.
Mawbima (Motherland), the Sinhala mainstream weekly newspaper was special in that it regularly published articles critical of corruption in government circles and against the military actions on the Tamil population in the country. The paper, which started in June 2006, had quickly reached a circulation of over a hundred thousand copies. Mawbima (and its English language sister paper) was known for its open and democratic character, as it gave space to all shades of political opinion in the country.