Tensions have escalated between Argentina and Iran following Argentina’s request to Sri Lanka for the arrest of a top Iranian official allegedly involved in a deadly bombing in Buenos Aires in 1994. The Argentine government has identified the individual as Ahmad Vahidi, a member of Iranian President Raisi’s delegation, who is suspected of playing a role in the attack that claimed the lives of 85 people.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi’s presence in Sri Lanka sparked immediate controversy, with Argentina urging Sri Lankan authorities to detain him for extradition. The bombing, which targeted the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) building, remains one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Argentina’s history. Investigations have long pointed to Iranian involvement, although Tehran has consistently denied any responsibility.

In response to Argentina’s request, Iran swiftly denied Vahidi’s presence in Sri Lanka at the time, asserting that he had departed from Pakistan prior to the request. Iranian authorities dismissed the allegations against Vahidi as politically motivated and reiterated their stance on the matter.

Former TNA leader and ITAK Trincomalee District Parliamentarian R. Sampanthan has been granted leave of three months from attending Parliament sessions.

The proposal to provide three-months leave was passed in the Parliament today (25).

Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella brought up the proposal in the Parliament while it was affirmed by ITAK MP Charles Nirmalanathan.

Veteran Tamil politician R. Sampanthan, who is aged 91 years, is reported to be suffering from an illness.

In a scathing rebuttal of allegations by Malcom Cardinal Ranjith regarding the Easter Sunday attacks, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said Cardinal Ranjith either glosses over the responsibility of, or expressly absolves the two parties actually involved in the terrorist strikes.

Cardinal Ranjith made the following allegations against former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at a recent media conference:

• That the day after the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter Sunday attacks was handed over to me, I had spoken to the Cardinal over the phone and said that I had difficulties in implementing the recommendations in that report as it would entail the arrest of individuals and even the banning of organisations that were supportive of me.

• That I had delayed giving the Cardinal a copy of the first volume of the Presidential Commission report and that I had not given him the remaining volumes.

• That I had appointed a six-member cabinet sub-committee to selectively implement only a few of the recommendations made by the various Committees and Commissions appointed to inquire into the Easter Sunday attacks.

• That I had transferred the CID officers investigating the Easter Sunday attacks and even imprisoned one such senior officer in order to sabotage the investigation.

In response, Mr. Rajapaksa said, “With regard to the first allegation, I categorically state that I did NOT speak to the Cardinal over the phone after the Presidential Commission report was submitted to me and tell him that the recommendations of the Presidential Commission could not be implemented because that would entail the arrest of people and even the banning of organisations allied with me. It is a well-known fact that the Muslim community in general did not vote for me or support my candidacy at the Presidential election, so I cannot possibly have had any allies in any organisation that would need to be banned over complicity in the Easter Sunday attacks.

As for the second allegation, the report of the Presidential Commission was handed over to me on 1 February 2021. Having studied it myself and referred it to the Attorney General, it was handed over to the Speaker of Parliament on 23 February 2021 and by 1 March 2021 copies had been given to the Venerable Mahanayaka Theras, the Cardinal and the Catholic Bishops. There was no delay in handing over the report to the Cardinal.

After the Presidential Commission of Inquiry submitted its report, I appointed a six-member Cabinet Sub-committee to prioritize and apportion to the relevant government departments and agencies the task of implementing the recommendations in the reports of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry and the Select Committee of Parliament on the Easter Sunday attacks. Those familiar with public administration will know that the departments and agencies of the government cannot act without such instructions from the Cabinet.

In November 2019 the then Director of the CID was transferred by the Police Commission on the recommendation of the then IGP. That was by the Police Commission appointed under the 19th Amendment by the previous government. A few weeks later this officer was interdicted by the Police Commission over an investigation into the leaked recordings of his telephone conversations with the then Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake regarding the influencing of judges in an ongoing High Court case. Several months later, he was remanded by the Courts over an investigation into the alleged fabrication of evidence in a criminal case concerning a former police DIG. Hence, I reject the allegation that I transferred the CID Director and even placed him in remand custody in order to sabotage the Easter Sunday investigation.

This particular CID Director had been appointed to that office in 2017 and he continued to hold that position for over seven months after the Easter Sunday attacks. In the months prior to the Easter Sunday attacks, it was the CID that investigated the Vavunativu murders, the vandalizing of Buddha statues in Mawanella and the discovery of explosives in Wanathavilluwa involving the very same individuals and groups that perpetrated the Easter Sunday attacks. The Presidential Commission has observed that if the law enforcement authorities had been more vigilant, Zaharan and his group could have been apprehended before the Easter Sunday attacks took place. The failure to prevent the attack was a failure of the CID under that Director.

In his speech mentioned above, the Cardinal accused me of not having brought the perpetrators of the Easter Sunday bombings to justice. However, criminals have to be brought to justice not by politicians but by the police, the Attorney General’s Department and the Courts system working together. That process is now ongoing and according to the media, 93 persons are now facing legal proceedings in court for offences relating to those suicide bombings.

The Easter Sunday attacks were perpetrated by a group of Islamic extremists. The highest investigative arm of the then government – the CID – had for several months prior to the attacks, been investigating the activities of the very same individuals and groups that carried out the suicide bombings but failed to apprehend the terrorists before they struck. The public should take good note of the fact that His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith either glosses over the responsibility of, or expressly absolves the two parties mentioned above, while continuing to relentlessly attack and criticize me over the Easter Sunday suicide bombings,”

Chinese state energy giant Sinopec is pushing for greater access to Sri Lanka’s market, where rival India is also seeking to expand its presence, as it looks to build its first fully-controlled overseas refinery, reflecting a change in the firm’s global strategy to compensate for slowing demand growth at home.

Sinopec, the world’s largest oil refiner, is expected to complete a feasibility study by June for a plant at the Chinese-run Hambantota port, after winning Colombo’s approval last November, two senior industry sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

While the China-based sources say the investment, which Colombo pegged at $4.5 billion as the country’s largest-ever foreign investment, is commercially driven, neighbouring India is pushing a rival plan to build a fuel products pipeline to the island nation southeast of the subcontinent.

Sinopec’s effort to build a refinery with a more domestic orientation rather than the export-focused project sought by Sri Lanka, which has not previously been reported, puts it in direct competition with India’s interests in expanding its role as an energy supplier to the country. New Delhi-run Indian Oil Corp is the No.2 fuel supplier to the country, after Sri Lankan government-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corp.

India’s foreign ministry and Indian Oil Corp did not respond to requests for comment.

Sinopec, which has not publicly spelled out its strategy, is prioritising the Sri Lanka investment and another in Saudi Arabia under a newly launched investment arm, in an effort to leverage its expertise and deep pockets to expand globally as oil demand nears its peak in China as economic growth slows and electric vehicle adoption widens, the sources said.

Sinopec’s efforts mark a new trend in Chinese oil and gas investments abroad after mergers and acquisitions dried up to just $344 million in 2023, a fraction of the record $31 billion in 2012, according to LSEG data, following the 2014/15 oil price collapse and as Beijing tightened scrutiny over the finances of its national oil giants.
Sinopec is working to finalise details including the plant’s size and product configuration, while negotiating with Colombo over terms including greater access to the import-reliant Sri Lankan market, an element key for its final investment call, the sources said.

The south Asian nation, grappling with a dearth of foreign exchange, has sought a refinery that would deliver 20% of its fuel domestically and export the rest to generate much-needed hard currency.

Sri Lanka’s power and energy minister, Kanchana Wijesekera, told Reuters on Friday that the government is sticking to that requirement.

Sinopec, however, believes domestic sales would be more profitable, the two sources said, declining to be identified as the matter is not public.

The company is considering either a 160,000 barrel per day (bpd) plant or two 100,000-bpd plants built in phases, which in either case would be geared towards gasoline and diesel fuel, the sources said.

Sinopec declined comment.

FULL CONTROL

Sinopec sees Hambantota as among its top-priority projects, alongside a multi-billion-dollar plan to expand a refinery into a petrochemical complex at the Red Sea port of Yanbu in a joint venture with state-run Saudi Aramco, the two sources said.

Compared to its half-owned, higher-cost Yanbu plant built a decade ago and designed to supply the U.S. market, Sinopec could fully leverage its expertise in refinery design, engineering and operation in the Hambantota venture and thus cap overall costs.

Sinopec has in recent months sought more flexible terms for the project’s domestic marketing share but Colombo has not budged.

Sri Lanka’s only existing refinery, the 38,000 bpd Sapugaskanda plant commissioned in 1969, supplies less than 30% of its fuel needs.

Minister Kanchana told Reuters he expects Sinopec to sign an investment agreement by June.

CHINA VS INDIA

China and India are increasingly vying for influence in Sri Lanka.

In 2022, India funnelled in about $4 billion of assistance during Sri Lanka’s worst financial crisis in decades.
Since last year, New Delhi has proposed various energy “connectivity” projects including a $1.2 billion subsea power line and a fuel pipeline linking India with Sri Lanka’s Trincomalee port on the east coast, Sri Lanka Power and Energy Ministry Secretary Sulakshana Jayawardena said in late February.

India is also deepening its involvement in Sri Lanka’s power sector with solar projects and grid connectivity.
“Their dependency on China is not there in energy supplies,” said an Indian official directly aware of the pipeline discussions, declining to be identified because he is not authorised to speak with media on the subject.

“That is a sector where we have a significant stake. That will increase with the pipeline,” the Indian official said, adding that there has been significant progress on discussions for the multi-product pipeline, with the two sides seeking to formalise the arrangement “as soon as possible”.

China is a comparative latecomer to Sri Lanka but has since 2010 ploughed $6.7 billion into building the Hambantota port, highways and the country’s only coal power plant in Norochcholai.

At Hambantota, state-owned China Merchants Group owns 85% of port operator Hambantota International Port Group under a 99-year lease and earlier this year agreed a $392 million deal to build a logistics and storage hub in Colombo port under Beijing’s sprawling Belt & Road Initiative.

Last September, Sinopec started a fuel import and distribution business in Sri Lanka with 150 petrol stations, sourcing fuel mostly from Singapore, which Colombo expected to save the government about $500 million in foreign exchange over the next two years.

Vice Minister of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party Sun Haiyan is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka today.

According to The Thinakaran Newspaper Vice Minister of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party Sun Haiyan will arrive in Sri Lanka today on a two-day official visit.

During this visit, she is scheduled to hold discussions with high-ranking government officials, including President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.