News
Raju Radha says he is occupying Green Lanka building legally (Update)
Businessman Raju Radha has said that he is staying in the Green Lanka building located at Navam Mawatha in Kompanna Vidiya based on his legal right.
He expressed these views under the ‘right to reply’ with regard to the news titled “Building occupied by Raju Radha, entangled in shady dealings!” published on ‘Sri Lanka Mirror’ website on June 05.
He said that the building in question is owned by Green Lanka Property Developers Pvt. Limited, of which he is a director.
He also said that there are no residencies in the building and that they only have offices.
A lawyer’s office belonging to former Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) director – Ravi Waidyalankara and the Embassy of Cyprus are also located in the building, he said.
Meanwhile, ‘Sri Lanka Mirror’ learns that the nightclub owned by well known businessman Nalin Fonseka, which was located in the building, is now closed after not being reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearly 60 people entered the ‘Asia Capital Institute’ located in the building on June 03-04, and later 23 of them were arrested by the police and produced in the court.
However, they were later released on bail by the court.
The group had said that they entered the building to paint it.
Ravi Pradeep, who is said to be the leader of the group, has told the police that he went there based on a request to enter the building by an individual named ‘Soysa’, who is said to be an officer of the Mercantile Investments and Finance PLC.
Pradeep has said that he was told that Mercantile Investments owns the building, and he entered the building accordingly.
‘Sri Lanka Mirror’ learnt that Gerard George Ondaatjie, who is the largest stakeholder at Mercantile Investment and Finance PLC, had been overseas at the time of the incident.
It was also reported that the aforementioned ‘Soysa’ is the Head of the Recovery Department of Mercantile Investment and Finance PLC.
Meanwhile, a case filed by Mercantile Investment and Finance PLC against Green Lanka Property Developers (Pvt) Limited at the Colombo Commercial High Court, is still ongoing.
——————————-
( Previous News – 05 June 2023 1:17pm )
Building occupied by Raju Radha, entangled in shady dealings!
A group of around 50 people have reportedly tried to take over the Green Lanka building at Navam Mawatha in Colombo 02, after gradually entering the building since Saturday night (03).
The building is said to have been forcibly occupied by Indian businessman Raju Radha for some time now.
The first group of around 12 persons had entered the building around 10.45 pm last Saturday, and entered the sixth and seventh floors of the building where the Indian businessman is residing.
This was followed by a group of nearly 50 people entering the same floors around 1.00 am yesterday.
Subsequently, the Kompanna Vidiya police had entered the building, removed the trespassers and recorded statements.
Officials of Mercantile Investments – the company currently owning the building, have also given statements to the police.
Police later said that 23 people who were arrested for trespassing the building were released.
However, reports say that the police chief had acted in favour of Mr. Radha. A ministry-level inquiry is also to be launched in this regard, reports add.
According to reports, a retired Senior Superintendent of Police by the name Bandula, has been tasked with the building’s security by Mr. Radha.
‘Shady dealings’
This nine-storey building initially belonging to Green Lanka has been mortgaged by its owners to Mercantile Investments, a leasing company located in Kollupitiya.
The leasing company has filed a case in the Supreme Court that the Indian national Raju Radha is illegally occupying and using this building through a Malaysian company, Asia Capital PLC.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has launched an investigation into the allegations that Mr. Radha has been staying in the building since 2014 with the backing of political and high-ranking police officials and had rented out the floors of the building to several companies.
The second floor of the building has been rented by Pastor Jerome Fernando to conduct religious services.
It is also reported several relatives of the Thondaman family, former Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) director – Ravi Waidyalankara and his son, as well as former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s private secretary – Uditha Lokubandara, have houses in this building.
It was reported that a nightclub owned by well known businessman Nalin Fonseka, is also located in the building.
A cafe owned by Raju Radha’s daughter is located at the rooftop, reports add.
Previously, media had reported that some individuals in this building had been accused of forcibly seizing property and land worth billions after deceiving wives of Colombo businessmen.
News
First capacity-building program under NCGG – SLIDA MoU concludes successfully
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the National Centre for Good Governance of India (NCGG) and Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA) was signed during the State Visit of President of Sri Lanka, H.E. Anura Kumara Disanayaka to India in December 2024 for training and capacity building of 1500 Sri Lankan civil service officers over a period of five years.
The first program under the MoU was successfully held at NCGG from 21 April to 02 May 2025, and was attended by 41 officers. Based on the request of the Government of Sri Lanka, the theme of the program was ‘digitization in governance’. The program featured a series of sessions focused on key areas such as digital service delivery, digital public infrastructure, financial inclusion through digital payments, and innovations in public grievance redressal systems. Senior officials and domain experts delivered presentations on flagship Indian initiatives in the digital domain, including Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, e-Office, GeM, Aadhaar, PM Gati Shakti, among others.
At an interaction session with participants in the inaugural program organized on 08 May 2025 at SLIDA, the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, H.E. Santosh Jha underscored that capacity building is an important pillar of the development cooperation between the two countries, with Sri Lanka being among the largest recipients of scholarships and capacity building initiatives offered by India. He highlighted that, demonstrating India’s continued commitment to enhancing capacity-building opportunities for Sri Lankans, Prime Minister of India had announced additional training avenues to 700 Sri Lankan citizens annually during his recent State visit. In that context, the High Commissioner said that the participants in the first NCGG-SLIDA programme also represented the first set of Sri Lankan nationals to receive training as part of the significantly enhanced capacity-building endeavour of India that will now benefit 1000 Sri Lankans annually.
The interaction session was also attended by Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Mr S. Aloka Bandara; Director General of SLIDA, Mr A.V. Janadara; senior officials and faculty members of SLIDA; among others.
In view of the highly positive feedback from the participants in the inaugural NCGG-SLIDA program, based on request from SLIDA, a second program on the same theme under the MoU is now being planned for another batch of around 40 officers for early June 2025.
News
Bell 212 helicopter crash : Death toll rises to 06 (Update)
News
LG Polls: EC sets deadline to submit campaign finance reports
First capacity-building program under NCGG – SLIDA MoU concludes successfully
Bell 212 helicopter crash : Death toll rises to 06 (Update)
