In a masterly analysis running into 70 pages, Justice Shiranee Tilakawardene has meticulously dissected the fraudulent Water’s Edge transaction which lawyers for the two public interest petitioners, Messrs. Sugathapala Medis and R.M.B. Senananayake, said of corruption.’’ Without benefit of the evidence, painstakingly gathered and presented for the scrutiny of the Supreme Court, the public by and large had long ago concluded that the whole deal was crooked. But people cynically accepted that that is how the papadam crumbles in this sovereign people’s democratic socialist republic of ours. No wonder then the evocative Sinhala expression, kaata kiyannada? (Whom to tell?) that is heard with increasing frequency nowadays. But, as this judgment and some others delivered recently have proved, there is a God above and there is the Supreme Court to go to.

President J.R. Jayewardene, whatever his faults and failures, was a leader with a grand vision. He made some big bold strokes during his tenure such as liberalizing the long-shackled economy, telescoping the gigantic Mahaweli project into just a few years and embarking on the Kotte development catalyzed by the building of the new parliament there that took the pressure off Colombo bursting at the seams. It was this last scheme that paved the way for a crony of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Ronnie Pieris by name, to make some very big bucks with the patronage he received from no less than the Head of State and Head of Government of this country vested with all powers other than making a man into a woman as JRJ once famously remarked.

Kotte, despite its proximity to the capital city, was a sleepy backwater before the grand plan was unrolled. It had its paddy fields and buffalo wallows as well as the pastoral flavour of the rural countryside. While there was highland there, much of its terrain was low-lying, making it a giant sponge performing vital water-retaining and flood protection functions from time immemorial. While the development of this area was indeed an act of a visionary, a very tight regulatory regime to ensure that the baby was not thrown with the bathwater was a sine qua non. Sadly, such a regulatory environment barely exists in this country. In fact the reverse holds true as is evident everywhere, most so in Colombo, where town planning appears to be a matter of history and an inept and corrupt Municipal Council continues to hold sway.

The judgment has faulted the former president for a breach of public trust. Implicit in the determination are failures of organizations like the Urban Development Authority who had a major role to play in matters of this nature. It is a sad but harsh reality in this country today that sycophancy is more the rule than the exception and if the big man (or woman) is keen on something, there are stooges without number running to do their bidding right or wrong. The hoary folk idiom has it that the king’s dog is fiercer than the king. So if the boss wants one, two are delivered; rules are not merely bent but are mutilated beyond recognition. The judgment analyzes what happened in this case with Ronnie Pieris, the eminence grise in this instance, choosing not to take part in the court proceedings though notice was served on him. The judgment notes that it has been established by his tax declaration that he had profited to the tune of Rs. 60 million from the transaction ``despite having no disclosed association with it.’’

He and his associates sold the company with the assets, benefits and privileges conferred on it at a fat profit to another party who proceeded to invest in the development to create Water’s Edge as we now know it. While the court has ordered the UDA to pay the developer the cost of construction and has also directed that the possibility of moving government agencies, hamstrung by space to the site which is easily accessible from the city and is conveniently located, be explored, it appears that the buyer has saddled himself with a massive loss as a result of the deal. As we have reported today, Mr. Sumal Perera who bought the company, and was a respondent in the case, intends making a statement in the next few days. No doubt he will explain there what his intentions are with regards to those who subscribed to membership of the golf club, bought land there for building homes, employees of the country club-like facility established there and a host of other matters. Without doing violence to the judgment or the sprit of the determination, it may be possible for the UDA to whom the land reverts to deal with the various issues in a practical way. At the end of the day, the legal maxim of caveat emptor (buyer beware) must be ringing loud and clear in the ears of those who will have to count their losses.