Rishad Bathiudeen (born November 27, 1972) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n parliamentarian and former senior cabinet minister. He is the leader of the

All Ceylon Makkal Congress The All Ceylon Makkal Congress (; ''Samasta Lanka Mahajana Kongrasaya'') is a registered political party in Sri Lanka. It was founded in 2005 by Rishad Bathiudeen. Since 2020, the All Ceylon Makkal Congress has been a constituent party of the Sam ...

(ACMC) Party, a registered political party in Sri Lanka. Bathiudeen was first elected as a Member of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

(MP) from the Vanni Electoral District in December 2001 and re-elected in April 2004, April 2010 and 2015 June from the same Electoral District, which comprises Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullathivu Administrative Districts. Rishad Bathiudeen holds a National Diploma in Technology (NDT) in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

from the

University of Moratuwa The University of Moratuwa (also referred as Moratuwa University) ( ''Moraṭuwa Wiśwawidyālaya'', ) is a public university in Sri Lanka. It is located on the bank of the Bolgoda Lake in Katubedda, Moratuwa, a suburb of Sri Lanka's capital C ...

. On 19 October 2020, he was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department during a raid in Dehiwela, and charged with criminal misappropriation of public funds, and violation of election laws with regard to the 2019 presidential election.

Legal Issues

Wilpattu deforestation

Environmental organizations filed a writ application in court against the illegal clearing of the Kallaru Forest Reserve and the construction of a housing project, which is adjacent to the

Wilpattu National Park Wilpattu National Park () is a national park in Sri Lanka. The unique feature of this park is the existence of "Willus" (natural lakes) – natural, sand-rimmed water basins or depressions that fill with rainwater. Located on the northwest coast ...

. The Court of Appeal upheld the view that it was illegal to cut down trees and construct houses in a protected forest reserve and held the Minister responsible, Bathuideen, accountable to the damage by exercising the '

Polluter Pays Principle In environmental law, the polluter pays principle is enacted to make the Party (law), party responsible for producing pollution responsible for paying for the damage done to the natural environment. This principle has also been used to put the cos ...

' under Environmental law. Bathuideen was hence ordered to bear the full cost, which is over Rs. 1 billion, to reforest the Kallaru Reserve.

Alleged ties with extremists

In the aftermath of the

2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related Terrorism, terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, two smaller ...

Bathiudeen was accused of having ties with the bombers and interfering with the investigations in an attempt to release arrested suspects. According to the Army Commander

Mahesh Senanayake General N.U.M. Mahesh W. Senanayke, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP is a retired Sri Lankan Army senior officer who served as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army from 2017 to 2019. Senanayake had previously been the Commander, Security Forces Headquarte ...

, Bathiudeen called him three times first to confirm if a person was arrested and after ignoring him twice the commander confirmed that the person was arrested. Bathiudeen then mentioned the suspect's father and asked what can be done to which the army commander replied asking him to call back in one and a half years as he has the authority to detain him that long. Further a house belonging to his sister was rented out to the terrorists to which Bathiudeen stated that his sister was in Canada. Further he denied that his brother had any business dealings with the father of the bombers and also stated that the IDB under him provided materials to the terrorists legally as they provide materials to small and medium enterprises and did not know their use. As a result of the allegations members of the Joint Opposition signed a No Confidence Motion against Bathiudeen consisting of 10 charges including the arrest of Abdul Hanuth who was a secretary to Bathiudeen and a Maulavi who was an advisor to Bathiudeen. Further it also accused him of influencing the police not to arrest suspects under Prevention of Terrorism Act allowing them to be give bail on 6 May 2019, On 31 May, Athuraliye Rathana Thera began a hunger protest demanding the removal of Muslim politicians with alleged ties to bad people including Bathiudeen and Mahamood Lebbe Alim Mohamed Hizbullah. There were several protests by Sinhala and Tamil as well as Hindu, Christian and Muslim figures and organisations in support of the thera, including by relatives of the bomb blasts. The protests were also supported by the

Mahanayaka Mahanayaka (also spelled as Maha Nayaka, Maha Nayake) theros are high-ranking Buddhist monks who oversee and regulate the Buddhist clergy in Theravada Buddhist countries. The title ''Maha Nayaka'' translates to English as 'Great Leader' and it is co ...

theras and Cardinal

Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don Albert Malcolm Ranjith (; born 15 November 1947) is a Sri Lankan Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Colombo since 2009. He was made a cardinal in 2010. Ranjith previously served as auxiliary bishop of Colombo (1 ...

visited the fasting thera. On 5 June, the All Island Canteen Owners' Association Chairman (AICOA) complained that Bathiudeen abused the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) to mistreat Sinhalese businessmen and also distributing food commodities unfit for human consumption through

Lanka Sathosa Lanka Sathosa also known as Sathosa is a wholesale and retail chain located in Sri Lanka. It is considered to be the largest state-owned retail chain in the country and was established in 2005. Sathosa was incorporated as a state-owned enterpris ...

. On 7 June, S. B Dissanayake and

Dilan Perera Boddhiya Baduge Dilan Priyanjan Anslam Perera, MP (born 19 April 1962) (known as ''Dilan Perera'') is a Sri Lankan politician. Current Member of Parliament for Badulla District, he was the former State Minister of Highways, State Minister of Hou ...

and several other organisations filed charges against Bathiudeen to the CID including two murders, providing Sathosa vehicles to extremists as well as using state owned resources and removing whistleblowers from ministries after resigning. The Sinhala Buddhist Nationalist Ravana Balaya also provided a file with evidence against him to the Police Headquarters to be sent to the CID. In turn Bathiudeen filed a complaint against S. B and

Wimal Weerawansa Weerasangilige Wimal Weerawansa (, ) (born 7 March 1970) is a Sri Lankan politician, Member of Parliament and current leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF). Weerawansa has served many cabinet positions, including Minister of Industries from ...

. On 24 April 2021,

Sri Lanka Police Sri Lanka Police (; ) is the civilian national police force of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The police force is responsible for enforcing criminal and traffic law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the p ...

arrested Bathiudeen in connection with the attacks. Bathiudeen's brother was also arrested as well.

Alleged abuse of workers in household

J. Ishalini, a 16-year-old domestic worker who was living in Bathiudeen's house was hospitalized on 3 July 2021 for burn injuries and died on the 15 July. She had been brought to the Bathiudeen household in 2020 when she was still 15 years old. Judicial Medical Officer (JMO)'s postmortem report showed evidence of possible long term sexual abuse for a long period but could not confirm if it happened in the Bathiudeen household or in her own household. The investigations resulted in two maids accusing Shiyabdeen Ismath, the brother-in-law of Bathiudeen of raping them. Shiyabdeen Ayesha, wife of Badiutheen, her father Mohammed Shiybdeen, brother Shiyabdeen Ismath and the broker who brought Ishalini to the Bathiudeen household, Ponnaiah Pandaram were arrested by the police. In August 2021 another worker alleged sexual abuse and the police claimed that there had been another suicide of a domestic worker in the past.

References

External links