 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Milinda Moragoda" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Asoka Milinda Moragoda | |
|---|---|
| අශෝක මිලින්ද මොරගොඩ | |
.jpg) Moragoda in 2009 | |
| High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India | |
| In office August 2021–September 2023 | |
| President | Gotabaya Rajapaksa Ranil Wickremesinghe |
| Preceded by | Austin Fernando |
| Succeeded by | Kshenuka Senewiratne |
| Senior Adviser to the President | |
| In office 4 May 2011–9 January 2015 | |
| President | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
| Minister of Justice and Law Reforms | |
| In office 2 July 2009 – 9 April 2010 | |
| President | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
| Prime Minister | Ratnasiri Wickremanayake |
| Preceded by | Amarasiri Dodangoda |
| Succeeded by | Athauda Seneviratne |
| Minister of Tourism | |
| In office 28 January 2007 – 2 July 2009 | |
| President | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
| Prime Minister | Ratnasiri Wickremanayake |
| Deputy | Faiszer Musthapha |
| Preceded by | Anura Bandaranaike |
| Minister of Economic Reform,Science and Technology | |
| In office 12 December 2001 – 2 April 2004 Non-Cabinet Minister until 28 February 2002 | |
| President | Chandrika Kumaratunga |
| Prime Minister | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
| Deputy Minister of Policy Development and Implementation | |
| In office 28 February 2002 – 11 February 2004 | |
| President | Chandrika Kumaratunga |
| Prime Minister | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
| Minister | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
| Member of Parliament forColombo District | |
| In office 5 December 2001 – 22 April 2010 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1964-06-04)4 June 1964 (age 61) |
| Political party | Sri Lanka Freedom Party (2011–present) United National Party (2000 − 2007) |
| Other political affiliations | Sri Lanka National Congress (2009–2011) United People's Freedom Alliance (2007–present) |
| Spouse | Jennifer Moragoda |
| Relations | Moragodage Christopher Walter Pinto (father) |
| Alma mater | International Institute for Management Development Royal College Colombo |
| Website | www www |
Asoka Milinda Moragoda (Sinhala:අශෝක මිලින්ද මොරගොඩ, born 4 June 1964) is a Sri Lankan politician and businessman. He served as theHigh Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India with cabinet rank between 2021 and 2023.[1] and, formerCabinet Minister andMember of Parliament representing theColombo District from 2001 to 2010, who served as the Minister of Justice and Law Reform (2009–2010), Minister of Tourism (2007–2009); Minister for Economic Reform, Science and Technology and Deputy Minister for Plan Implementation and Development (2002–2004). His last political post was that of Opposition Leader of theColombo Municipal Council andSenior Adviser to former PresidentMahinda Rajapakse.
In 2007 the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) accused then opposition parliamentarian Moragoda of large scale corruption during his time as a UNP minister. In a bid to dodge prosecution Moragoda crossed over to the ruling UPFA government and was appointed Minister of Justice and Law Reform.[2][dubious –discuss]
He was born to Moragodage Christopher Walter Pinto, a diplomat, and Yasodha Neiliya Jayawardena, daughter ofU. N. Jayawardena the former Governor of theCentral Bank of Ceylon. He attendedRoyal College Colombo and graduated with anMBA from theIMD in Lausanne Switzerland. Moragoda was aFellow of theWeatherhead Centre for International Affairs (then known as the Centre for International Affairs) atHarvard University from 1994 to 1995.
Before he entered politics, Moragoda was the Founder Chairman of Mercantile Merchant Bank Ltd (MMBL), an investment bank and private equity company in Sri Lanka. He was an alternate director on the founding board of theColombo Stock Exchange.[3]
During his political career of almost 10 years, Moragoda has worked in a number of key areas. He was a principal Government negotiators in the peace talks of 2002–2004. He was Minister of Economic Reform. He also gave leadership to the development and implementation of Sri Lanka’s ICT policy, E-Sri Lanka.[4][5][6]
Moragoda was first entered to Parliament as aNational List Member in 2000 with theUnited National Party (UNP) and was re-elected in 2001 and in 2004 from theColombo District.[7]
Upon crossing over the government Moragoda was appointed as the Minister of Tourism by PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa. During his tenure, he was able to successfully implement the Tourism Act of 2001.[8] In July 2009 he was appointed as Minister of Justice and Law Reform. Even though he sat and voted with the government, he remained a member of the opposition UNP until 2010 when he started the Sri Lanka National Congress (SLNC). The SLNC was disbanded in 2011 when Milinda joined theSri Lanka Freedom Party, the main party of UPFA led by PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa. In the 2010 general election he lost his parliamentary seat.
In 2011 he became the UPFA's mayoral candidate in the October 2011 municipal election in Colombo.[9] He was elected to Colombo Municipal Council, becoming its opposition leader.
In 2007 Moragoda's party was in the opposition having lost the 2005 elections to theUPFA. As the UPFA Government sought to expose corruption during the UNP regime the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) released a report accusing Moragoda of widespread corruption and abuse of power.[2][dubious –discuss]
Mercantile Credit Ltd, a subsidiary of Mercantile Merchant Bank, founded by Moragoda was found to defaulted on loans of 4.7 Billion Rupees (which had been obtained by providing false information) while Moragoda was Minister for Economic Reform. COPE conducted three inquiries into these loans and their defaulting but on each occasion the investigations were never allowed to reach the final stages due to political pressure.[2][dubious –discuss]
In 2002 Lanka Marine Service (Pvt) Limited owned by state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation which sat on an 8.5-acre plot in the Colombo harbour was sold to the Sri Lankan conglomerateJohn Keells Holdings. The Supreme Court ruled that as then PERC chairman, Dr. P.B. Jayasundara and Executive Director of JKH Susantha Ratnayake had acted with dishonest intent in the sale of LMSL shares. The Bribery Commission also began investigations into criminal charges against Dr. Jayasundara, former Ministers Milinda Moragoda (PERC was under him) and Karu Jayasuriya (CPC was under him) on the charge of abusing public property in connection with this deal.[10][11]
Before the investigation could reach conclude both Moragoda and Jayasriya crossed over to the government. Reporting on the privatisation of Lanka Marine Service COPE stated that by his actions Moragoda had at the very least incurred a loss of 1.7 Bn rupees for the government.[2][dubious –discuss]
The COPE report also alleged severe irregularities in the privatisation ofSri Lanka Insurance which happened under the tenure of Moragoda. The report stated that Moragoda created a loss of over 3 Bn Rupees for the government solely through non-compliance with the 4th term of the contract. These investigations too were not concluded before Moragoda crossed over to the government.[12][dubious –discuss]
Leaked US Embassy cables show Moragoda to be a long time information source of the US Embassy in Colombo. The cables also state the US Government's interest in Moragoda as their key partner in Sri Lanka. Writing to Washington in 2003, then US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ashley Wills says of Moragoda:
[Regarding] the U.S., the intelligent, articulate Moragoda is a perfect fit. born in Washington, D.C, he is a dual national Amcit (please protect) married to an American, with plenty of Washington connections, many from his days as a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and at Harvard. A "big picture" person, Moragoda is also highly aware that the U.S. is the most powerful country in the world, and he feels that it is better that Sri Lanka recognize that fact and work within it.[13]
Moragoda has served as a member of theCommission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, which was co-chaired byMadeleine Albright andHernando de Soto.
He has founded a number of non-profit organisations. Among them is the Milinda Moragoda Institute for People's Empowerment, under whose aegis operates a humanitarian de-mining programme in the North and East which has been in operation since 2002[14] and Apeksha, a free English Education Programme for children of low income families.[15]
