Of pirates and a privateer with a Midas

touch

Avant-Garde Maritime Services Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi (right) with

former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Monday, 9 November 2015

The Minister of Justice and the Minister of
Law and Order are eminent practitioners
of the law. They both had good reasons
to say what they said during the AvantGarde floating armoury debate.
The Minster of Law and Order Tilak
Marapana is a former Attorney General.
The Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa
Rajapakshe is a former Chairman of the Bar Association.

Both are trial lawyers who rely on the law. We cannot and we should not
expect them to concern themselves with abstract notions of ethical
proprieties when clearly the law is on their side.
The Minister of Justice in the course of his speech alluded to agreements
entered into. When the situation demanded, I as Minister of Justice studied
all the relevant material. There are agreements entered in to. These are
intertwined with a gamut of international law. There are interactions with
other countries. There has been certain dialogues with the Security Council
of the United Nations. [Translated from the unedited Hansard] The
Minister did not specify what the agreements were or the parties to the
agreement. He certainly did not expand on the dialogues with the UN
Security Council.
At its 7,309th meeting, the UN Security Council expressed its continued
grave concern over piracy off the coast of Somalia despite a sharp decline
in attacks. On 12 November 2014 the Security Council renewed for another
year its authorisations, first agreed upon in 2008, for international action to
fight the crime in cooperation with Government authorities.
Through the unanimous adoption of resolution 2184 (2014) under Chapter
VII of the United Nations Charter, the council renewed its call upon states
and regional organisations that had the capacity to do so to fight ongoing
sea crimes by deploying naval vessels, arms and military aircraft and
through seizures of boats, vessels and weapons used in the commission of
those crimes.
Probably, the Minister of Justice has further information linking the expertise
of Retired Major Nissanka Senadhipathi to the Security Council resolution.
If the Galle Floating Armoury was a sequel to certain dialogues with the UN
Security Council and that onerous responsibility undertaken by the Sri
Lankan state was outsourced to Retired Major Nissanka Senadhipathi, this is
our first intimation of that earth shattering event. It is curious that the
Minister of External Affairs did not take part in the debate.
There seems to be an abundant supply of Red Herrings in the turbulent
waters of the Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka has taken a lead in combating
pirates with privateers.
Maritime Midas
We should learn more about this innovative enterprise which according to
the Minster of Justice has brought in to the country Rs. 16,000
million in foreign exchange of which it has paid Rs. 35,00 million
to the national exchequer. It is time to discover and unravel the
Maritime Midas who has had the foresight to retain a mouth
piece who could deliver at Hulftsdorp and the House at
Diyawanna with equal tenacity.
Avant-Garde Maritime Services Ltd. (AGMS) is a subsidiary of

Avant-Garde Security Services Ltd. and incorporated on 24 June 2011 under

the Companies Act (reference: NO.7 of 2007) of Sri Lanka. It has entered
into a joint venture with Government Owned Business Undertaking (GOBU)
of Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Ltd. (RALL) of Sri Lanka to provide infrastructure
facilities for international maritime security services.
The company website, www.avantmaritime.com, informs anyone who cares
to probe that the Parent Company Avant Garde Security Services (Pvt) Ltd,
is the largest security company in Sri Lanka employing over 6,500
personnel. It has an unblemished record of over 17 years providing land
based security to many organisations including key blue chip companies,
most of the banks and financial institutions.
Avant-Garde Maritime Services Ltd. provides a comprehensive range of
total risk mitigation solutions to the global maritime industry and also
engaged in the business of providing of total logistical assistance to vessels
transiting the Indian Ocean.
Avant-Garde Maritime Services has created a network of facilities in
strategic locations to ensure maritime security companies are assured of
obtaining weapons and associated items for passage through piracy risk
area and handing over them to be under the control of AGMS/ RALL officers
at the relevant destination ports before repatriation of sea marshals.
AGMS is a proud Signatory Company of the ICoC (International Code of
Conduct), secured SAMI (Security Association Maritime Industry)
membership and is in the process of getting affiliated to legitimate
international maritime agencies, the says.
Avant Garde is unique in comparison to other Maritime Security Companies
for it has the services of more than 20 retired Admirals, Generals, Rear
Admirals, Major Generals including Admirals from Oman and India and a
host of other senior officers of the armed forces, senior officials of the
police, civil servants and maritime professionals in conducting its
operations.
The Wall Street Journal and the Guardian of the UK has reported on the
activities of Avant-Garde Maritime Services Ltd. It has identified the
company as one working closely with the Government of Sri Lanka.
Thousands of weapons

Avant-Garde Maritime Services (AGMS), a Sri Lankan company that works

in partnership with the countrys Government, is one of the major operators
of floating armouries. The companys chairman, Nissanka Senadhipathi,
said there were thousands of weapons on his companys ships. AGMS
charges $ 25 a day to store the weapons and ammunition, with 800 to
1,000 movements on and off the armouries each month.
The Guardian proceeds to explain that Sri
Lanka has established itself as a leader of
the armouries, which are partly run by
the countrys navy and have been
approved by the Security Association for
the Maritime Industry.

[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/10/pirate-weapons-floatingarmouries]
The Wall Street Journal in a story datelined Gulf of Oman 3 February 2015
in a report captioned How floating armories help guard cargo ships from
pirates makes a passing reference to Avant-Garde Maritime Services.
The MV Mahanuwara, a 40-year-old supply ship that works off the southern
Sri Lankan port of Galle, can hold a thousand guns and the ammunition
needed to use them.
The report adds: The international shipping industry spent around $ 1
billion on armed guards and equipment in the Indian Ocean in 2013,
according to Oceans beyond Piracy, a non-profit group based in Colorado.
The Wall Street Journal report has some interesting details about the
operation of floating armouries.
The proliferation of armory ships is fanning concerns. There is no official
record of how many armories exist or who operates them. Nor are there any
regulatory bodies overseeing such enterprises in international waters.
International standards for private-security firms dont address floating
armories. In theory, the ships are overseen by the nations whose flags they
carry, but some in the industry say vessels dont always declare they are

armories. The regulatory environment allows companies whose operators

may not be licensed to use or transfer weapons and ammunition to act with
impunity, said a December report by the Omega Research Foundation, a
British non-profit group focused on the arms industry.
The WSJ report says that the game draws many players and there are times
when things go wrong.
In October 2013, the MV Seaman Guard Ohio, an armoury operated by
Washington, D.C.-based AdvanFort International Inc., drifted into Indian
waters. Indian authorities seized the vessel and arrested its crew and
passengers. Onboard were 35 assault rifles and 5,680 rounds of
ammunition, Indian officials said. Last July, AdvanFort said the charges
against the 35 men on board had been dropped after eight months. The
report has some ominous findings. Critics say the armories themselves
could be targets for attack by pirates or terrorists.
Industry regulation
India, fearful that armouries present a security risk, is pushing the
International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, to develop
guidelines for regulating the industry. In a 2012 report, the UN Security
Council committee on Somalia and Eritrea said that the armoury business
was uncontrolled and almost entirely unregulated, posing additional legal
and security challenges for all parties involved.
Up until 8 January the Defence Ministry was the personal fiefdom of
Gotabaya Rajapaksa who ran it in the style of a shogun with his brother the
emperor preoccupied with the bickering and frolicking in the palace.
There is no doubt that the facility given to the outfit known as Avant-Garde
Security is an unbelievable cash cow. There is also no doubt that it operated
with the approval and authority of the Defence Ministry.
It is also obvious that the business of floating armouries was something that
required sailing pretty close to the wind. As the Wall Street Journal notes,
the private counter-piracy boom has created new problems. Murky legal
and consular difficulties already loom on the horizon. The challenge faced
by the Government is to recapture the policy agenda and define the limits
and functions of the floating armouries. It should then decide who should
run it.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa decided that the Army, Navy and the Air Force could
run resorts, spas and even koththu roti takeaway outlets.
For fighting pirates he decided to use Senadhipathis privateers. The
decision to allow Nissanka Senadhipathi and his Avant-Garde Maritime
Services to enjoy a near monopoly, while nominally in a partnership with an
emasculated state agency Raknalanka, is an abuse of authority.
The Minister of Law and Order and Minister of Justice will have no quarrel
with Professor Peter Van Duynes definition of corruption.

He says: Corruption is an improbity or decay in the decision-making

process in which a decision-maker consents to deviate or demands
deviation from the criterion which should rule his or her decision-making, in
exchange for a reward or for the promise or expectation of a reward, while
these motives influencing his or her decision-making cannot be part of the
justification of the decision.
Avant-Garde Maritime Services had a well-oiled operation that functioned
smoothly. The changes of 8 January mattered to them because its
operations were permitted by a collusive regime. A neutral state was bound
to ask them the simple question, Why are you special?
It is that concern that prompted them to cultivate the new wielders of
power. Enter Vajira Abeyawardene. It was not because they wished to hide
what they did. It wished to ensure that they were allowed to continue what
they were doing. Seeking legal opinion and paying for their expert guidance
is not only permissible but tax deductible.
Why should Avant-Garde Maritime services be treated as special? Because
they know when, where and from whom to obtain legal opinion.
Posted by Thavam