Range Bandara’s allegations against Dr. Nishan De Mel false and misleading – Verité Research

With reference to the news item published on the front page of the Daily News on November 8, 2023, titled “Verite Research Publishing False Reports Due To Petty Reasons – UNP”, we have received a clarification/Right of Reply from the legal representatives of Dr. Nishan De Mel, the Executive Director of Verité Research (Pvt) Ltd, an independent multi-disciplinary think tank, conducting studies and research to offer a holistic understanding of Sri Lanka’s economy, polity and society.

The said news item quotes UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara as saying that false reports are being published through Verité Research and that such false reports are being published because Dr.De Mel was not given any position in “the Economic Stabilization Committee” and a “committee that advises the Constitutional Council”.

The clarification sent to us explicitly states that the above statements regarding Dr.De Mel are completely and blatantly false and also replete with falsehoods, misrepresentations and inaccuracies and has tarnished the public image of Dr.De Mel, an economist with extensive experience who possesses a Bachelor’s Degree from the Harvard University in the United States and a Master’s Degree and PhD from the University of Oxford, where he was a Chevening Scholar. Dr.De Mel served as a Stipendiary Lecturer in Economics at Somerville College, Oxford University, prior to returning to Sri Lanka and taking up his current position.

The Right of Reply further stated: “Dr.De Mel has extensive academic, policy and private sector experience. In the past, he has sat on several Presidential Task Forces in Sri Lanka, playing an instrumental role in designing national policies on Health Sector Reform, Social Security and Tobacco and Alcohol. He also served as the Executive Director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies and the Sri Lanka Foundation. He sits on multiple private sector boards and provides advisory services to international firms. He has also engaged and participated on invitation in numerous public discussions and debates over many national television and radio programmes and channels, relating to matters pertaining to economic insight, knowledge and expertise and earned the reputation of an economist who expresses opinions based on empirical evidence and objective criteria.

The said news report further quotes the said Palitha Range Bandara as saying verbatim:

“The Verite Research Institute states that the current level of satisfaction with the Government and the President has decreased to 9 percent. Earlier they reported the approval rating of the Government was 34 percent and within one week it has come down to 9 percent. Can we believe this….”.

“… Nishan de Mel of Verité Research was expecting a position in the Economic Stabilisation Committee. If he had been given a position, this institution would not have made such statements. The IMF also proposed to appoint a committee to advise the CC. He wanted to be a member of that committee but that did not happen either. Then he has started saying things in support of the SJB and the JVP”.

“This gentleman was also behind recent speculation that the EPF and ETF interest will be lowered. We would like to tell him not to do such things for petty advantage while harming the country.” The said statement attributed verbatim to Palitha Range Bandara is replete with falsehoods, misrepresentations and inaccuracies, and constitutes defamation per se and by innuendo.

The said reported statement claims Verité Research disclosed that the approval rating of the Government and the President had declined to 9 percent within one week after disclosing the by approval rate of the Government as being 34 percent. This is false. In fact, in terms of the “Mood of The Nation” (MOTN) survey published by Verité Research, the People’s approval rating of the Government (with no reference made to the President per se) as at February 2023 was at 10 percent, in June 2023 rose to 21 percent and in October 2023, fell to 09 percent.

The reference is to the “Mood of the Nation” (MOTN) survey published by Verité Research. The survey is conducted by a professional survey firm, as it has been since January 2022, on a randomly selected nationally representative population sample, in accordance with questions and calculations similar to those used by the internationally reputed Gallup Polling agency in the United States. The statement is false on three counts: (i) No previous MOTN survey has shown an approval rating of 34 percent, the highest was 21 percent in the previous survey, and before that it was 10 percent or lower; (ii) The previous survey was in June 2023, four months ago, not “the previous week”; and (iii) The approval rating is ascertained and reported in respect of the Government and not the President per se.

Dr.De Mel is neither desirous of nor acting in anticipation of any position in Government, whether in any Economic Stabilization Committee or otherwise;

In fact, Dr. De Mel and Verité Research have been invited to participate and present findings to some committees and decision-making groups within Government, and have done so in the past, in an independent capacity. Verité Research also regularly provides information and inputs to committees of Parliament, and has regularly shared its knowledge with all 225 MPs on certain Bills/issues that have come up for debate;

Dr. De Mel nor Verité Research had made any request of the President for any appointment of Dr. De Mel, nor had they sought to act against him or the Government.

Furthermore, it is the factual publicly stated position of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) that Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and Employee Trust Fund (ETF) interest rates were lowered by the domestic debt restructuring that was carried out. It is thus and otherwise not a matter of “speculation”, as reported in the article. It is the calculation of the quantum of loss to these funds (EPF and ETF) over the next 12 years that has been a subject of public debate, not the fact of interest rate reduction.

This letter is sent in view of the urgency of securing immediate corrective steps in view of the gravity of the damage and harm caused to Dr.De Mel by the said article.”

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