The purchase of domestic gas by the Sri Lanka government has gone haywire amidst allegations of massive corruption.
The World Banka has granted USD 70 million to purchase over 100,000 MT of gas from the open market after calling for tenders.
A public interest activist Nagananda Kodituwakku alleges that when two companies have offered domestic gas at a lower rate Litro Gas, which controls 85 percent of the country’s gas market, bought domestic gas at USD129, causing a substantial loss to the people.
The difference according to Kodituwakku amounts to USD33 for a metric ton.
Kodituwakku says it is an outright fraud heaped on the people by the new government headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
He says he has already submitted the relevant papers to the World Bank for its scrutiny.
The domestic gas issue sparked a hot debate in parliament during the week when SLFP parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara raised the issue expecting the Prime Minister to give his response to what has become a subject of discussion among social groups.
The Prime Minister replied that there was a press release issued by Litro Gas and to read it.
The statement issued by Litro Gas did not offer a clear picture of what took place and whether there was fraud in the tendering process.
Without giving a clear answer, the Prime Minister launched an offensive against Kodituwakku, who raised the issue and brought it before parliament through Jayasekara. If there was a suspicion of fraud, the Prime Minister could have asked for a proper investigation on the issue since the government was dealing with public money. Instead, he went on the offensive which will fuel more speculation.
The Prime Minister called Kodituwakku a fraud and queried what happened to the money he received from Canada during the presidential election in 2019 at which the latter was a candidate.
He told parliament that the Supreme Court struck him off from being a a practising lawyer.
The Prime Minister, not stopping at that, launched an attack on the SLFPer, tracing his roots in the Panduwasnuwara electorate.
The elementary question was not about the Panduwasnuwara electorate or who Kodituwakku is but whether there was a fraud and somebody has pocketed a substantial amount of money from each metric ton of domestic gas purchased. According to Kodituwakku, the cost of the alleged fraud to citizens is six billion.
People need a clear answer from the Prime Minister as the Minister of Finance since Nagananda claims he has all the necessary documents to substantiate his claim and show that there was a fraud.
The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) could take up the matter similar to what it did with the Ceylon Electricity Board.
Nagananda Kodituwakku is ready to confront anyone who defends the position taken by Litro Gas. Therefore it is incumbent upon the government to inquire into the matter to ensure transparency.
The latest in the gas deal is that the newly appointed Litro Gas Chairman and CEO Muditha Peiris has cancelled the tender on gas supplies and is planning to go on a spot buying spree, invoking suspicion among the people. Peiris, who is believed to be among the Prime Minister’s chosen group having been brought back to head Litro where he was employed during the Yahapalana government, has written to OQ Trading, B B Energy Asia and Siam Gas Trading stating that the government is not in a position to issue standby Letters of Credit due to the present economic situation in the country. It will be a matter for COPE to probe and reveal the truth behind the gas deal.
The Committee on Public Enterprises is active today. Its Chairman Charitha Herath, along with other members, is doing a splendid job taking to task errant bureaucrats and traversing on a fact-finding mission to check about public enterprises incurring enormous losses and at times not accountable to parliament.
The former Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board, M.M.C Ferdinando, appeared before COPE on Thursday to clarify several matters relating to a renewable energy project in the North.
One week ago he dropped a bombshell about the project and the plan to hand over several islands in the North to the Adani group of India on an unsolicited proposal which was perused by the Sri Lanka government.
There he indicated that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had told him at a one-to-one meeting that he (President) was under pressure from the Indian Prime Minister to award the project to Adani.
However, the President denied involvement in the matter and rejected the claim that he was pressurised by bureaucrats to award the tender to Adani.
The COPE was exceptionally cautious this time not to send wrong signals to the people regarding the proceedings.
They adopted a new methodology requiring witnesses to administer an oath before giving evidence.
M.M.C Ferdinando also had to go through the procedure after he decided to withdraw it on the last occasion where he referred to the President.
The COPE was reluctant to release the video clip of the evidence Ferdinando gave during his most recent COPE appearance.
Instead, the COPE resorted to an unusual step by issuing a press release outlining the salient points.
The opposition parties were prompt in releasing statements to the media questioning the credibility of the COPE committee.
The Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa telephoned the Chairman of COPE Charitha Herath and urged him to release the video clip to the media. The COPE has said it will release the video clip on Monday.
Nevertheless, the opposition demanded the unedited version and queried whether COPE was trying to shield influential people whose names came to light when Ferdinando gave evidence before COPE.
Premadasa is expected to make a statement about the matter to parliament when it meets next Tuesday.
The other significant event in the week is that the Cabinet has approved the proposed amendment to repeal the 20th amendment.
It is a step forward in the political realm of Sri Lanka after the President introduced the 20th amendment to the constitution to bolster his powers while scrapping its progressive predecessor, the 19th amendment.
It is however, too early to comment on the draft of the amendment without knowing the actual provisions that are envisaged by it.
The proposed amendment to scrap the 20th amendment could be the 22 amendment to the constitution since the 21 st amendment presented by the main opposition Samagi Jana Bala Wegaya required a special majority in parliament and a referendum to get several clauses included therein.
Therefore it did not take off from that position following the determination of the Supreme Court. People however are not too sure about the proposed amendment which is known as the Wijedasa Rajapakshe amendment and went through a rigorous process of corrections at the hands of the Cabinet of Ministers and the President.
The 22nd amendment approved by Cabinet may be a piece of legislation that the people do not want.
It may not help the country create a vibrant and democratic constitution while strengthening all independent institutions to reflect the aspirations of the masses.
As a face-saving measure, the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is now planning on shedding some powers that he assumed through the 20th amendment. He was under pressure to do so from his coalition partners, the opposition and the protestors at Galle Face Green. Their fervent call was for the President to quit office immediately.
However, the President wants to hang on to power on the premise that the 2019 mandate is valid for five years. The President is exploring ways and means to continue in the position without being restricted. The unabated support comes from the Prime Minister in this endeavour by shouldering the Rajapaksa burden and getting flak for the Rajapaksa blunders. It is not rhetorical to say that the President usurped power through the 20th amendment, surpassing those of any other executive President in history.
In the current political imbroglio, the President has decided to reform the presidency and some of the powers attached after all his political projects went haywire. It will have a direct bearing on the Galle Face Green protests that gave new dimensions and impetus to social upheavals in the country.
The opposition alleges that even the Prime Minister does not have the mandate to hold his position after sneaking into parliament on the solitary national list slot available for the United National Party. Nevertheless, the President and the Prime Minister are poised to take refuge under the proposed 22nd amendment.
The President, for his assumed generosity for shedding power and the Prime Minister, for pushing the government to introduce much-needed legislative powers on public finances and independent commissions to ensure transparency.
Meanwhile, India on Thursday flew in a high-level delegation led by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra to meet with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for talks on crisis-hit Sri Lanka.
During discussions with the Prime Minister, both sides highlighted the importance of promoting the India-Sri Lanka investment partnership, including infrastructure, connectivity, renewable energy and deepening economic linkages between the two countries.
The Indian delegation underscored the unprecedented recent economic, financial and humanitarian assistance of over US$ 3.5 billion to the people of Sri Lanka under the ‘Neighbourhood First policy and Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) policy introduced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Indian Foreign Secretary also had a separate meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Ambassador Aruni Wijewardena and agreed to work closely to strengthen diplomatic engagement. They undertook a bilateral visit at an early date.-ALAKESWARA
