The Island:
UNP MP Wijedasa Rajapakshe says the success of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s take over of privatised enterprises will depend mainly on tangible measures to tackle waste, corruption and irregularities in the public sector.
Profits and funds available with State-owned enterprises can be used to acquire what was sold by previous governments, Rajapakshe says. In addition, the government will have to ensure that those enterprises bought back by the government are profitably run, while being of service to the public.
In an interview with The Island, former UPFA National List MP Rajapakshe said a case in point was the recent acquisition of Royal Dutch Shell’s local arm, Shell Gas Lanka by the government. He pointed out that Shell Gas Lanka had been acquired by the government through the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC), which wouldn’t have been the case if the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) hadn’t intervened to revert what he called a corrupt transaction finalised during the previous UNF administration.
Unfortunately, those who now boasted of acquisition of Shell Gas Lanka, with US$ 63 million provided by SLIC had conveniently forgotten how the once sold ‘cash cow’ was bought back under the UPFA government. He said that the then Deputy Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council Vasudeva Nanayakkara had moved the Supreme Court against the SLIC transaction on the basis of COPE findings.
The SLIC paid US$ 63 million for Shell Gas Company and the Shell Terminal Lanka Company in the first buyback.
MP Rajapakshe said that President Rajapaksa and his ruling coalition could benefit by taking remedial action to restore transparency and accountability in the public sector.
MP Rajapakshe called the SLIC deal, in which 90 per cent shares of SLIC had been sold to a business consortium, one of the two most corrupt transactions, the other being the privatisation of the Lanka Marine Services Limited.
The SLIC transaction, initiated by the then Minister Milinda Moragoda with the appointment of a Steering Committee on January 21, 2002 had been finalised on un-audited accounts, the MP said. The Steering Committee named without Cabinet approval had appointed Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC), Indonesia in collaboration with PWC Sri Lanka as consultants for a staggering fee of US$ 1.6 million, according to the COPE.
Addressing an anti-corruption seminar at SLIDA last year, MP Rajapakshe declared that nobody knew the true value of the SLIC assets. “Even the gods didn’t know,” he said.
Referring to President Rajapaksa’s speeches at the recent swearing-in ceremony of ministers at the presidential secretariat and the appointment of new secretaries to ministers at Temple Trees, MP Rajapakshe said that the President had emphasised the need to curb corruption in the public sector. The State sector under whatever the political conditions, he said, couldn’t engage in corruption without the connivance of the private sector.
MP Rajapakshe said investigations during his tenure as COPE Chief had revealed collusion between top public sector officials/politicians and the private sector at the highest level. Unfortunately, those responsible for moving courts against corrupt officials had failed in their job, the MP said.
Paying a glowing tribute to President Rajapaksa for giving political leadership in the battle against the LTTE, MP Rajapakshe said that the success of President Rajapaksa’s second term would entirely depend on his readiness to deal with corrupt elements.
Commenting on a raging controversy over Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s failure to act against those responsible for costing the country billions of dollars in a telecommunications deal, the UNPer said that the Attorney General would represent the Indian Premier at Supreme Court hearings. The MP said that the Indian leader had been under fire for failing to act quickly.
The Supreme Court had demanded to know why Manmohan Singh took over one year to investigate the then Telecommunications and Information technology Minister Andimuththu Raja of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), accused of wrongdoing, MP Rajapakshe said.
Likewise, Sri Lankan leaders and leaders of political parties, too, should be held responsible for the actions of their members regardless of their status, he said. The one-time close associate of the President urged the SLFP leader to hand over parliamentary watchdog committees, COPE and PAC to the Opposition. In the long run, that would be beneficial to the UPFA, he said, adding that the country couldn’t afford to turn a blind eye to rampant corruption.