DailyMirror
A complaint against E-Sri Lanka initiative, a network to connect government institutions will be lodged with the Bribery and Corruption Commission, Attorney-at-Law cum United National Party Kotte Organiser Shiral Lakthilake said yesterday, speaking at the press conference organised by the Corruption Watch, an organisation promoting accountability and transparency.
“E-Sri Lanka a project undertaken by Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) is very corrupt and we will be lodging a complaint with the Bribery and Corruption commission soon,” Lakthilake said. E-Sri Lanka is an ICTA project aimed to connect all government institutions in a network.
According to Lakthilake $15 million had been loaned from the Import and Export Bank of Korea (IEBK) and the tender had been illegally given to Samsung. There were two companies in the running but Samsung had won the tender due to favouritism, he alleged. “Samsung’s front company in Sri Lanka is Asset Network and that belonged to Dilshan Wickramasinghe a nephew of a VIP” Lakthilake alleged.
Lakthilake alleged that Asset Network had signed an agreement amounting to $ 14.8 million and had proof to show that the company amassed $ 3.5 million by providing low quality products.
Meanwhile, Corruption Watch alleged the Kerawalapitiya Project also to be highly corrupt and fraudulent since the tender had been passed on to Lakdivahi (Pvt) Ltd., a subsidiary of Lanka Transformers Public Limited. He said the privately owned Kerawalapitiya Power Plant agreed to sell electricity to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) at Rs. 7 per unit but presently they sell if for Rs. 31, incurring a huge loss.
Pushpakumara said this project was five-years-old and questioned the timing of this allegation and denied Telecom Korea and Samsung were the only bidders.
This is is like making a complain of theft with the mother of thieves. There are many frauds happening in ICTA Sri Lanka. The officers of ICTA making highest salaries in the government. The lowest salary is above Rs. 60000. No one knows what higher officers make. Everything is confidential. There are rumers about some people who obtain salaries without even working there.
ICTA officials make money from every deal. It is said one officer is making money even when a leaflet is printed. The money is made in form of commissions. ICTA officials working with some companies take their own ICTA contracts using influence. ICTA is the most corrupted government institution in Sri Lanka.
If you look at development projects implenmented by ICTA, they have not been much of impact. They spend lots of money for Thamashas. It seems president does not know it or ignore as it is a common thing to steal public money now a days.