News

Controversial awarding of contract to blacklisted Indian company to print foolproof stickers on liquor bottles, cans

Published

5 years ago

2021/10/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

CA issues notice to the Finance Minister, Treasury Secretary, Excise Commissioner General…..

By A.J.A. Abeynayake

The Court of Appeal, after considering a petition seeking a writ of certiorari quashing the tender awarded by the Excise Department to the Madras Security Printers of India to print foolproof stickers on liquor bottles and cans, issued notice on respondents on Wednesday.

Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance S.R. Attygalle, Commissioner General of Excise M.J. Gunasiri, Madras Security Printers and Attorney General have been named as respondents.

The petitioner, Rathu Bambarendage Lasantha Kumara, states in his petition that the Excise Department has awarded the tender to the Madras Security Printers (MSP) without conducting proper technical evaluation OR following tender procedures.

The petitioner has said the introduction of the sticker with a code on bottles and cans cost only 15 cents as per practice adopted in many other countries but the Excise Department has decided to spend about two rupees per bottle or can.

The petitioner states that Matara District SJB MP Buddhika Pathirana raised the issue in Parliament on 20 April and the MP pointed out the questionable practice adopted by the Excise Department to grant the contract to MSP, a blacklisted company in India as well as in several other countries. MP Pathirana categorically pointed out that the State would incur a one-billion-rupee loss due to the deal.

The petitioner says the corrupt practice has caused a great foreign exchange loss to the government of Sri Lanka which is already in a grave state of affairs in terms of country’s foreign reserves.

The petitioner also states that the officials of the Excise Department continuously engaged in corrupt practices by not collecting dues from the liquor industry either by not implementing proper and transparent procedure or by giving contracts to corrupt dealers.

The MSP on many occasions “while taking contracts to supply security printing stickers of manufacturers has illegally collected exorbitant amounts from such manufacturers and caused enormous losses to the respective States,” and “is a notorious company world widely engaged in such corrupt practices,” states the petitioner.

The granting of contract to supply of the foolproof security stickers and/or Digital Image Printing on liquor products in terms of Excise Notification under the Excise Ordinance to MSP is illegal, unlawful, unreasonable, ultra vires and shall be quashed and/or cancelled, says the petitioner.

After considering the facts submitted by the petitioner, the court issued notice on respondents.

Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC, Attorneys-at-law Dasun Nagasena, Rakhita Rajapakshe, Madhwa Jayawardene and Jayamudhita Jayasuriya appeared for the petitioner.

Senior State Counsel, Suranga Wimalasena appeared for respondents Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance S.R. Attygalle.

Gamini Maparana PC and Naveen Marapana PC appeared for respondent MSP.

All News Advertisement

News

US$ 2.5 mn cyber heist exposes system failures

Published

11 hours ago

2026/07/11

Thilina Walpola

COPF final report on USD 2.5 mn cyber fraud recommends action against all responsible

The US$2.5 million loss incurred during Sri Lanka’s foreign debt repayment to Australia was a clear case of a cybercrime and theft, Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva told Parliament yesterday.

Presenting the COPF final report on the cyber fraud, Dr. de Silva said the incident amounted to a serious financial crime and called for a comprehensive investigation, by law enforcement authorities, to identify and prosecute all those responsible.

The report revealed serious governance, procedural and operational failures that enabled the fraudulent transfer of public funds, while recommending sweeping reforms to strengthen cybersecurity, financial controls and public debt management systems.

According to the report, officials of the Treasury and the Central Bank bore responsibility for governance lapses that contributed to the failures. It also highlighted the fact that the Ministry of Finance was operating an outdated Microsoft Exchange Server after security support had ended, while basic safeguards, such as multi-factor authentication, had not been implemented.

The COPF said suspicious payment instructions linked to debt repayments involving India, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium had also been detected, preventing further losses. However, the US$ 2.5 million fraud materialised only in the repayment transaction involving Australia.

The report has noted that officials had failed to verify lender email domains, relied on unverified email communications and lacked adequate internal controls, allowing the fraud to continue for months.

Although the investigation uncovered system-wide weaknesses across several institutions, only four mid-level Finance Ministry officials had been suspended so far, the report said.

The COPF has recommended a special audit of the foreign debt repayment process, strengthened cybersecurity measures across state institutions, updated financial regulations and improvements to public debt management systems.

by Saman Indrajith

News

Opposition signs no-confidence motion against Justice Minister for dereliction of duty over Negombo Prison deaths

Published

11 hours ago

2026/07/11

Thilina Walpola

Opposition and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa signing the no-confidence motion against Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara in the presence of Opposition MPs at the Parliamentary complex yesterday

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, together with Opposition MPs, yesterday signed a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) in Parliament against Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara.The move comes in response to the unrest at the Negombo Prison, where both prison officers and inmates were killed.

Opposition members said the Minister had failed to fulfill his responsibility and accountability regarding their safety.According to the Opposition group, the NCM seeks to hold the Minister directly accountable for lapses in ensuring protection within the prison system.

News

AG informs SC of e-visa agreement review

Published

11 hours ago

2026/07/11

Thilina Walpola

The Attorney General yesterday informed the Supreme Court that the government has decided to review the legality of agreements entered into by the previous administration to hand over the country’s electronic visa issuance operations to private companies.

Additional Solicitor General Viveka Siriwardena, appearing for the Attorney General, made the submission when the Supreme Court took up the fundamental rights petitions filed by former MPs President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran, Patali Champika Ranawaka, and Rauff Hakeem, challenging the previous Cabinet’s decision to outsource the e-visa system.

The petitions were heard before a three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justices Achala Wengappuli and Arjuna Obeyesekere.

The Additional Solicitor General informed court that the current Cabinet had appointed a subcommittee to examine the legality of the agreements with the private companies and requested time to report on its findings, stating that the review was still underway.

President’s Counsel Sumanthiran, appearing as one of the petitioners, told the court that although the present government had indicated its intention to cancel the transaction, the petitioners wished to proceed with the case.

He noted that members of the current Cabinet had been named as respondents in the petitions.The Supreme Court directed the petitioners to issue notice on the members of the current Cabinet, named as respondents, and fixed September 29 for further proceedings.