Harsha alleges moves afoot to remove him from COPF chair

Chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Public Finance (COPF) SJB Colombo District MP Dr. Harsha de Silva told parliament on Friday that there was a sinister move to remove him from the COPF.

Making a special statement with the permission from the chair, Dr de Silva said that signatures of MPs in the COPF were being collected on a letter seeking the removal of incumbent Chairman of the committee.

“I have been told that signatures are being collected from COPF members to remove me from the chairmanship. They want to sack me because I exposed the VFS visa scam. I am willing to resign if I am not wanted. I had to face challenges when carrying out my duties as the Chairman of COPF. In an earlier occasion too I was to be removed following the stand which COPF held on the Value Added Tax (VAT),” he said.

Dr. de Silva said COPF was able to mediate and reveal facts on the sugar scam, and was able to come up with a proposal to reduce the PAYE tax to 24 percent. He said he had to use his personal funds to pay salaries to the staff involved with COPF.

“I have no other staff except three analysts. It around 2.45 or 3 am when I go to bed every day because of the work. There is no mechanism to pay the salaries of the analysts assisting me. I am under lot of pressure because of the work. My (blood) pressure will go up because of these issues and I might die. I am also suffering from tension,” the MP said.