News

Cabraal vows to act on SJB MP Pathirana’s revelation of Rs 80 bn revenue loss

Published

5 years ago

2020/12/7

By Saman Indrajith

State Minister of Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal, on Friday (4) assured Samagi Jana Balavegaya MP Buddhika Pathirana that immediate remedial action would be taken in respect of shocking revelation that some unscrupulous businessmen produced a toxic brew in the name of manufacturing artificial toddy, and corrupt Excise Officers exploited the Technical Crime Report to deprive the government Rs. 80 billion in revenue due.

MP Pathirana:

“The police and the STF commandos raid illicit toddy distilleries amidst hardships, in spite of threats to their lives. Thereafter they hand over their findings to the Excise Officers to take legal action. The Excise Officers do not take the culprits to court, and instead release them filing a Technical Crime Report (TCR). Under the TCR the racketeers only have to pay a skimpy sum by way of a composition fee.”

Pathirana said that as per Sections 49, 50 and 52 of the antiquated Excise Ordinance, the police and the STF had been barred from producing artificial racketeers and their toxic brew in courts. “After the raid, the police and STF have to hand them over to the Excise Department. Not all Excise officers are corrupt; some of them, in fact, produce the lawbreakers in court. Even in such instances the reward money for the detection and raid are not given to the police and the STF; it goes to the Excise officers who handle only the legal part of the raid.”

MP Pathirana called on State Minister of Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal to amend Sections 49, 50 and 52 of the Excise Ordinance to enable the police to prosecute those engaged in producing artificial toddy.

The Minister promised that he would get his ministry officials to work on it.

MP Pathirana said that it was the third time he was raising a question on the large-scale racket. “I asked two recent questions from you in this House in the last couple of weeks related to other aspects of this scam. I gathered a lot of facts and details after studying this issue for a considerable time. I also tabled some documents and sent to you copies of them. I also know that your ministry officials are tied up with the budget process, but could you at least appoint a committee to investigate the matters I raised on those two occasions.”

Minister Cabraal:

“I really appreciate the hard work of the MP and I am thankful to him for raising this matter. I have instructed Excise Department officials and the Secretary to the Ministry to commence a thorough study on the matter and report to me. I assure you that I will personally attend to this matter.”

MP Pathirana:

“Since I raised this some of the racketeers have got hold of some Finance Ministry and Excise officials and are working surreptitiously to do away with the mechanisms in place to ascertain information about the toddy industry. Only around one and a half litres of toddy could be extracted from a single coconut palm and it could vary slightly owing to factors such as climate, humidity and season. The amount being sold by the licence holders varies from the actual amount extracted from palms. A difference is in the region of as 60,000-70,000 litres. So, it is obvious that toddy comes from other sources.”

Reading out a document, Minister Cabraal said that it had been mentioned in it that the approved production capacity for each bottled toddy manufacturer would be the total expected toddy yield from the number of trees licensed for tapping.

MP Pathirana:

It is that stipulation that they are trying to do away with. Once it is removed, we may never be able to guess the amount they had illicitly produced. Will you promise to prevent these businessmen and corrupt officials from removing that stipulation?

Minister Cabraal: I apologize for not having a detailed and complete answer today. But I will study this and inform this House of all details in the future date.

Responding to MP Pathirana, the Minister said the toddy industry was found in the districts of Kalutara, Gampaha, Puttalam, Badulla, Moneragala, Hambantota, Anuradhapura and all districts of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. As at Dec 31, last year there had been 3,094 licensed toddy tappers in the country but there was no information about the number of employees engaged in the supportive services of the industry. There were 32 licensed toddy producers in the country as at Dec 31, 2019.

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News

Financial contributions received for ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/22

Priyan

The Government’s ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund, established to provide relief and support to communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah, continues to receive financial contributions on a daily basis.

Accordingly, the Containers Transport Owners Association made a financial contribution of Rs. 1.5 million, while the Association of SriLankan Airlines Licensed Aircraft Engineers contributed Rs. 1.35 million to the Fund.

The respective cheques were formally presented to the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, at the Presidential Secretariat on Friday (19).

The occasion was attended by W. M. S. K. Manjula, Chairman of the Containers Transport Owners Association, together with Dilip Nihal Anslem Perera and Jayantha Karunadhipathi.

Representing the Association of SriLankan Airlines Licensed Aircraft Engineers were Deshan Rajapaksa, Samudika Perera and Devshan Rodrigo handed over the cheque.

News

UNICEF representatives and PM discuss rebuilding schools affected by the Disaster

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/22

Priyan

A meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and a delegation of UNICEF representatives was held on Saturday, (December 20) at the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister explained the measures taken by the Government to ensure the protection of the affected student community and to restore the damaged school system, as well as the challenges encountered in this process.

The Prime Minister stated that reopening schools located in landslide-prone areas would be extremely dangerous. Accordingly, the Government is focusing on identifying such schools and relocating them to suitable locations based on scientific assessments.

The Prime Minister further noted that financial assistance has been provided to students affected by the disaster, enabling parents to send their children back to school without an additional financial burden. Emphasizing that school is the safest place for children after their homes, the Prime Minister expressed confidence that the school environment would help restore and improve students’ mental well-being

The Prime Minister also highlighted that attention has been given to several key areas, including the relocation of disaster-affected schools, restoration of school infrastructure, merging and operating certain schools jointly, facilitating teaching and learning through digital and technological strategies, and providing special transportation facilities. She emphasized that the Government is examining these issues and is committed to finding long-term solutions.

The UNICEF representatives commended the Government’s commitment and the initiatives undertaken to restore the education sector and assured their support to the Government. Both parties also discussed working together collaboratively on future initiatives.

The meeting was attended by the UNICEF representatives to Sri Lanka Emma Brigham, Lakshmi Sureshkumar, Nishantha Subash, and Yashinka Jayasinghe, along with Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa, Director of Education Dakshina Kasturiarachchi, Deputy Directors Kasun Gunarathne and Udara Dikkumbura.

(Prime Minister’s Media Division)

News

NMRA laboratory lacks SLAB accreditation

Published

4 hours ago

2025/12/22

Thilina Walpola

Dr. Sanjeewa

Drug controversy:

“Setting up state-of-the-art drug testing facility will cost Rs 5 billion”

Activists call for legal action against politicians, bureaucrats

Serious questions have been raised over Sri Lanka’s drug regulatory system following revelations that the National Medicines Regulatory Authority’s (NMRA) quality control laboratory is not accredited by the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board (SLAB), casting doubt on both the reliability of local test results and the adequacy of oversight of imported medicines.

Medical and civil rights groups warn that the issue points to a systemic regulatory failure rather than an isolated lapse, with potential political and financial consequences for the State.

Chairman of the Federation of Medical and Civil Rights Professional Associations, Specialist Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, said the controversy surrounding the Ondansetron injection, which was later found to be contaminated, had exposed deep weaknesses in drug regulation and quality assurance.

Dr. Sanjeewa said that the manufacturer had confirmed that the drug had been imported into Sri Lanka on four occasions this year, despite later being temporarily withdrawn from use. The drug was manufactured in India in November 2024 and in May and August 2025, and imported to Sri Lanka in February, July and September. On each occasion, 67,600 phials were procured.

Dr. Sanjeewa said the company had informed the NMRA that the drug was tested in Indian laboratories, prior to shipment, and passed all required quality checks. The manufacturer reportedly tested the injections against 10 parameters, including basic quality standards,

pH value, visual appearance, component composition, quantity per phial, sterility levels, presence of other substances, bacterial toxin levels and spectral variations.

According to documents submitted to the NMRA, no bacterial toxins were detected in the original samples, and the reported toxin levels were within European safety limits of less than 9.9 international units per milligram.

Dr. Sanjeewa said the credibility of local regulatory oversight had come under scrutiny, noting that the NMRA’s quality control laboratory was not SLAB-accredited. He said establishing a fully equipped, internationally accredited laboratory would cost nearly Rs. 5 billion.

He warned that the failure to invest in such a facility could have grave consequences, including continued loss of life due to substandard medicines and the inability of the State to recover large sums of public funds paid to pharmaceutical companies for defective drugs.

“If urgent steps are not taken, public money will continue to be lost and accountability will remain elusive,” Dr. Sanjeewa said.

He added that if it was ultimately confirmed that the drug did not contain bacterial toxins at the time it entered Sri Lanka, the fallout would be even more damaging, severely undermining the credibility of the country’s health system and exposing weaknesses in health administration.

Dr. Sanjeewa said public trust in the health sector had already been eroded and called for legal action against all politicians and public officials responsible for regulatory failures linked to the incident.

by Chaminda Silva ✍️