‘Cabinet approval granted for ‘fraudulent’ deal’

By Saman Indrajith

The JVP yesterday called on the public to rise against what it called the government’s plans to sell the ownership rights of the Kerawalapitiya power plant to a US company.

Addressing the media at the party headquarters, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the government leaders were bent on divesting state ventures..

“The most recent attempt came to light at the last Cabinet meeting when Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa presented a paper to sell the ownership rights of the Kerawalapitiya plant to a US company. The meeting was held via Zoom. The paper seeking the approval of the Cabinet has not been given to other ministers of the Cabinet prior to the meeting. Even at the meeting the paper in question has not been given to other members of the Cabinet. It was orally presented by the Finance Minister. As per his presentation, 40 percent of shares of the Treasury-owned 300MW Kerawalapitiya plant, construction of offshore Floating Storage Regasification Unit and the pipeline system for supplying Liquid Natural Gas to diesel power plants are to be sold to a US company. The powers to decide the conditions of the sale, prices, and the content of the agreement have been vested with the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance. The government has decided to sell off the Kerawalapitiya plant while people are expecting solutions for the economic crisis and COVID-19 pandemic. We learn that Cabinet approval was obtained for the paper”, the JVP leader said, adding that the minister had not been allowed to express their views on it.

“We have a government led by those who are all out to sell national assets. We must defeat these moves. It is difficult to meet the people and explain them the need to stand against this latest move due to the prevailing crisis situation in the country owing to the pandemic. Yet, they must understand that the government is on the fast track of their plans to sell off national assets. People should line up against this. Now the decisions are made to sell off public assets even without presenting a Cabinet paper. This is an unprecedented situation. Not only does the government hide facts from people, it keeps the Cabinet ministers in the dark. If the government cannot present its move to the people and it cannot be discussed openly in the Cabinet, then there has to be something wrong in this deal. This is a fraudulent deal. That is why the government is playing its cards close to its chest. We call on people to line up with us to defeat this move,.”