By Saman Indrajith

SJB Matara District MP Buddhika Pathirana yesterday said that two Cabinet ministers of the yahapalana government and a group ofMinistry of Finance and Excise Department officials were behind a deal to hand over a tender to an Indian company to introduce a sticker to be affixed to liquor and beer bottles.

Addressing the media after lodging a complaint with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption in Colombo, the MP said: “The tender was awarded to Madras Security Printers company of India without following due procedure. The officials concerned lined their pockets. This deal, started during the yahapalana government has been finalised under the incumbent government. We hope that the matter would be investigated by the government, and the wrongdoers including the politicians and the officials will be exposed.”

MP Pathirana said that in addition to the complaint to the CIABPOC, he had handed over documentary proof and a copy of the complaint to the Committee on Public Accounts in

Parliament for a separate probe besides submitting a copy of the same to the Auditor General’s Department.

MP Pathirana said that following his expose of the deal in introducing fool-proof stickers to liquor and beer bottles, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had contacted him over the phone and made inquiries about it. “I met the President this morning and explained everything about this fraud that would pump people’s money to an Indian company. I pointed out to him all the irregularities of the tender process and how the officials turned down the bid of the government printer with a lower quotation to help the Indian company with a higher bid. If the sticker is printed here by the government press, the money will remain in our country. The Indian company MSP is a blacklisted venture. The President promised that he would instruct officials to look into this.”

Pathirana said that the sticker with a code is accessorised with a software to check its authenticity. “The tender for the creation of that software too has been handed over to an Indian company without following proper tender procedures. That has been done during the yahapalana government’s time.

MP Pathirana said that around 40 million bottles of hard liquor and beer were produced annually in Sri Lanka. It was to prevent counterfeits being produced the label had been introduced.

“Two ministers of the former government and some officials got together and made deals with MSP to pocket commissions from the project. The day after I exposed this in parliament, the Excise Department issued a statement, which only proved it was intent on protecting the culprits. The Excise Department officials are also disturbed by my exposures of their links to artificial toddy makers. My initial intention was to highlight the need to devise a mechanism to prevent the use of artificial toddy to produce vinegar because people including children who do not consume that rotgut toddy are exposed to carcinogenic elements via vinegar. A few days ago, the STF commandos of Gonahena camp raided an artificial toddy distillery in Kochchikade and recovered vast quantities of the contraband along with chemicals used to prepare artificial toddy. This country’s daily production of toddy is around 160,000 litres. The truth is that the capacity to produce coconut toddy even after tapping all licensed trees is around 45,000 litres a day. Producing illicit toddy is an offence under Excise Ordinance and Food and Drugs Act. I call for urgent attention to amend the Excise Act immediately to prevent the loss of tax revenue.”