News

Patali wants experts to investigate irregularities in oil procurement

Published

4 years ago

2022/08/27

Thilina Walpola

CID can’t understand what’s going on

By Sirimatha Rathnasekera

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Patali Champika Ranawaka, on Thursday (25), sent a letter to President Ranil Wickremesinghe asking for an investigation to determine if there had been irregularities in the procurement of fuel.MP Ranawaka said that Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera last week had asked the CID to investigate the activities at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, and the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited (CPSTL). However, the police were not capable of determining if irregularities were taking place in such a complex system, the SJB MP said.

“The Auditor General must carry out this investigation, with the support of professionals, who have experience in auditing fuel procurement. This must be done by experts and not by policemen,” he said.

MP Ranawaka also said that a third party was making a killing from importing Russian crude oil to Sri Lanka. He said that Russia exports crude at a lower rate between 20 and 30 US dollars, than crude produced by other oil producing nations.

“However, we calculate the worth of the shipments based on the Brent crude index. So, there is a difference in what we pay and what we actually have to pay. Someone pockets that markup. Because of this the consumer has to pay between 46 and 69 rupees extra for a litre of fuel,” he said.

Ranawaka also said that the economic issues were not sorted out. Sri Lanka had been able to secure adequate quantities of gas because of World Bank aid.

“The World Bank used some money it had earmarked for other projects for us to buy gas. The fuel issue is not over. There is a diesel shortage now. There is a 33 percent drop in the consumption of diesel compared to the beginning of the year. Diesel is used mainly by vehicles that are involved in economic activities and therefore we can assume that there is a drop in economic activity. There is a 20% drop in electricity consumption,” he said.The government believed that IMF assistance was a panacea but implementing an IMF programme was not easy as it is linked to restructuring debt, Ranawaka said.

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Cabinet approves import of Maize to meet shortfall

Published

12 mins ago

2026/03/4

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation to determine the price of the maize by a committee appointed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation in the future and to import only the quantity of maize that could not be supplied locally for the production of animal feed, under the supervision of the Department of Animal Production and Health.

Business

Cabinet nod for the removal of Cess tax imposed on imported good

Published

19 mins ago

2026/03/4

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the joint resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development and the Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development to phase the removal of Cess tax imposed on imported goods under 2,634 combined classification codes identified over 4 years [from 2026 to 2029\.

Latest News

Around 140 people missing after Iranian navy ship sinks off coast of Sri Lanka

Published

32 mins ago

2026/03/4

Priyan

A vessel seen near Galle earlier - the Iranian ship went down around 40 nautical miles off the coast, officials say [BBC]

Around 140 people are missing after an Iranian navy ship sank off the coast of Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan navy says around 180 people were on board, with 32 rescued. A spokesman tells the BBC the cause of the sinking is not known

Sri Lanka’s navy has confirmed that it’s rescued 32 people after it received a distress call from Iranian navy ship ‘IRIS Dena’ early this morning.

Budhika Sampath, the spokesman of Sri Lanka’s navy says: “Though it was beyond our waters, it was within our search and rescue region. So we were obliged to respond as per international obligations.”

He adds: “We found people floating on the water, rescued them, and later when we inquired we found that those people are from an Iranian ship.”

He also says that according to the documentation of the ship 180 people are believed to have been on board, although the exact number of missing is unknown.

The spokesman says at the time of launching the rescue operations they did not see the vessel but saw oil patches on the water and floating life rafts.

He also tells the BBC that he rejects the reports of a submarine attack causing the sinking, and that the cause is unknown.

Earlier the secretary of the country’s defence ministry Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuiyakontha told BBC Sinhala that around 140 people are thought to be missing.

So far, Sri Lanka’s military has not been able to confirm what might have caused the ship to sink.

[BBC]