‘2017 Foreign Exchange Act must be repealed’

By Shamindra Ferdinando

President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Director General on Trade unions Saman Ratnapriya yesterday (08) denied what he called the Opposition’s unsubstantiated claim that sugar importers had benefited from the latest increase in the Special Commodity Levy from 25 cents per kg of sugar to Rs 50 per kg with effect from midnight Nov 1.

Addressing the media at his office located at Lake House, the former UNP National List MP maintained that contrary to Opposition’s exaggerated claims, only 520 tonnes of white sugar had been imported immediately before the upward revision of the levy. The civil society activist dismissed what he termed Opposition rhetoric as being meant to cause an issue. Therefore, it was not an issue that should receive so much attention, the ex-MP said.

When The Island pointed out that Cabinet Minister Manusha Nanayakkara (SJB) has endorsed the Opposition accusations as regards the latest scam in Special Commodity Levy, Ratnapriya said that the government was duty bound to investigate the allegations. If investigations proved allegations to be true, appropriate legal measures should be taken, Ratnapriya said, reiterating that stocks that had been received in Colombo after the increase in duty were negligible when compared with imports in the recent past.

Minister Nanayakkara has publicly demanded an inquiry into the leaking of impending duty increase to sugar importers even before the Cabinet of Ministers was informed of it.

The Opposition has alleged that those who had benefited from the decrease of Special Commodity Levy of Rs 50 per kg to 25 cents on white sugar on Oct 13, 2020 made substantial profits as a result of the upward revision.

Ratnapriya dealt with simmering controversy over alleged intervention made by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Sri Lanka Cricket crisis, the Supreme Court ruling on ‘Online Safety Bill,’ the latest sugar scam, dispute over restructuring of state enterprises and postal workers’ protest against the proposed sale of postal building at Nuwara Eliya.

Referring to the damning Auditor General’s report on Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia, Ratnapriya said that the SLC had been plagued by various controversies and accusations over the years but these issues were yet to be addressed. The latest developments should be examined against the backdrop of the failure on the part of the powers that be to solve problems in a manner satisfactory to all. Ratnapriya stressed the need to stamp out fraud and corruption in SLC while declaring that some heavy defeats suffered by the national team weren’t acceptable.

Ratnapriya referred to accusations made by National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa in parliament regarding the conduct of former national captain and incumbent batting coach Mahela Jayawardena. The former MP said that there had been instances the national team got out for low scores but what was happening today couldn’t be considered isolated incidents, especially when Sri Lanka played India. “This should stop now and SLC be properly managed,” Ratnapriya said, emphasising the urgent need to restore public confidence in the institution.

Pointing out that Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe (SLPP) had alleged in parliament that President Ranil Wickremesinghe intervened on behalf of the discarded SLC administration, The Island asked Ratnapriya whether the issue at hand could jeopardize the president’s relations with the ruling party ahead of the 2024 budget. Ratnapriya said that there could be different views on this matter. However, the need of the hour is for all concerned parties to reach a consensus on how to restore public confidence in SLC. Ratnapriya said that President Wickremesinghe appointed a cabinet subcommittee in line with overall efforts to address the issue. The cabinet subcommittee was meant to assist the Sports Minister, Ratnapriya said, adding that the idea was to explore ways and means of taking tangible remedial measures.

The Island also asked why the government so far failed to amend the Foreign Exchange Act No 12 of 2017 that allowed export proceeds amounting to billions of USD to be held in overseas accounts though it repeatedly complained about shortage of foreign exchange. The former MP acknowledged that this was an issue that needed urgent attention. Ratnapriya claimed as much as 90 percent of the export proceeds hadn’t been brought back to the country and action was needed in that regard. Ratnapriya declared that the 2017 Foreign Exchange Act must be repealed.