‘Govt deprived Treasury of wherewithal to tackle crisis’

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Samagi Jana Balavegaya lawmaker Kabir Hashim alleges that the Finance Ministry report for 2020 is meant to deceive both the Parliament and the public. The former UNPer insists the cash-strapped SLPP government cannot overcome the rapidly developing financial crisis by suppressing the truth or printing money.

The Finance Ministry was making a desperate bid to hide the actual situation by painting a wrong picture, says Kegalle District lawmaker, Senior Vice President of the SJB Hashim.

In a brief interview with The Island, over the last weekend MP Hashim explained how mismanagement of the national economy had caused irreparable damage and losses at a time the country was struggling to cope up with the rampaging Covid-19 pandemic.

Referring to parliamentary proceedings on June 23, 2021, Hashim said that he had an opportunity to take up the erroneous Finance Ministry, 2020 annual report in the presence of Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa who is also the Finance Minister. The MP alleged that the Finance Ministry, in addition to issuing wrong figures deliberately left out critically important data in a bid to deceive the public.

Responding to another query, Hashim pointed out how the 2020 Finance Ministry annual report estimated the national debt at Rs 14.8 trillion though figures released by the National Audit Office and Auditor General raised questions in respect of the overall accounting process. According to MP Hashim, as much as Rs 170 bn in loans had been left out of 2020 Finance Ministry report. Alleging malpractices in the accounting process, the SJB official alleged that Treasury bonds worth Rs 290 bn hadn’t been properly taken into account as at Dec 31, 2020. Asked whether he took responsibility for the claims he made, MP Hashim said that he was repeating what he told Parliament. “Of course, my statement made in Parliament on June 23 didn’t receive the desired media coverage.”

Lawmaker Hashim questioned why the Finance Ministry conveniently refrained from mentioning Japan seeking compensation to the tune of Rs. 5,896 bn from cash strapped Sri Lanka for the cancellation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded Colombo Light Rail Transit (LRT) project. The top SJB spokesperson said that the government owed an explanation over the cancellation of the LRT project finalised during the previous administration.

Underscoring the need for  financial and political stability, the former UNP Chairman described the government as a patient warded in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with multiple organ failure though it sometimes talked big, in an obvious bid to deceive those struggling to make ends meet. The national economy suffered debilitating setbacks due to the SLPP’s ruinous fiscal policies, the MP said, alleging the incumbent government caused a catastrophe at the beginning by depriving the Treasury of much needed revenue. MP Hashim emphasized that the Treasury suffered a loss of colossal amount of money due to unprecedented tax cuts soon after the change of government. The losses suffered due to exemption of VAT alone was quite big, the SJB MP said, lambasting the government for delivering a deadly blow to the national economy. According to the SJB MP, the Treasury lost a staggering Rs 600 bn due to tax cuts and of that amount approximately half as a result of VAT exceptions.

The then Joint Opposition/ SLPP quiet shamelessly attacked the previous government efforts to streamline the tax collection process, the MP said. Specific measures to enhance tax revenue were depicted as fleecing of the public by those who played politics with the national economy. “Now they are in charge. Obviously, they lacked at least basic vision to sustain the national economy,” MP Hashim said, alleging the SLPP’s foolish strategies resulted in downgrading of Sri Lanka’s status.

The MP challenged Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena to compare the prices of dhal, sugar, sprats, salmon, rice and milk powder at the time the 2015 change of government and the time of the 2019 presidential election. Contrary to the SLPP boasts, the incumbent government caused itself serious damage by depriving the Treasury the wherewithal to meet the crisis, the former Minister said.

Alleging Scottish economist John Law (1671-1729) had ruined France in the 1700s due to his shortsighted strategies, MP Hashim claimed that the SLPP was following a policy very much similar to that utterly destructive strategy. Unrestrained printing of money was part of that foolish strategy, the former Minister said, alleging that by April 2020 the SLPP printed money amounting to Rs 165 bn. MP Hashim said that the ugly truth was having had preached throughout the 2015-2019 period how to manage the economy the big talkers ruined the economy.

Lawmaker Hashim flayed the government over the unprecedented sugar tax scam, runaway rice prices against the backdrop of Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage’s ridiculous claim of record paddy yield last year. Subsequently, the government announced plans to import 100,000 metric tonnes of rice, MP Hashim said, urging the government to address real issues without further delay.

Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who  was also the State Minister of Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms and State Minister of Samurdhi, Household Economy, Micro Finance, Self-Employment and Business Development owed a clear explanation, he said.

Those who boasted of having the world’s best intelligence service couldn’t locate hoarded paddy/rice in spite of growing criticism of continuing shortages, the MP said. How could they ‘catch’ those who had been involved with the 2019 Easter Sunday bomber Zahran Hashim or fugitive CBSL Governor Arjuna Mahendran if rice millers couldn’t be tackled.

MP Hashim demanded the SLPP to give up political power if it couldn’t do what it promised.

Commenting on the SLPP being split over fuel price hikes, the SJB top gun said that the government should explain what it did with funds amounting to USD 1.3 bn (Rs 253 bn) saved due to much lower crude oil prices in the world market in 2020. MP Hashim asked what happened to Rs 48 bn paid by the CEB to the CPC in 2020. The SJB also demanded an explanation as regards Rs 50 bn in the much- touted oil price stabilization fund established by the SLPP administration. The former Minister emphasized as the CBSL and COPE confirmed the setting up of the stabilization fund, the government should explain what had really happened, the former UNP Chairman said.

Declaring that in Murban terms the price of barrel of crude oil remained at USD 60, MP Hashim demanded an explanation from the government why prices of diesel, petrol and kerosene sharply increased. MP Hashim explained how in terms of forward booking purchases were made on prices in the market two months before.

The former Minister said that Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda recently claimed that the government planned to increase the price of a litre of kerosene by Rs 35 though he managed to thwart the move. According to a Fisheries Ministry statement carried on page 1 on June 30 edition of The Island Minister Devananda managed to restrict the increase of the price of a litre of kerosene to Rs 7.

MP Hashim said that EPDP leader Devananda’s colleagues had challenged his claim.

Responding to queries as regards the state of the economy in the wake of the Covid-19 eruption, lawmaker Hashim said that the SLPP leadership was blind to the difficulties experienced by the middle class and those who survived on daily wages.

Pointing out that Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle, in response to a query posed by SJB lawmaker Dr. Harsha de Silva based on Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila’s take on the financial crisis, at a meeting of a parliamentary watchdog committee, MP Hashim said that the country was now in bind.

The former Minister said that the people weren’t interested about the internal conflicts within the ruling party. The government should be ashamed of itself for the ridiculous battle between a section of the SLPP and Energy Minister Gammanpila and the ‘boru’ show over Basil Rajapaksa’s return on the National List.

“The SLPP administration is in tatters,” the former Minister said declaring the people recognized the SJB’s role as the main Opposition. The government was in such a desperate situation it propagated the lie that the SJB would disintegrate with the return of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to Parliament.

MP Hashim asked whether various declarations made by members of the SLPP parliamentary group, backing Basil Rajapaksa’s return, reflected the failure on the part of the government less than a year after last parliamentary polls. The bottom line is that the near two-thirds majority enjoyed by the SLPP in Parliament didn’t reflect in its handling of the developing situations, the former Minister said.