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Sri Lanka minorities warn Muslim nations ahead of UNHRC vote

Minority community leaders in Sri Lanka have urged the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) members to consider the discrimination faced by minorities on the island nation ahead of a key vote on its human rights record.

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Digital data information project fails to provide benefits for farmers

The Digital Economic Strategy Development Project for Sri Lanka farmer’s insurance scheme has not been properly utilised by the Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board causing a heavy loss to the state, a government audit inspection revealed.

The Digital Economic Strategy Development Project for Sri Lanka was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Under this project, the Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board had implemented a pilot project based on Gampaha and Badulla Districts to build a database of farmers' information, to identify farm lands for Sri Lanka and to digitise the information, the audit report revealed.  

Even though the database prepared by the Department of Agrarian Development was intended to be used for the Gampaha District, the Board was unable to apply that database directly to the project implementation, it added.  

Out of 80,006 plots of land in 26 Agrarian Service Centers in the Gampaha District, only 10,825 plots of land had been mapped due to protests of Agricultural Research Officers and financial difficulties occurred.

Out of 27,139 plots of land in 10 Agrarian Services Centers in the Badulla District, only 9,995 plots had been mapped and completed.

If this project is ceased halfway, implementing only within a period of nearly 7 months, the expenditure made amounting to LKR 9.61 million could be wasted, officials said.

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Details of the infamous CPC hedging deal resurface after 11 years

More damning details of the infamous hedging deal of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) have come to light once again with the revelation of a recent report by the Auditor General. In 2009, the country was shocked with the breaking news of a dubious and illegal deal which had taken place at the CPC causing huge losses of LKR 10.2 billion to the country.

The Supreme Court Judgement in January 2009 annulled all interim orders related to the hedging deals on controlling fuel prices. Since then, it has halted the hearing of the petitions against the hedging agreements citing that the Executive has failed to implement court orders.

The public interest activists were more than jubilant when it was announced that the newly created investigative arm of the then Yahapalana government, the FCID, had been directed to take over the investigations of the hedging scam and the case was referred to the AG’s Department for action in 2016.

The matter is now under the carpet or in the dustbin and the Sri Lankans with short memories are suffering without any hard feelings about the economic loss.

As per the arbitration deeds agreed upon by the parties, a sum of USD 60 million (LKR 7,613 million) had been paid to the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) on 03 June 2013 whilst a sum of USD 27 million (LKR 3,881 million ) had been paid to the Deutsche Bank on 04 August 2016, the Auditor General's report said.  

According to the information received, the CPC had sustained a loss of LKR 13,641 million by the year 2019 due to those transactions.

The Central Bank had spent a sum of LKR 941.2 million as legal fees relating to Hedging Deals of the Corporation, and LKR 370.6 million therefrom had been incurred by the Central Bank whereas a sum of LKR 567 million had not been reimbursed by the CPC to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka during the period 2011- 2014.

However, even by the end of the year under review, a sum of LKR 3.1 million had not been reimbursed by the CPC, a government audit inspection disclosed.  

Furthermore, a case had been filed by the Commercial Bank at the Commercial High Court of Colombo against the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation with respect to a right of USD 8.6 million.

That case however was still progressing even by the end of the year 2019, the report divulged.

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Government fails to utilise foreign funds for road development

The Government has failed to utilize foreign funds granted for three Road development projects in the island.

The foreign loan funds obtained on road construction projects should be utilized within the relevant period of loan agreement thus completing the planned constructions.

As a sum of LKR 28,829.53 million from the loan funds obtained with respect to 03 projects had not been utilized within the period of agreement, those funds had to be returned to the institution that had provided the loan, a report by the Auditor General revealed.  

As such, part of the constructions planned could not be completed, and commitment charges too had to be paid on the unutilized loan funds.

An exchange loss of LKR 9,527 million had been sustained as at 31 December 2019 on Phase III of the Outer Circular Expressway.

The loss represented 15 per cent of the sum that had been utilized being LKR 62,702 million.

This was attributable to the reasons such as, rapid devaluation of rupee against the dollar, unfavorable payment conditions in the contract agreements, delays in constructions.

Only 50 per cent of the entire loan had been utilized in the year 2019 – the year in which the loan agreement had become expired.

Meanwhile the Road Development Authority (RDA) has failed to take over some of the compensated land plots incurring heavy loss for the treasury, a recent report of the Auditor General divulged.

Once compensation is paid for the lands acquired for constructing roads, the ownership of such lands should be vested in the Road Development Authority in terms of Section 44 of the Land Ordinance, No. 13 of 1986.

Compensation totaling LKR 19,817.86 million had been paid by the RDA for the acquisition of 12,980 land plots relating to 05 road construction projects.

Only 412 plots of land therefrom had been registered under the RDA as at 31 December 2019.

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SL to bid for Commonwealth Games again after wasting public money for earlier bid    

After wasting millions of rupees of public money in a failed bid to win the status of host country for the Commonwealth Games in 2011, the present government is eyeing it for the second time in 10 years.

It has been estimated that Sri Lanka has spent between LKR 300 million and LKR 400 million on Sri Lanka’s bid process at that time

The Times of India reported a figure of USD 2.3 million. Another news report put the figure at between USD 7 to 8 million.

However, according to the latest report of the Auditor General, a sum of LKR 689.9 million in financial losses had been made in the money collected from local donors for obtaining the hospitality of the Commonwealth Games in 2018 as the money was not utilised efficiently and effectively.

It has been reported that large donations have been received from Sri Lankan financial institutions, private sector companies and leading businessmen towards meeting the expenses of the Bid Committee and the preparation of the proposal during the then Rjapaksa regime.  

The bid was promoted as an attempt to rebuild this tsunami-devastated town, building a completely new International Sports City, international class hotels and an international airport, on a green field site, in seven years, using taxpayers’ money through State revenue and private donations from businesses.

Representatives from sports organisations in the Commonwealth were invited to Sri Lanka, extensively and expensively entertained, all state agencies, the armed forces, non state institutions, etc., threw their weight behind the promotional extravaganza.

The then government had underwritten the total cost estimate, saying it would fill the shortfall if necessary.

In the second attempt also under the present Rajapaksa regime, Sri Lanka has emerged as a potential bidder for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, at a time when efforts to stage the event in Hamilton, Canada have stalled.

The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) - which also organises the country's participation in the Commonwealth Games - is planning a bid for the 2026 Games.

"Sri Lankan city Hambantota bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, but lost to Gold Coast in Australia by 43 votes to 27.

The then Ministry of Sports has taken measures in the year 2010 to obtain the hospitality of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Sri Lanka.

According to a special audit report, a state-owned company called CWG 2018 (private) had been incorporated for the execution, implementation and presenting bids of the procurement process.

It was expected that the then Government would hold 51 per cent of the company's share capital and 49 per cent by public institutions.

Accordingly, LKR 110 million from the initial capital had been provided by the  Ministry of Sports and the General Treasury, while LKR 18 million from the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) and Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) at that time.

In addition to that, actions had been taken to obtain cash grants from private organisations and individuals.

Even though the company had been incorporated by raising a sum of Rs. 689.9 million, the hosting of the Games was not received by  Sri Lanka.

Further, it was observed that the money which was provided was not properly monitored and spent without much transparency and financial control that the administration activities of the company were not also compliant with the relevant rules and according to the books, bills, various documents, interviews and statements.

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Russian billionaire to invest in Sri Lanka

Special Russian business delegation will be visiting Sri Lanka to explore investment opportunities and to establish contacts with local counterparts on the directions of visiting Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko.

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Central Expressway project cost increases to over LKR 500 billion 

The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has come across glaring irregularities in the execution of the Central Expressway project particularly because of construction delays, lack of proper procurement and feasibility studies.

This has resulted in extra cost of construction running up to billions of rupees giving undue benefits for some contractors and several foreign and local consultancy firms, a recent COPE report revealed.

Based on mathematical assumption, there was clear forensic evidence that such projects were 55 per cent costlier than those that were bid competitively in 2011.

According to the Chairman of COPE Prof. Charitha Herath, some of the feasibility study reports were of no use for the present expressway.

He stressed the importance of managing all future financial activities of the project properly as poor planning results in expensive changes to schedules, traces, relocations of interchanges and other critical control points.

A sum of LKR 1,759 million had been paid to an Australian company to conduct the feasibility study of the Central Expressway comprising four stages.

Without taking action to obtain feasibility reports from that company, agreements valued at LKR 97 million had been spent for several local institutions to further conduct feasibility studies, COPE divulged.

Another feasibility study was conducted for the construction of this expressway prior to 2012 at a cost of around LKR 284 million.

The delay in the commencement of work on the first section of the Central Expressway extending from Kadawatha to Mirigama between 2015 and 2019, had caused a financial loss of LKR 8 billion.

The progress report of COPE on the Central Expressway revealed that only 5 per cent of the work on the Kadawatha-Mirigama first section has been completed by China MCC and the work is now in progress.

81.44 per cent of the construction work on the second section of the project from Mirigama to Kurunegala had been completed. The total cost is around LKR 158 billion.

This 40.91 km stretch of road is divided into four sections and four consortiums of contractors have been awarded the contract.

Bids have been called for the third phase of the 31 km stretch from Pothuhera to Galagedera but construction commenced in December 2020 by Urban Development Authority (UDA) in haste at an estimated cost of LKR 142 billion.

The reason is not known for calling of bids at a time where the selection of foreign contractor is still pending but according to official sources if a foreign contractor is selected then the project would be handed over to them to carry out the balance work under BOT system.

The procurement process has not been completed yet due to irregularities in the procurement process in the third phase.

The Construction work of the fourth phase of the 60.3 km stretch of road from Kurunegala to Dambulla is yet to start.

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‘Religious Disharmony’ order threatens minorities - HRW

Sri Lanka’s government should immediately withdraw an order that allows two-years of detention without trial for causing “religious, racial, or communal disharmony,” Human Rights Watch said.
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Sathosa incurs a massive Rs. 75 million loss in sugar scam saga 

The largest state owned retail chain - Lanka Sathosa (Cooperative Wholesale Establishment/CWE) has incurred a loss of over Rs.75 million in the massive sugar scam, informed official sources divulged.

Some of the stocks had also been dumped on state-run Lanka Sathosa above the cleared price, similar to the Central Bank bond scam style of the bonds that were bought at low prices had been dumped on the Employees Provident Fund, it had been alleged.

The opposition charged that a large commodity trader with close links to the current administration had made large profits by selling sugar above the cleared price, and the Treasury had ‘lost’ Rs. 15.6 billion in taxes as a result.

The private company which is alleged to have imported the largest stock of sugar during the period of unprecedented tax reduction of up to Rs.25, has sold stocks of sugar to Lanka Sathosa in four occasions at different prices of Rs. 127.49 per kilo, Rs 121.50, Rs.92.00 and Rs.110.00 per kilo, official documents indicated.  

After October 13, this company has sold 700 metric tons of sugar to Lanka Sathosa at a price of Rs. 127.49 per kilo in the same month, 700 mt at Rs.121.50 per kilo on October, 750 mt at Rs. 92.00 per kilo on October 20 and 600 mt at Rs 110.00 per kilo.

Accordingly, a loss of Rs.75.54 million has been incurred by Lanka Sathosa by purchasing the stocks of sugar from this supplier at a price higher than the government’s gazetted maximum retail price in four instances and selling it to consumers at this gazetted price.

After the revelation of the sugar scam by local media, Sathosa chairman had been transferred to thenSri Lanka Standards Institute.

According to official data, Sathosa has paid Rs 309.29 million to purchase 2750 mt of sugar from this company and has earned only Rs. 233.75 million by selling it to consumers at concessionary prices.

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Cabinet approval for Tripitaka Conservation Act

Cabinet approval has been granted to a resolution by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his capacity as the Minister of Buddha Sasana, for passing a Tripitaka Conservation Act in Parliament to preserve the Tripitaka for the sake of future generations.

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Govt. trying to cover up environmental destruction: Giant mural on ecocide taken down

A giant mural painted by the Youth Wing of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society had been taken down by the Environment Police Unit today (19). The mural depicting ecocide was erected opposite the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre, near the Vihara Maha Devi Park as part of a public awareness campaign for Global Climate Action and to draw attention to the unprecedented rate of environmental destruction occurring on a daily basis across the country.

A group of employees attached to the Colombo Municipal Council had arrived at the location this morning and had attempted to remove the mural.

The organizers stressed that the mural was put up last night after gaining approval from the CMC and the Police.

Later, it was taken down following the arrival of the Police Environment Unit.

mural 2 1

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Ravi Karunanayake and eight others remanded

Former Minister Ravi Karunanayake and seven others have been ordered to be remanded until March 23 by a special Trial-at-Bar, in relation to the Central Bank bond scam. The Coordinating Officer to the Attorney General, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, said that the Attorney General had filed indictments before the Trials-at-Bar hearing the Bond Scam cases pertaining to the 2016 March 29 & 31st Bond Auctions on Wednesday (17).

On the 18th of February 2021, the Chief Justice appointed two Trial-at-Bars to hear the Bond Scam cases involving two bond auctions in March 2016, following a request by the Attorney General.

The request was made in order to try Ravi Karunanayake, Arjuna Mahendran, Arjun Aloysius and seven others.

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