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Meanwhile, Sinhala daily newspaper ‘Ada’ reported today (23) that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had told a group of Bhikkus that he has changed his mind regarding contesting in the upcoming elections.

He had told them he does not expect to be named as the candidate but instead thinks either Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe or Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa should be named as the party’s candidate. The Speaker had met with the Bhikkus following the meeting between the Prime Minister and Premadasa yesterday.

The Speaker had also said that he expects the issue regarding the party's candidate to be resolved soon.

Inside sources from the UNP say it is likely that the final decision will be announced in the next 72 hours.

When asked by Neth News, General Secretary of the UNP, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam had said the decision will be taken by the Working Committee of the party.

Speaking to Neth News, Deputy Leader of the Party Ravi Karunanayake also said the decision will be announced on Wednesday.

Sources at the Sri Lanka Police told have said the technology required to reproduce and analyse the tape recordings of phone calls was not available in the country at present and the CID had decided to seek the assistance of specialists at the FBI.

Noyahr was abducted and assaulted on 22 May 2008, and eventually released after an alleged series of high-level telephone calls on the night of his abduction. The senior jounralist fled the country with his family for fear over their safety.

Ten individuals have been named as suspects over the case which is being heard at the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court.

Meanwhile, Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera has in writing to Acting IGP Chandana Wickramaratna on 11 September, questioned the CID’s delay in concluding the investigations into Noyahr’s abduction and assault along with several other high profile cases.

Jayasuriya has been quoted as saying in the media that he had never asked to be nominated as the Presidential candidate but had only expressed his policy if he is to be President.

The Speaker said earlier this week issuing a statement that any prospect of him accepting a nomination to contest as a presidential candidate would be conditioned upon the support of all forces united behind the critical objective of abolishing the executive presidency, which has been the objective of civil society since 1995.

Jayasuriya noted that his mandate in such an event should include the strengthening of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

However, the Central Bank will intervene in the secondary market to influence monetary conditions whenever the need arises to do so in accordance with best practices followed by modern Central Banks the world over.

The Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance (COPA) is to approve the new act soon enabling Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera to present the new act in parliament.

The committee is continuing its consultation with the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank before arriving at a final conclusion, official sources said.

Another objective is to limit provisional advances that can be obtained by the government from the Central Bank.

The new act will provide provisions to do away with the current practice of printing money by the Central Bank to provide credit to the government by purchasing treasury bills at auctions or outside of it, expanding the base money of the country, a senior treasury official explained.

The Monetary Law Act devised by amending the existing 70-year old law will be complemented by fiscal rules and legislation designed to prevent Sri Lanka from chronic macroeconomic instability, he added.

The Central Bank will be relieved from printing money on instructions of the government to finance its deficit following the enactment of the new he pointed out without elaborating modalities of its implementation.

In addition, the Central Bank’s governance structure is also expected to be strengthened, along with provisions to make it an independent institution with public accountability.

It will also provide provisions for a modified inflation targeting process, and remove the treasury secretary from the Monetary Board ensuring its independence as well as making the CB as an independent institution with public accountability, he said.

Wickremesinghe made this observation during an event in Mirigama yesterday (20).

He said the issue of the Executive Presidency cannot be ignored.

The Prime Minister noted that he raised the matter at the Cabinet meeting and there were differences of opinion and that he is being questioned by several people on what stand is being taken with regards to the issue.

According to Wickremesinghe, the issue of the Executive Presidency needs to be discussed in the open and each political party will need to decide on its stand on abolishing the office.
He added that it would finally be the public that will decide the fate of the Executive Presidency.

“We noticed the recent media reports about Aerospace Long-march International Trade Co. Ltd (ALIT)'s participation in the Lotus Tower project,” the company has said issuing the clarification.

Following is the statement issued by ALIT:

"ALIT and CEIEC formed a consortium in Aug. 2010 in order to pursue the Lotus Tower Project. The contract was signed in Jan. 2012.

In Aug. 2015, ALIT entrusted CEIEC to act solely on its behalf to fulfill the contract. Those are normal business operations and comply with international business practice.

According to the contract, TRCSL (Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka) paid USD 15,644,980 as advance payment to CEIEC's account in China Export-Import Bank of China on Oct. 9, 2012. This sum had been used for the project purpose solely.

The inauguration of the Lotus Tower project is not only a remarkable milestone of the project, but also a significant symbol of friendly cooperation between China and Sri Lanka. As a state-owned, responsible company, ALIT is operating in more than 40 countries around the world and has won high acclaims from our customers.

ALIT cherishes the friendly relations between China and Sri Lanka, and will continue to participate in the economic construction and development drive of Sri Lanka to help promote ‘the China-Sri Lanka All-round Cooperation Partnership of Sincere Mutual Support and Ever-lasting Friendship."

SLFP General Secretary, MP Dayasiri Jayasekera said at the party convention in Matara yesterday (22) the SLFP will not blindly agree to join any party although there is an ongoing discussion between the SLFP and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) to form an alliance to work together at the next elections.

Jayasekera said the SLFP has strict conditions which need to be met for the SLFP to work with the SLPP.

He further noted the SLFP is not prepared to bow down to the SLPP at any cost and that the SLFP members will protect the party while also working with others in the best interest of the nation.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has yesterday (20) informed the progress in their investigations into a complaint lodged over former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s dual citizenship to the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court.

The complaint was lodged against Rajapaksa over alleged irregularities involved in the manner in which he has obtained his new Sri Lankan passport and for engaging in presidential election campaign in 2005 while being a US citizen.

The President said at the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) convention held in Matale on Saturday (21) that Wickremesinghe had attempted to mislead the public by claiming that he (the President) had called for the special Cabinet meeting last week.

Sirisena explained that Minister Ravi Karunanayake had telephoned him twice on Thursday (19) morning, saying the Prime Minister wanted a special Cabinet meeting.

The President said that he had advised Karunanayake to tell the Prime Minister to call him.

However, since the Prime Minister had not contacted him, the President said he had called Wickremesinghe who said he wanted a Cabinet meeting to be called to discuss the executive presidency.

Sirisena said he had agreed to call for the Cabinet meeting that afternoon but when the meeting was held, several ministers objected to the proposal put forward by the Prime Minister to abolish the executive presidency.

He said the meeting had to be called to an end prematurely as things heated.

The President added that he had asked the United National Front (UNF) to sort their issues out on their own.

The Cabinet of Ministers decided to award Vitol Asia Pte Ltd. the deal for diesel and petrol for the next eight months from 15 July 2019 till 14 March 2020, a statement said.

The Cabinet decided this week to award the contract of importing 1.04 million barrels of diesel and 1.28 million barrels of Jet A-1 with respect to a period of 8 months from 1st October 2019 to 31st May 2020 to M/s Mena Energy DMCC.

The contract is for the importation of 900,000 barrels of Petrol with respect to a period of 8 months to Sri Lanka in accordance with the recommendation of Special Standing Procurement Committee appointed by the cabinet.

Vitol delivered a shipment of 20,000 metric tons of substandard Fuel Oil in Aug 2009. This fuel which was imported by CPC for the use of Independent Power Plants caused machinery breakdown resulting in the closure of several power plants which lead to the level of a national crisis.

Vitol delivered the second batch of dirty fuel, this time it was 20,000 metric tons of diesel, in August 2011. Cars, Lorries, trains and over 1000 busses were brought to a halt at that time.

Vitol, who had been blacklisted twice and re-listed twice, supplied the third shipment of dirty fuel, this time, Low Sulphur Fuel Oil for the use of Kerawalapitiya Power Plant of Ceylon Electricity Board. Power generation came to a standstill as the Fuel was contaminated with water and used lubricating oil.

Even under these circumstances this dirty petrol supplier has bee entrusted with the task of supplying fuel to CPC for the fourth time.