The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has recorded statements from at least three companies who were in the running for the Lanka Marine Services Ltd (LMSL) privatisation in a bid to ascertain more details of what the Supreme Court says is a fraudulent transaction.
While officials of Hayleys Advantis and Master Divers made statements at CID headquarters in Fort, in line with a Court ruling that state agencies should probe the entire transaction, Nahil Wijesuriya, Chairman of East West Bunker Services, another bidder, was seen twice by the CID in his office.
"Last week on October 16 and 17, I was interviewed by the CID. They wanted to know what I knew about the LMSL transaction – from the beginning to the end," Mr Wijesuriya told The Sunday Times FT. He said the CID team especially wanted to know of the draft agreement given to all the pre-qualified bidders. He further noted that the draft agreement given to these bidders by Public Enterprise Reform Commission (PERC) did not contain the 'monopolistic' clause. What John Keells Holdings (JKH) had finally signed, upon winning the contract for LMSL privatization, had this clause, he has said.
"It was a 'fraudulent insertion' of a paragraph. This paragraph had 'crept' into the agreement after the winner was announced," he added. He said in the draft agreement under section 8 – Representations and Warranties said, 'Parties hereby warrant that they have the capacity and the required approvals to enter into this agreement and that the provisions confined herein would not conflict with or contravene any of their obligations.'
"In the signed agreement, under the same section this paragraph is under 8.1 and there is a fresh paragraph, 8.2 saying the government/Sri Lanka Ports Authority/Ceylon Petroleum Corporation shall ensure that all bunkers/marine fuels handled and transported within the Port would be done so using the Common User Facility (CUF). If this was there in the draft agreement that we got we would be aware of this monopoly," he explained.
Mr. Wijesuriya said on 22nd September 2003, he wrote to then Chairman SLPA, Parakrama Dissanayake through his company East West Petro Products, of the 'non – compliance by bunker companies, of a regulation unknown to them'.
"I wrote complaining that the SLPA has permitted certain parties to handle and transport bunkers / marine fuels, within the Port of Colombo, as it constitutes part of an agreement signed between the SLPA, government, PERC and LMS," he said, adding that all this was explained to the CID.
Mr. Wijesuriya said that he further wrote, that as the agreement is a part of the privatisation of LMS, and as a party short-listed in the LMS privatisation, they were privy to the agreement that LMS were to sign with the government, SLPA and PERC, after the sale of shares in LMS. “We are certain that there was no condition whatsoever, in any agreement, for those delivering bunkers to ships in the Port being compelled to pump their bunkers to Bloemendhal and then to retrieve the oil from Bloemedhal to supply the vessels in the Port.
Such a ridiculous condition could not have been in any agreement. Ironically, this is what the letter written by LMS implies. It is therefore feared that the agreement has been fraudulently changed from what was declared to the short listed companies, and as such we would insist that the agreement referred to by LMS be made available to us, so that the party or parties responsible for such fraudulent action, could be taken to task.” |
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