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CHOGM luxury cars: Govt. steers in the dark
View(s):Only 18 of the 54 Mercedes Benz cars imported from Stuttgart, Germany at the cost of nearly a billion rupees for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) have been sold so far, the Sunday Times learns. The Mercedes Benz hybrid sedan petrol cars were imported at a cost of more than Rs. 910 million with the cars priced at a little more than Rs. 152.5 million. The duty waiver amounted to more than Rs. 757.7 million. The super luxury vehicles were paid for by the Ministry of Finance and handed over to Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC , -which acted as the indenting agent for the import of these cars – to be sold at Rs. 30 million each.
The cars are being advertised under the slogan ‘Drive a piece of History –The Mercedes Benz S class cars that carried Commonwealth Heads of State can now be yours’, at the cost of Rs. 30 million each. DIMO has decided to sell the cars at Rs. 30 million each after depreciation to the value of three million rupees was given in lieu of the use of the cars for two weeks during CHOGM.
DIMO Chairman Mohan Pandithage confirmed that the company had undertaken the sale of the cars on behalf of the Government but did not specify the profit margin for the company for carrying out the sale. However, under the new tax system the Government introduced for imported cars in the 2014 Budget, the tax on an imported vehicle used for between six months and a year is the same as that levied on a brand new imported vehicle.
The vehicles were imported in October last year with the payment of euros 4,021,278.48 with the rate of exchange per euro calculated at Rs.179.7. The payment was made through the City Office of the Bank of Ceylon. JVP Parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka last Wednesday raised questions in Parliament regarding the whereabouts of the 54 Mercedes Benz cars and other vehicles imported for the CHOGM. “The Government has spent nearly a billion rupees for the import of these cars and also deprived the state coffers of more than Rs. 700 million in tax money already. What is the guarantee that the tax money will be recovered even if the cars are sold?” he asked.
The JVP front-liner also asked why the laid down government tender procedure was ignored when importing vehicles for the CHOGM.Leader of the House and Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva said that as DIMO was the importer of the cars, the vehicles had been handed back to it to be sold and there had been no necessity to call for tenders.
In addition to the Mercedes Benz cars, the Government had also imported 129 vehicles including cars and buses and these have been distributed among various Government institutions–excepting two buses, which have been given to the Victoria Home in Rajagiriya and the Chitra Lane Home for differently abled children in Colombo.
Twenty-seven of the cars and six of the 30-seater buses have been given to the ‘Special Spending Units’, which include institutions which perform specific tasks that are not specified under any line Ministry but come under the Office of the President, the Prime Minister and Parliament.
Ten of the buses and 15 more cars have been given to the Ministry of Law and Order; the Ministry of External Affairs has been given 15 cars and the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development seven cars and two buses. The other beneficiaries include the Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministries of Education and Higher Education. In addition to these, 90 forty-one-seater luxury buses that were also imported for the CHOGM have been distributed with 50 given to the Sri Lanka Transport Board, 30 to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and its affiliated agencies and ten buses to the Road Development Authority‘s Expressway Transport Company.