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SriLankan’s former line Minister clueless about its operations
View(s):A Former Minister of Civil Aviation, Piyankara Jayaratne, under whose purview the national carrier SriLankan Airlines (SriLankan) operated, said that, even though he was the line Minister who secured Treasury funding through Cabinet, for SriLankan’s operations, he was not consulted in any of SriLankan’s decision making processes from 2010 to 2015.
Mr Jayaratne was testifying before the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) Investigating Alleged Irregularities at SriLankan, SriLankan Catering (SL Catering) and Mihin Lanka (Mihin) last week, when he was questioned about a Cabinet memorandum he submitted to secure Treasury funding of Rs 520 million to restructure SriLankan and purchase new aircraft for its fleet.
However, the Cabinet memorandum displayed at the CoI, details the funding requirements as follows:
- Payments of bank overdrafts- US$ 52 million,
- Outstanding payments to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation- US$ 15 million
- Funding of working capital- US$ 94 million
- Re-fleeting- US$ 230 million
- Infrastructure development of Ratmalana, Mattala airports- US$ 81 million
Stressing that he secured Cabinet approval by solely trusting his Ministry secretary, who oversaw the management of SrLankan’s affairs, Mr Jayaratne also claimed he was unaware of the appointments made to the Board of Directors (BoD).
Mr Jayaratne’s testimony was led by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Neil Unamboowe, assisted by Senior State Counsel (SSC) Fazly Razik and State Counsel Sajith Bandara.
Treasury Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga testifying before the CoI, acknowledged that, his predecessor Dr P.B.J. Jayasundara failed to adhere to proper procedures when certain financial transactions were carried out issuing Treasury Bonds with Treasury guarantee.
Dr Samaratunga also acknowledged that, as a fully State-owned enterprise, no individuals were appointed, representing the Treasury, to SriLankan’s BoD, to monitor and safeguard the interests of the government, from 2009-2017.
The CoI was also told that appointments to SriLankan’s BoD differed from the routine procedure, where the Civil Aviation Minister would send the recommended names to the Presidential Secretariat for clearance and thereafter, the Treasury Secretary would issue the Letters of Appointment to the selected individuals. Former Minister Jayaratne told the CoI he had no say in the nomination of names to the SriLankan BoD, or management affairs.
He also informed the CoI that, soon after the government took office, two senior Treasury officials were appointed to the BoD, following their nomination by the Minister of Finance. However, ASG Unamboowe pointed out that, the said appointments were made after the CoI was instituted.
On Thursday, ASG Unamboowe sought permission from the CoI to lead two key witnesses in camera, given the very sensitivity nature of the information, by excluding the common public and media from the proceedings. “The potential information that could be placed before this CoI, in coming days, would be highly sensitive and would be detrimental to SriLankan and the country as whole, if it reaches the public domain,” he said.
Chairman, Supreme Court Justice (Rtd) Anil Goonaratne made an order under Subsections 7(1), (11) of CoI Act 1948, that the two witnesses appear before the CoI in camera and testify in confidence.
ASG Unamboowe also requested the CoI to permit a top senior management of SriLankan to be present during the cross examination of the two witnesses. Justice Gooneratne issued a directive to the SriLankan Chairman to send a representative from the BoD, to be present when the witnesses’ testify to the CoI.
The CoI comprises retired Supreme Court Justice Anil Gooneratne (Chairman), Court of Appeal Judge Gamini Rohan Amarasekara, retired High Court Judge Piyasena Ranasinghe, retired Deputy Auditor General Don Anthony Harold and Sri Lanka Accounting & Auditing Standards Monitoring Board Director General Wasantha Jayaseeli Kapugama.
The CoI sittings in camera, commenced on Friday and are expected to continue till tomorrow, where the public and the media won’t be allowed to witness the proceedings. The CoI said the proceedings will be opened to the public once both witnesses conclude their testimony.
(SR)