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RTIC orders release of report on contract to build Akuregoda Defence Headquarters
A tree planting programme with the participation of foreigners took place at the Thalwila lagoon, in Marawila. Pic by Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe
The report of the four-member committee chaired by G S Withanage, appointed to review the awarding of a consultancy contract to build a Defence Headquarters Complex at Akuregoda during former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure, and details of payments made to a controversial architects firm, Muditha Jayakody Associates Ltd (MJAL), were ordered to be released on April 2 by the Right to Information Commission (RTIC).
It was a notable success for Right to Information (RTI) campaigners in Sri Lanka. Also directed to be released were relevant annexures to the report which detail blatant violation of procurement by the previous Government, colossal over-expenditure of payments to MJAL and the awarding of the contract to MJAL by the then Cabinet on wrong information submitted to it.
The information release followed the recommendation of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation to the Cabinet of Ministers earlier this month that the Cabinet complies with the order of the RTI Commission that the report be produced before it. The order had been made in an appeal filed by Thirukumar Nadesan against the refusal of the Cabinet and the Ministry of Defence to hand over the information asked for in an RTI request.
In lengthy appeal hearings over several months, the Cabinet and the Ministry of Defence had raised national security as the reason as to why the report could not be given. However, the RTI Commission had directed that, if any parts of the report relate to national security, those parts could be severed and the rest of the report released. It had, therefore, directed that the report be produced before it to examine its contents in order to ascertain what national security concerns are in issue.
The Cabinet had thereafter referred the matter to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation, which had recommended adherence to the Commission order. Upon the Attorney General informing the Cabinet that there was no bar to the release of the report, and the Ministry of Defence then affirming that the information release does not undermine the Defence of the State, its territorial integrity or national security, the Commission released the documentation to Nadesan.
The Committee chaired by G S Withange who, along with H M Ajith Chandra, P B S C Nonis and S D H de Silva, had been appointed by Cabinet decision dated 05.08.2015 to investigate financial irregularities in the construction of the Akuregoda Defence Headquarters. Its report was handed in at the end of that year.
In mid 2016, then Co-Cabinet spokesperson, Minister Rajitha Senaratne informed the media at a Cabinet briefing of multiple violations of procurement guidelines in the appointment of MJAL as the lead consultant of the project, payment of Rs 600 million as consultancy fees and the fact that it had been providing consultancy services to the Ministry of Defence even before it had obtained company registration as well as for the UDA without Cabinet approval.
Also pointed out was the fact that the consultancy company had a limited narrow shareholding base and one director. Involvement of MJAL in the project was suspended thereafter.
However, as the appeal hearings before the RTI Commission revealed, and despite the lapse of more than three years from date of the report being handed over, no legal action had been initiated in respect of the lapses.