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Fradulent land sale:COPA directs Wattala UC to repossess ‘sold’ land
The Wattala-Mabole Urban Council (W-MUC) has been ordered to take back a 79-perch prime plot of land belonging to it, that had, allegedly, been sold fraudulently.
The 79-perch- prime plot of land. Pic by Priyanka Samaraweera
The Sunday Times reported in April this year, that the land situated at Hendala Junction, had been sold well-below the market price.
The matter was taken up recently at the Parliament’s Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), where it was revealed that the land, known as “Aswedduma,” had been sold at Rs 1.3 million per perch, when its market value is well over Rs 4 million. It was also revealed that the W-MUC had leased out the land to a private company since 2000, for the paltry sum of Rs 1,000 a year, for 30 years. Officials, who testified further, said that, in May 2018, the W-MUC passed a resolution to sell the land to the same company, 18 years into the lease, claiming that the money was needed to build a new market complex at Hendala Junction.
Officials of the Western Provincial Council (PC) told COPA that the tender process regarding the land transaction, lacked transparency from the beginning. They noted that a winning bidder had been chosen, money deposited and the land sold within a day in March this year.
COPA Chairman MP Lasantha Alagiyawanna observed there was sufficient evidence to conclude that a fraud had taken place, and ordered the land be taken over again by the W-MUC.
Several Opposition Councilors in the United National Party (UNP)-controlled W-MUC complained to various authorities regarding the deal. They claim the winning bidder was a close relative of the owner of the company, to which the land had been leased. “Therefore, the whole process was a move to sell the land to the same people,” they charged.
Earlier this month, the WP Local Government Ministry interdicted the former Secretary of the W-MUC, D.P.H. Samarawickrama, following an inquiry held regarding 9 charges leveled against her related to the land transaction.
The Ministry also directed W-MUC to repossess the land.
The charges against Mrs Samarawickrama include:
- Prevented prospective bidders from obtaining Tender forms.
- Allowed for the names of certain bidders and their representatives, who had, originally, not participated in the bid opening held on March 1, 2019, to be included in the bid opening document.
- Violated Tender procedures by knowingly allowing the sale to proceed, without first appointing a Technical Evaluation Committee and obtaining its report.
- Supplied false information to the Government Valuer, by claiming that the land was being sold to the current lessee, thereby resulting in the land being valued at less than its market price.
- Obtained recordings of W-MUC sessions held from November 2018 to March 1, 2019 and admitted to inadvertently deleting the records, without keeping a backup record of these audio files.
Mr Alagiyawanna told the Sunday Times that attempts were being made to hold Mrs Samarawickrama solely responsible for the fraud, when there other individuals at the W-MUC “from top to bottom”, who were clearly in on it. “Action should be taken against all involved. The first step is to take back the land. Wrongdoers must then be identified and punished.”
WP Governor A.J.M. Muzammil said it was very clear from the investigation conducted by his office, that a fraud had been committed. He further said the WPC’s Legal officer had strongly opposed moves to sell the land, and had written to the W-MUC saying, ‘it violates all the procedures,’ yet they disregarded the concerns raised,” the Governor claimed.
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) UC Member Nimalsiri Koralage, who, along with Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Member Abdul Raheem, led the opposition to the land deal, said he felt vindicated by the COPA findings and the WP Chief Minister’s Office. Mr Koralage, however, charged that council members and officials involved in the fraud, were now attempting to make Mrs Samarawickrama the scapegoat and cover their tracks.
Mr Raheem expressing similar senitiments said, “We are not satisfied with the investigation. If a proper investigation is conducted, then statements should be taken from us, who opposed this from the beginning and have documentary evidence. But no one has taken our statements thus far. This raises suspicions over the transparency of the investigation,” he remarked.
W-MUC Chairman Mark Gunasekara acknowledged they had been told to take back the land. He said they had approached the buyer of the land over the matter and claimed the matter should be resolved “within the next week or so.” In April, however, Mr Gunasekara told the Sunday Times that the land sale was “100% legal.” On Friday (30), Mr Gunasekara, while acknowledging there were issues surrounding the deal, said it had come from the W-MUC Secretary failing to follow tender process guidelines.