SLPA at sea over CBK biography

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) had paid US $ 20,000 as an advance to the publishers of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s biography in July last year but had suspended payment of the balance amount after it was revealed that the book was not her official biography. The SLPA revealed this in response to an audit query by the Auditor General’s Department which said that this payment was made for a matter extraneous to the objectives of the Authority and that Cabinet approval for the payment had not been obtained in terms of the public enterprise guidelines on Good Governance.

The Ports Authority had entered into an agreement with a British publisher for a sum of US $ 40,000 for the printing of a biography and had paid an advance of US $ 20,000 on July 1, 2005, the Auditor General’s report on the Authority for 2005 said. The book written by British writer Graeme Wilson was launched in August last year but after its publication, President Kumaratunga herself revealed that it was not her official biography.

The SLPA in it’s response to the AG’s report said that no institution had notified the Authority that this printed book was not an official biography before it was printed. “We came to know of it only after it was printed and delivered,” the SLPA said in its response.

It said that as Cabinet approval had to be obtained through the Ports Ministry, approval of the Board of Directors had been sent to the Ministry and 50 per cent of the total amount had been made after approval. However the payment of the balance amount has been suspended. These details were contained in the SLPA annual report that was presented to Parliament last week.